Administrative Law or Judicial Review
Coroners or Inquests
Criminal Law
Human Rights
Called to Bar of England and Wales in 2015 (formerly solicitor-advocate, 2002-2015) and Bar of Northern Ireland in 2021.
Recognised expert in covert investigatory powers law (interception of communications, communications data, equipment and property interference, surveillance, covert human intelligence sources and encryption). Handled criminal work of the most serious nature. Civil work encompasses judicial review, inquests (in particular Article 2 cases), public inquiries and civil actions against the police. Regularly appeared before the appellate courts, including the Supreme Court.
Frequently asked to provide training and deliver lectures nationally and internationally.
LLB, LLM
Honorary academic positions with the law schools of the Universities of York and Birmingham
Former Attorney General’s Panel of Special Advocates (England and Wales)
Former solicitor England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Higher rights of audience in all proceedings (England and Wales)
Develop vetted
National security, covert and overt investigatory powers, intelligence-related legal issues.
Extensive experience in criminal, regulatory and human rights law. Civil experience includes judicial review, inquests, public inquiries, police law.
Acted for private individuals and public authorities. Former adviser to government on domestic, international terrorism matters, intelligence-related issues and covert investigatory powers.
Former Attorney General’s Panel of Special Advocates in Terrorist Cases.
Instructed by the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland.
Books
Blackstone’s Guide to the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, Oxford University Press (2017)
Covert Policing Law & Practice, Oxford University Press (2011 and 2014)
Book Chapters
Counter-terrorism, Constitutionalism and Miscarriages of Justice, A Festschrift for Professor Clive Walker (Hart, November 2018) (wrote the chapter on Public Interest Immunity and fair trial rights)
Handbook of Intelligence Law, (2017) Blomberg Press (co-wrote chapter with Professor Clive Walker on UK intelligence gathering)
Investigating Terrorism, Wiley (2015) (I co-wrote the chapter, Community Surveillance and Terrorism, with Professor Clive Walker)
Handbook of Law & Terrorism, Routledge (2015) (I co-wrote the chapter, Surveillance Powers and the Generation of Intelligence within the law, with Dr Jon Moran)
Papers/Articles
Entrapment: competing views on the effect of the Human Rights Act on English criminal law, European Human Rights Law Review, 2002, 6, 764-774
Judicial Review, Article 10 and Public Inquiries, Judicial Review, 2002, 7(4), 260-263
The Definition of the Covert Human Intelligence Source, Archbold News, 2004, 2, 5-6 (cited in Fulton & Ors, R. v (No.9) [2006] NICC 34, 08 May 2006)
Telephone intercepts and their admissibility (with Professor David Ormerod), Criminal Law Review 2004, January, 15-38 (cited in R v E [2004] Cr App R 29)
Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, Part I: meaning of “interception”, Journal of Criminal Law, 2005, 69(2), 106-109
Approaching Allegations of Entrapment Parts 1 and 2, Criminal Law & Justice 2009, 173(1/2), 11-14 and 173(3), 33-35