Principal Lawyer and Head of the Abuse Team at Slater & Gordon
Richard is a principal lawyer and head of the abuse team at Slater & Gordon Lawyers.
Richard qualified as a solicitor with Pannone LLP in 1994 and previously served as head of serious injury and a board member at Pannone prior to the merger with Slater Gordon in 2014. He specialises in abuse and catastrophic injury cases and is rated as a Band 1 Leader in the Field” in Chambers Legal guide.
Richard has acted in many high profile and landmark cases including the Rochdale child sexual exploitation cases and numerous claims against the Catholic and Anglican Churches. He currently acts for many core participants in the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).
Richard is a fellow of APIL. He is the co-author (with Elizabeth Ann-Gumbel QC, Justin Levinson and Malcolm Johnson) of the book “Guide to Child Abuse Compensation Claims” (2ndedition published by APIL/Jordans 2011), and has had many articles published in the legal press. He also writes a regular column on PI law for New Law Journal. Richard has appeared on radio and TV in relation to many of his cases, including BBC and ITV national news, Newsnight, Radio 4 “Today” and “PM” programmes, Radio 4’s “Law in Action” and international media. Richard’s book Betrayed: The English Catholic Church and the Sex Abuse Crisis was published by Biteback Books in 2014.
Outside of work Richard is a board member of the Big Life Group, a social enterprise company including Big Issue in the North, and has served as a Labour councillor in West Yorkshire. In his limited spare time he enjoys snooker, football, running & sailing.