All of the work I do involves in some way the public sector – either local government or central government. They are either my clients (I act for local authorities and government departments) or my opponents (I represent private clients when they take action against them).
I been employed by local and central government, as a bench legal advisor, local authority solicitor and Crown Prosecutor, and in private practice in firms whose clients have been Government Agencies and departments.
Knowledge of how the other side works – because I have worked for the other side – is an invaluable asset
Examples of work recently undertaken for clients
- Representing a local authority in a planning inquiry where they had refused permission for fifty dwellings in an AONB
- Prosecuting failure to comply with an enforcement notice and s215 notice
- Advising Government departments on the end of Crown immunity in the planning system and rewriting departmental manuals for procedural guidance in planning matters
- Acting for a national park authority in response to a planning appeal by a telecommunications operator
- Acting for a local planning authority in response to an appeal by a major supermarket operator against refusal of planning permission for a mixed use retail and employment development
- Acting for a local planning authority in response to the service of a purchase notice
- Acting for a licensing authority in an appeal against the review of a premises licence by a major pub operator
- Holding training sessions for newly elected councillors in planning and licensing matters
- Advising local government solicitors and planning officers on planning law
- Prosecuting housing benefit fraud cases
