Chambers Review

Provided by Chambers

Health & Safety - London (Bar)

1
Band 1

What the Team is Known For

Crown Office Chambers houses a strong bench of senior and junior barristers who are experienced in the handling of prosecutions arising from a wide range of health and safety offences. Areas of expertise for the team include food safety prosecutions and cases brought under the HSWA. Members are noted for their expertise in corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter cases, and regularly appear in inquests and major trials. A recent case includes HSE v Exolum, a three-week trial relating to risks posed to workers from an oil pipeline. The team is well regarded for its representation of major corporations and their directors. Instructing solicitors emphasise the depth of team, reporting: "Crown Office boasts a wealth of outstanding barristers at both KC and junior level." Other interviewees state: "Senior and junior counsel are all genuine experts."

Strengths

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Notable Practitioners

Provided by Chambers

Dominic Kay
Dominic Kay
Star Individuals

Dominic Kay KC handles a large volume of health and safety prosecutions, regularly undertaking corporate and individual manslaughter prosecutions for clients from various industry sectors including the retail, construction and agriculture sectors. He has particular expertise in multi-fatality accident cases.

Dominic has a real talent for breaking down complex legal issues and strategy into straightforward, layman’s terms, making even the most intricate matters easy to understand.

Dominic is simply excellent and is someone I would instruct for any client, as he can adapt for any situation. His experience in this field is unmatched.

He's a real specialist in strategy in complex health & safety trials. He immediately instils confidence in clients.

He is smooth as silk, amazing - one of the most experienced KCs in this field.

Simon Antrobus
Simon Antrobus
Star Individuals

Simon Antrobus KC represents companies in high-profile health and safety prosecutions and corporate manslaughter cases, and is considered a go-to barrister for a long list of major corporations and private individuals. He is regularly instructed to undertake the most serious fatality cases.

He's really good because he really cares about the clients. Simon puts in 100% effort to prepare the best submissions for them.

He is so personable and so meticulous. Simon is open to collaboration and he is such a good advocate. He is the whole package.

He is an extremely big brain and condenses technical, complex scientific information into an understandable manner. He is very astute, able and a knowledgeable operator.

Simon is excellent, he makes everything seem simple. He has an ability to advocate and articulate complex matters in an easy-to-understand format.

He's hard-working, very strategic and great with clients.

Harry Vann
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Harry Vann
1
Band 1

Harry Vann is an experienced barrister with a respected health and safety practice which entails handling cases of serious injuries and death. He has a wide client base consisting of those in the transport, construction and manufacturing sectors, which he regularly represents in HSE prosecutions and various other regulatory matters.

He is calm under pressure and the right person to have by your side in a challenging case. He is also good with clients and solicitors and is dedicated to his work.

He is a legal force of nature. He's very personable with incredibly sharp intellect.

He's great with clients, including individuals and large companies. His strategic thinking is great, and he knows when to push forward and when to peg back.

Harry is really lovely to work with, really good with clients and tactically very clever. He helps to steer clients in a pragmatic way.

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James Ageros
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Band 1

James Ageros KC is a specialist health and safety silk who handles an array of defence and prosecution work. He has a number of enviable clients, including construction companies, hospitals and local authorities, which he has represented across the full spectrum of health and safety matters. He is particularly expert at undertaking complex inquests and high-profile inquiries.

He's a superb advocate and is fantastic with clients.

He's a strong advocate with encyclopaedic knowledge of the area, and is a pleasure to work with.

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James Maxwell-Scott
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Band 1

James Maxwell-Scott KC advises clients on both civil and criminal matters pertaining to fatal and non-fatal accidents, and represents a wide range of clients from private individuals to large organisations. He has been involved in some of the most high-profile public inquiries and inquests involving multiple fatalities, including the Grenfell Tower fire.

He is incredibly calm and always identifies the correct approach to adopt. He's academically brilliant and has a fantastic ability to identify key points from a significant volume of documents.

He has a really lovely manner with clients and is very practical. James gets what they are trying to achieve and has a way of explaining really technical safety law in a really palatable fashion.

He is unflustered and very measured in his approach. He is good at giving difficult advice to clients, and his written work is exceptional.

He has outstanding technical knowledge combined with tactical vision.

1
John Cooper
1
Band 1

John Cooper KC is hailed for his extensive knowledge and expertise in the health and safety and regulatory arena. He is praised for the volume of inquests and trial work he undertakes on behalf of major companies and directors. He is routinely called upon to handle cases arising from serious injury or death.

He is a particularly strong advocate with encyclopaedic knowledge of the practice area.

He is the doyen of Crown Office Chambers regulatory team. He's at the top of his game.

He's a real specialist in the big-picture strategy for complex trials.

John is excellent in a battle. He's incredibly knowledgeable and able to find a route through.

Lucy Wright
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Lucy Wright
1
Band 1

Lucy Wright possesses experience in both the prosecution and defence of health and safety matters. Her work covers explosions, gross negligence manslaughter and fatal falls.

Never underestimate her. She is exceptionally detailed, methodical, committed and excellent in court.

She's extremely good.

Lucy excels in both advocacy and client care. She has an exceptional ability to understand what clients need, including the level of support and reassurance required in sensitive or complex matters.

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Malcolm Galloway
1
Band 1

Malcolm Galloway specialises exclusively in health and safety and is instructed to undertake high-profile investigations on behalf of a wide range of clients including local authorities, transport companies and multinationals. He is particularly sought out by commercial clients facing prosecution and is an expert in corporate manslaughter investigations.

He is incredibly personable, precise in his advice and outstanding with both lay and professional clients. He's calm under pressure, but a formidable adversary when on his feet.

He's an excellent team player and gives very high-quality written advice and legal submissions.

He is very personable and very good on his feet. He gets good outcomes.

Malcolm is a thoughtful and trusted adviser who provides clear advice to clients facing the most serious of charges.

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Mark Balysz
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Band 1

Mark Balysz KC is a leading health and safety law barrister who defends clients in highly complex prosecutions. He is experienced in the handling of both individual and corporate manslaughter cases.

He is academically very bright and a first-class advocate.

He's a great strategic thinker and leader who is good with clients.

He is one of the best trial advocates in the health and safety world. He is personable, which really matters, and he can deal with complex issues.

Mark is always prepared and has a great way with clients; he is always realistic and is great to have on the team.

Mike Atkins
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Mike Atkins
1
Band 1

Mike Atkins is a leading practitioner in the criminal regulatory field who represents individuals and companies facing charges of corporate and gross negligence manslaughter. He also possesses expertise in fire safety cases and food safety law. His clients include multinational corporations, company directors, public bodies and employees.

He's brilliant on the law, and an all-rounder. He's a star performer, he's good on his feet and great with clients.

Mike is a very strong junior with superb attention to detail.

There is nothing he doesn't know, and he is also good fun and has a great client-friendly manner about him.

He has a keen eye for detail and he's the man for document-heavy instructions.

1
Sandesh Singh
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Band 1

Sandesh Singh represents clients in various health and safety-related matters which include HSE and police investigations, prosecutions and inquests. He handles sensitive cases concerning on-site accidents resulting in death and serious injury to employees, hospital patients and members of the public.

He's an impressive advocate who can get straight to the nub of the issue.

He is lovely to work with, he was easy to deal with and he came to a sensible conclusion.

He is smooth as silk and does excellent work.

He has attention to detail and is strong on his feet. Helped to navigate difficult issues; I can't praise him enough.

2
Jack Murphy
2
Band 2

Jack Murphy advises clients on a variety of health and safety matters, including manslaughter cases and prosecutions under the 1974 Act. His clientele includes both large-scale companies and individuals.

He's a great junior. He's energetic, responsive and quick on his feet.

2
Julia Kendrick
2
Band 2

Julia Kendrick regularly receives instructions covering the full spectrum of health and safety law. She handles health and safety prosecutions arising from serious and fatal accidents, and is also regularly sought after for cases relating to food safety, fire safety and road traffic offences. Kendrick is an expert in cases arising out of accidents on construction and demolition sites.

Julia is immaculately prepared and tenacious. She sticks to her guns when judges and prosecutors are trying to push her in a direction. That wins my vote.

She's a really strong advocate, pitches things exactly how the court will respond well to it, and she explains her approach to the client as well.

It has always been a pleasure to work with her.

She is above the detail, she cuts through the nonsense and she gets good results.

Katie Sage
2
Katie Sage
2
Band 2

Katie Sage is adept at both defending and prosecuting health and safety cases. She has experience handling fatal accident and serious injury matters. She frequently appears in both the Crown and magistrates' courts.

A great junior asset, incisive, switched on and great with clients.

Katie really got into the weeds of the case; she was very good.

She is very bright and capable in even the toughest of cases.

She's hugely knowledgeable, explains complex things in a simple way and she's very good to work with.

Ranked Barristers at
Crown Office Chambers

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Filter by
Band

Silks (KC)

London (Bar)

Health & Safety

Dominic Kay KC
Dominic Kay KC
Star Individuals
Simon Antrobus KC
Simon Antrobus KC
Star Individuals
1
James Ageros KC
1
Band 1
1
James Maxwell-Scott KC
1
Band 1
1
John Cooper KC
1
Band 1
1
Mark Balysz KC
1
Band 1

Juniors

London (Bar)

Health & Safety

Harry Vann
1
Harry Vann
1
Band 1
Lucy Wright
1
Lucy Wright
1
Band 1
1
Malcolm Galloway
1
Band 1
Mike Atkins
1
Mike Atkins
1
Band 1
1
Sandesh Singh
1
Band 1
2
Jack Murphy
2
Band 2
2
Julia Kendrick
2
Band 2
Katie Sage
2
Katie Sage
2
Band 2