Profile
James is primarily a disciplinary and regulatory solicitor but is also experienced in a wide variety of medical matters requiring expert legal advice and representation. Chiefly, he represents medical professionals before their regulatory bodies, including the GMC, GDC, HCPC, GPhC and also the CQC.
James has approximately twenty years’ experience in dispute resolution and medico-legal matters, initially qualifying as a litigation solicitor at Dundas & Wilson in Edinburgh, where he acted for some of the UK’s largest insurers defending high value medical and professional negligence claims, before specialising in cases involving the regulatory aspects of medical practice and custodial matters with a medical component.
As his practice developed, he gained significant advocacy experience in a variety of forums, representing bodies such as the Scottish Prison Service and Police Scotland in addition to representing individual healthcare practitioners and private companies in courts and medico-legal hearings, on the instructions of the pre-eminent medical defence organisations and individuals in a private capacity.
In particular, James is experienced in:
- defending all manner of regulatory referrals, including those relating to conduct, clinical performance and health, before a variety of regulators
- dealing with regulatory concerns that have a criminal component or origin
- advising and representing individuals in matters arising from their employment or engagement within a custodial setting (for example prison officers, police surgeons, paramedics and so on).
- defending PSA appeals
- judicial reviews of regulators’ decisions
- conducting Coroner’s Inquests and Fatal Accident Inquiries on behalf of care homes, pharmacists and doctors
- representing medical students in relation to disciplinary proceedings before their universities
- advising GPs appealing ARCP decisions
- advising commercial and private clients on their regulatory issues, such as aesthetic providers and dental clinic owners
- dealing with matters arising from CQC inspections and associated Notices
Dual-qualified to practice in Scotland as well as in England & Wales, James has extensive experience of conducting high profile Fatal Accident Inquiries for medical professionals and is one of the few lawyers in the UK to have simultaneously acted for all three of the UK’s largest medical defence organisations (the MDU, the MDDUS and the MPS).
Given James’s experience, he is also often approached to deal with ad hoc, or unusual cases with a medical component, such as advising on the legality or effectiveness of NHS or private practice processes, the suitability or otherwise of aesthetic procedures and equipment, and reviewing and drafting specialised medical consenting procedures. He has acted for clients based in the UK and abroad, for example, in relation to medical claims arising from skiing accidents in the Alps, hair transplants involving Spanish doctors and a murder allegation in Dubai involving a medical professional.