Profile description
Dan is a highly versatile barrister who accommodates commercial, chancery and professional disciplinary work with a civil, regulatory and public law practice. He is also no stranger to the most high-profile criminal cases – Dan was Junior Counsel in the successful prosecution of England international and Premier League footballer Adam Johnson – and defending in the most complex commercial fraud trials. His experience in complex fraud cases is reflected by the fact that he is the only junior barrister on the Northern Circuit to have been appointed to the Serious Fraud Office Panels of Counsel. Dan has further acquired a niche in Road Transport Law, representing operators and individuals before the criminal courts and the Traffic Commissioner.
Dan is recommended by the Legal 500:
“He has the gravitas of a much more senior barrister.” – Legal 500, 2014
“Good technical knowledge.” – Legal 500, 2015
“A hardworking and keen junior; one to watch.” – Legal 500, 2016
In 2015, Dan was appointed directly by the Attorney General to his specialist Civil Panel of Counsel (formerly known as Junior Treasury Counsel). As a consequence, Dan is instructed by government departments in civil litigation of significance and sensitivity. In the year he was appointed, the Attorney General described the competition to be Junior Counsel to the Crown as “fierce”. Dan has been instructed by the Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government in the High Court in planning litigation, by the Home Office in unlawful detention cases and by the Ministry of Justice in complex litigation.
In 2012 Dan was appointed, again by the Attorney General, to the “Regulatory List” of Counsel – a specialist group of barristers entrusted with the presentation of Health & Safety Executive and Environment Agency cases. The cases Dan has undertaken for the HSE and the Environment Agency have involved the prosecution of companies in fatal accident cases or incidents concerning catastrophic pollution – many cases have involved multiple defendants and complex evidence. Most recently Dan has prosecuted, as sole counsel, companies and individuals for causing the deaths of employees crushed by heavy machinery and in falls from heights. Dan is regularly instructed as led Junior Counsel on complex cases and has recently begun to take instructions as Leading Counsel.
Dan brings to his practice the commercial experience of working at Canada’s leading law firm, McCarthy Tetrault LLP in Toronto. At McCarthys, Dan was part of teams of counsel litigating class actions, commercial disputes between FTSE 100 companies, professional negligence disputes, the representation of health care professionals in disciplinary proceedings and appeals to the Supreme Court of Canada.
