Biography

Alastair is head of our award-winning abuse team. He has over 25 years’ experience of defending sensitive non-recent claims on behalf of insurers, schools, charities, sporting clubs and other public and private organisations. He was involved in both the North Wales and North West group actions, the outcomes of which form the basis of much of the relevant law in abuse claims.

Alastair handles a wide variety of abuse claims, often from notification, across many sectors, with particular expertise in defending actions against schools and sporting organisations. He also has extensive experience in the coordination and defence of group actions. He acts for insured and uninsured entities. He advises upon related issues including policy interpretation and reputation management. He has considerable appellate court experience but is also a keen advocate of ADR in appropriate cases. Alastair also provides analysis and strategic advice on the management of entire claim portfolios.

He is currently heavily involved in many cases relating to abuse in football and is also acting for Barclays Bank and its insurers in the Dr Gordon Bates group litigation which is a precedent-setting case in the context of vicarious liability.

Alastair appeared as an expert in the defence of abuse claims before Professor Jay and her IICSA panel colleagues at a televised seminar in November 2016. He also gave evidence to IICSA within the Accountability & Reparation investigation public hearings in November 2018. He is an active member of the specialist FOIL Abuse sector focus team and was involved in drafting the defendant stakeholder abuse-specific pre-action protocol which was then submitted to the Civil Procedure Rules Committee for its consideration.