John is Managing Director of Bankside Law. He specialises in professional disciplinary and regulatory defence work and white collar crime.
His fraud defence work includes high value SFO corruption, FCA insider dealing, LIBOR and Forex cases. He was successfully involved in defending two clients in the SFO investigations in to Balfour Beatty and BAE. He has lectured on the Bribery Act to in house legal counsel via a Lexis Nexis webinar and has advised a client in 2012 in relation to international aspects of corruption allegations brought by the SFO and the Bribery Act. He dealt with the first case of insider dealing involving an employee of the stock exchange and has represented a trader in the largest Financial Services Act (FSA) prosecution of insider dealing to that date "Operation Saturn".. He also acted in an investigation conducted by the Bank of England into cash handling.He has also advised a client in realtion to the SFO's Rolls Royce investigation.
John also heads up our Professional Disciplne and Regulatory department. This highly successful department has been consulted and instructed by Regulators in prosecuting disciplinary proceedings (e.g. architects and solicitors). It is perhaps better known however for its vigorous defence of professionals in trouble facing a variety of challenges to their careers and livelihoods. These include an increasing range of health professionals, (doctors, chiropractors, osteopaths, psychologists) as well as solicitors and accountants facing criminal and disciplinary proceedings.
John has an extensive background in professional disciplinary and regulatory work. He has often acted for the MDU (Medical Defence Union) in defence of doctors in Coroner's hearings, GMC proceedings at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS), internal disciplinary proceedings and criminal investigations. He successfully represented a Specialist Registrar in judicial review proceedings dealing with Inter Deanery Transfers. He has also represented doctors via the Medical Protection Society cover. He represents the UCA (United Chiropractic Association) and has assisted them in the provision of risk management webinars for their members. He has also acted for the McTimoney Chiropractic Association and College (in 2018 he was given special thanks by the MCA for his legal work for their members). He has received instructions from senior figures from the Scottish Chiropractic Association and the British Chiropractic Association. He also acts for individual chiropractors in disciplinary proceedings before the General Chiropractic Council and was part of the Bankside team which achieved a 100% success rate in successfully defending through DAS legal expenses insurers all UCA chiropractors accused of disciplinary matters in relation to web sites cases. This ensured that no UCA member received any disciplinary finding against their name in relation to such cases and that their legal expenses insurers met the whole cost of defending them. When the Good Thinking Society made further mass complaints against UCA and MCA members in 2018 John and his team repeated their earlier 100% success in ensuring that all the cases where they represented UCA or MCA chiropractiors were dismissed at the Investigating Committee with no case to answer.
John has successfully represdented a senior pathologist, nurses and psychologists, making successful representations at the Investigating Committee stage of the Health Care Professions Council.John has also acted extensively for Osteopaths at the General Osteopathic Council. He has taken a case for an osteopath successfully on appeal to the Administrative Court and the Court of Appeal dealing with the extent to which osteopaths can refer to previous good practice in decisions on allegations at the PCC. He has successfully acted for an osteopath taking over from another solicitor after some allegations were found proved and where it was successfully argued by us that the osteopath's conduct did not amount to unacceptable professional conduct despite erroneous practice guidance from GOsC to the contrary. He is on the DAS Legal Expenses Insurer's panel to represent Osteopaths facing disciplinary proceedings.
He has advised a tax advisor in relation to disciplinary proceedings and also extensively represented a large firm of accountants in relation to a production order served on them and legal privilege issues in relation to one of their clients. He has also represented a chartered accountant at the ICAEW. On the prosecution side, John has previously acted for the ARB (Architects Registration Board) and was instructed as the independent solicitor to act for the Metropolitan Police Authority in the high profile and successful disciplinary proceedings brought against the former Commander Ali Dizaei in 2010. He has also acted as legal assessor for various disciplinary bodies.
John has been recognised by both Chambers and Legal 500 for his regulatory and fraud work. In Chambers he is ranked as a leading expert for professional disciplinary work and is applauded for his "highly astute counsel - he makes certain his clients always get the best deal". He is increasingly sought out for referrals from other firms. He is an active member of the Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers (ARDL) and in his spare time enjoys golf and watching rugby.
Contact
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