Acting for both claimants and defendants, David’s core area of work centres on large loss personal injury, insurance and property claims, particularly those involving complex expert evidence and/or allegations of fundamental dishonesty.
David is also in demand across a wide spectrum of civil litigation including assault claims, actions against the police, clinical and other professional negligence actions, commercial disputes and international work, together with non-standard and problem cases which often fall outside traditional categories. He has received regular repeat instructions from government departments, local authorities, supermarkets, bookmakers, travel companies and other well-known national companies and organisations, advising on litigation policies as well as individual cases.
Always approachable, he has a particular appreciation of the need for clients to understand their litigation, no matter what the complexities, and has a reputation for both clarity and forensic rigour in both his written and oral advocacy. He is highly regarded for his pleadings and schedules, his trial and appellate advocacy, his client care, problem-solving, and strategic advice, together with his firm but pragmatic negotiating skills, whether at JSMs or mediations. His perceptive and analytical approach makes him the first port of call for unusual, complex and/or difficult cases.
His recent cases include:
- Representing an insurer in a serious head injury case where the accident had benefited the claimant by preventing them accessing illicit drugs, leading to a significant increase in life expectancy.
- Resisting an application to commit a CILEx Fellow for contempt of court pertaining to statements of truth provided which turned out to be false.
- Successfully defending a claim in respect of a head injury sustained in a Bulgarian holiday resort requiring detailed cross-examination of a Bulgarian lawyer as to local standards.
- Defending a non-personal injury action by a negligent driver against his own insurance company on the grounds of fraud, leading to the claimant’s expert engineer retiring from practice during the course of cross-examination.
Additional Information
David is regularly instructed in fatal accident claims, injuries of the utmost severity and other large loss claims. He has a particular expertise in accident reconstruction and cases of accidents abroad. He has specialised in civil fraud and fundamental dishonesty (both Personal Injury and policy related) litigation for over twenty-five years.
His professional indemnity work covers both clinical negligence and solicitors’ negligence, the latter with particular regard to the conduct of Personal Injury claims.
He was Head of Mini-Pupillage at Deans Court from 2010 to 2016, has taken 3 pupils including Gareth Poole and Joe Price, and is currently Head of our Travel Law team.
In 2019, David was the first Personal Injury barrister ever appointed to the Bar Standards Board’s Advisory Pool of Experts (APEX), advising the BSB as to the appropriate conduct of barristers practicing in civil law. In 2020, he qualified as a Civil and Commercial Mediator
David gives in-house and public seminars on all aspects of Personal Injury law and forensic thinking. He has been a guest lecturer at numerous universities including the University of Durham, Lancaster University, the Open University and the College of Law. His speaking engagements have extended as far as India and Canada, and he was published in the Dehradun Law Review before being appointed a Visiting Professor at the Dr B.R. Ambedkar National Law University, Sonipat in July 2022.
His other speaking engagements in the last 5 years have included The Grange Annual Conference (medico-legal psychiatry), The Liverpool Law Society Occupational Disease Conference, McCollum Consultants, The Motor Accident Solicitor Society (MASS) Annual Conference, the CILEx Lancashire branch, and a variety of bespoke in-house conferences and training sessions.
In 2014, he spoke at the Cambridge University Sixth Form Conference and was invited to debate at the Cambridge Union, alongside Dr Matt Dyson, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, defeating a team consisting of both the Winner and losing Finalist from the European Debating Championship 2013.
At the last count, alongside his formal pupils, he has taken 6 surrogate pupils, 34 mentees and approximately 1,300 mini-pupils. No, he doesn’t know where he gets the time, either.
David’s first three books, “On Experts” (2016), “An Introduction To Personal Injury Law” (2017), and “The Mini-Pupillage Workbook” (2019)) are available via www.lawbriefpublishing.com or Amazon.
He is currently working on his fourth (a second edition of ITPIL), fifth (An Introduction to Case Management) and sixth (A Clarity of Thinking) books simultaneously, which might explain why his publishers are still waiting.
"David is highly insightful, with a broad range of knowledge."
Chambers and Partners 2025