OVERVIEW

• Tom joined Chambers in 2008 following successful completion of his pupillage.
• During 2008-9 he was appointed part-time Visiting Lecturer at the City University, London, teaching the law of torts to students on the GDL and Graduate Entry LLB programmes.
• In 2009 a selection panel chaired by Lord Hope of Craighead appointed Tom a first Judicial Assistant at the UK Supreme Court, where he currently works for Lord Collins of Mapesbury and Lord Saville of Newdigate.
• He returns to Chambers as a full-time practitioner in August 2010.

PRACTICE PROFILE

Tom's broad practice across the spectrum of public law already includes and goes beyond the areas for which FTB is best known. He has particular experience in education, employment, environmental law, health & safety, human rights and civil liberties, licensing, negligence, nuisance, planning, property, regulatory crime, social security and village greens.

He is instructed by the Treasury Solicitor through the "baby barrister" scheme. He also benefits from placements at Sevenoaks District Council and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in which he routinely dealt with a wide range of planning, environmental, and other local government issues.

He is the founding editor of the free FTB Local Government Update, sent quarterly to subscribers. (To subscribe please e-mail localauthority@ftb.eu.com)

PUBLIC LAW

Tom is developing a practice across the full range of public law fields. In particular, he already has significant experience of judicial review acting for claimants, defendants and interested parties. Recent work includes:

Criminal Injuries

• Acting for the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority in over twenty cases before the Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeal Panel, as sole counsel

Education

• Siborurema v Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education [2007] EWCA Civ 1365 (leading case on the OIA, discussing the extent of its statutory duties and powers)
• Advising an independent school on the effect of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999
• Appearing in the SENDIST (now SEND) acting on behalf of parents, children, and local authorities in connection with matters relating to special educational needs and disabilities

Employment

• Acting as legal adviser to an appeal panel at a local authority determining a dismissal dispute
• Representing a claimant dismissed by her employer for whistle-blowing in respect of the mistreatment of residents at a home for the elderly

Human Rights

• Seal v UK (pending application to the European Court of Human Rights alleging a violation by the UK of Article 6 of the Convention following the ruling of the House of Lords in Seal (FC) v Chief Constable of South Wales Police [2007] UKHL 31)

Licensing

• R (on the application of Boyle) v Haverhill Pubwatch [2009] EWHC 2441 (Admin) (leading authority on the circumstances in which the banning decisions of Pubwatch organisations can be amenable to judicial review, as sole counsel)
• R (on the application of Bristol City Council) v Bristol City Magistrates Court (2009) EWHC 625 (Admin) (leading authority on the determination of premises licence applications under the Licensing Act 2003, as junior counsel)

Social security

• Regular appearances at the Social Security Tribunal in cases concerning incapacity benefit, disability living allowance, and related matters

Village greens

• Instructed (uniquely) as amicus to the non-statutory public inquiry into whether or not land owned by the Duke of Northumberland in Amble, Northumberland should be recommended for registration as a village green

PLANNING & ENVIRONMENTAL

Tom acts both as sole and junior counsel in judicial and statutory review and other court work.  Recent work includes:

• R (on the application of Cathco Property Holdings Ltd) v Cygnor Gwynedd Council [2008] EWHC 1462 (Admin): (junior to Gregory Jones) judicial review of a Council's decision to grant planning permission for a major retail development on the outskirts of Bangor. Contains discussion of the role of officer's reports to committee
• R (on the application of Manchester City Council) v The Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs [2007] EWHC 3167 (Admin), a judicial review of the Secretary of State's decision not to confirm an order by the Council to extinguish a public right of way along a crime-troubled street. Discusses a public law decision-maker's approach to mandatory considerations  

He acts on behalf of councils, appellants and rule 6 parties at public inquiries. Recent work includes:

• Acting successfully as sole counsel (against two leading silks) for the sole objectors at the called-in "Foster Tower" inquiry into a major mixed-use scheme in the heart of Ealing (instructed by Pat Thomas OBE)
• Acting successfully for Oxford City Council in resisting Oxford University's application to build a new and substantial Library Depository as part of the Bodleian complex (as junior counsel (to Robert McCracken QC))
• Numerous smaller inquiries, including gypsy cases involving human rights issues.

Tom also undertakes a full range of advisory work across the planning and environmental field. Recent work includes:

• Advising transport for London in respect of permitted development rights to construct a signal control centre controlling half of the tube underground network
• Advising on the impact of the EU Habitats Directive and the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation Treaty (to which the EU is a signatory) on domestic laws in Northern Ireland regulating the issue and revocation of commercial fishing licences
• Advising on the lawfulness of the dumping of fish waste under international and EU law.

OTHER WORK

Recent non-public law work includes:

Negligence

• Advising a child claimant seeking to recover damages from an authority charged with her care for negligence causing pure economic loss

Nuisance

• Acting in neighbour dispute concerning the scope of the right to a free passage of air

Property

• Advising on the effect of the acquisition of easements of light and access, and (in a different case) the effect of a restrictive covenant, on a developer's ability to implement a planning permission

Publications

Tom writes regularly for leading public law and other legal journals and publications. Recent writing includes, click here to go to a further list of Tom's publications rhat are available to download:

• The tort of abuse of process in judicial review [2009] JR 256
• The Pursuit of Justice: Lord Woolf of Barnes (Book Review) [2008] JR 277
• Chapters on "Built Environment" and "Habitats" in Environmental Law in Property Transactions (3^rd Edn) (Tottel: 2009 pp.467-518).
• R (Lewis) v Redcar and Cleveland BC: Case Note [2008] RWLR 15.3, 133
• The Environmental Information Regulations 2004: recent developments in the Information Tribunal [2008] S.J. 2008, 152(11), 24,26
• Judicial review of the Office of the Independent Adjudicator after Siborurema [2008] EdLJ 25
• Annual Conference 2007: the Scholars report The European Advocate (Autumn) 2007
• The Bar Vocational Course: money well spent? The Barrister #32 (2007) 16
• Predispositions, predeterminations and the test for apparent bias: some reflections post National Assembly for Wales v Condron [2007] JPL 1260
• When ‘to start' is ‘to continue': statutory interpretation in the Brian Haw case [2007] JR 122
• Focus on Article 9 ECHR: recent developments [2007] JR 75  
• Article 2 ECHR and ‘Mistaken Belief' in the Prevention of Crime: a re-evaluation post Bennett [2006] JR 180
• Contributor to Statutory Nuisance (2^nd Ed, Tottel: 2008) by McCracken, Jones and Pereira, the leading textbook in the field (see acknowledgment p.viii).

Qualifications and Appointments

• BPP Law School, London (2006-7): Bar Vocational Course (Outstanding)
• City University, London (2005-6): Graduate Diploma in Law (Distinction)
• The Queen's College, Oxford (2001-2005): MA Modern Languages, French and Spanish (Double First Class Honours; ‘top ten' across whole faculty); Preliminary Examinations (Double Distinction)
• French and Spanish (Fluent)
• Member of the Constitutional and Administrative Law Bar Association (ALBA), the Human Rights Lawyers Association (HRLA), the Bar European Group (BEG), and the UK Environmental Law Association (UKELA).

Prizes, Scholarships and Other Achievements

Legal

• Sir Robert Megarry Award (2007), Lincoln's Inn
• Buchanan Prize (2007), Lincoln's Inn
• Peter Duffy Human Rights Scholar (2007), Bar European Group (Annual Conference, Rome)
• Lord Denning Scholar (2006), Lincoln's Inn
• Lord Bowen Scholar (2005), Lincoln's Inn
• Hardwicke Entrance Award (2005), Lincoln's Inn
• Winner, Lord Slynn of Hadley Mooting Trophy (UKELA) (2008) (before Carnwath LJ)
• Finalist, City University Internal Mooting Competition (2006) (before Tuckey LJ)
• Judge (by invitation), City University Mooting Competitions (2006-8)

Non-legal

• Claude Massart Prize for attaining the best mark across Oxford University in French Literature in the Preliminary Examinations
• Anglo Spanish Society Prize for attaining one of the top three marks in Spanish overall across the University in the Preliminary Examinations and submitting the best proposal of these three candidates for a research project in Spain
• Heath Harrison Scholar (French) for meritorious performance in a special examination
• Laming Scholar of The Queen's College, Oxford, for achieving a double distinction (in both French and Spanish) in the Preliminary Examinations