Patrick has a broad civil and commercial practice, with a particular focus on pensions, employment, information law and financial services.
Patrick is recognised as a “Rising Star” of the London Bar in both Pensions and Employment in Legal 500 2025. He was appointed to the Attorney General’s C Panel in 2024.
He has appeared before the High Court, County Court, First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights), Employment Appeal Tribunal and Employment Tribunal. Patrick’s practice encompasses international work. He has full rights of audience before the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts where he regularly appears.
Prior to joining chambers, Patrick worked in the Court of Appeal as the judicial assistant to Sir Ernest Ryder, the Senior President of Tribunals.
Patrick provides advice and representation across all areas of pensions law. He has experience in Part 8 claims, professional negligence actions, advisory work, complaints to the Pensions Ombudsman and in regulatory aspects of pensions law.
Patrick is recognised as a “Rising Star” of the London Pensions Bar in Legal 500 where he is described as having “a real eye for the memorable turn of phrase that encapsulates everything you want to say about a case – something that will really lodge in the mind of the judge”.
He was junior counsel for the successful representative beneficiary in both the High Court and Court of Appeal in Virgin Media Ltd v NTL Pension Trustees II Limited and others [2023] EWHC 1441 (Ch) and [2024] EWCA Civ 843.
Patrick is a contributor to the Pensions chapter of Atkin’s Court Forms and a member of the Association of Pension Lawyers. He has completed secondments to the Pensions Regulator, where he worked on pensions superfunds, and the FCA, where he worked on the Handbook rules for pensions dashboards. He has given talks on pensions law, including on actuarial confirmation in the context of section 67 of the Pensions Act 1995 and Pensions Ombudsman decisions.
Patrick acts for both Claimants and Respondents in all areas of employment and discrimination law, in addition to providing written advice and drafting pleadings. Patrick is experienced in appellate matters, including being instructed on appeals in Employment Appeal Tribunal and assisting with appeals in the Court of Appeal. His practice encompasses injunctions and actions for restraint of trade and confidentiality breaches.
His practice encompasses international employment law. This includes claims in domestic ETs concerning territoriality and jurisdiction, and employment (and commercial) claims in the DIFC Courts. Patrick has full rights of audience in the DIFC Courts and has appeared on multiple occasions both led and unled. He is currently instructed on an £8 million claim concerning alleged breaches of restrictive covenants and misuse of confidential information (led by Stephen Doherty).
Patrick is also experienced in advice and representation in relation to goods and services discrimination claims in the civil courts, particularly in relation to discrimination claims brought against financial institutions.
In December 2022 Patrick was named the Times ‘Lawyer of the Week’ for his representation of a Claimant in Employment Tribunal proceedings.
Recent employment and discrimination cases
Recent international employment cases
Patrick is developing a broad commercial practice and has appeared in court in a variety of contractual claims. Patrick’s advisory and drafting work has covered breach of contract, insolvency and restitution claims.
Examples of recent instructions include:
Patrick is experienced in information law and data protection. His experience stems from his secondment to the FCA during which he advised on:
He continues to be instructed on data protection and FOIA matters. Examples of recent instructions include:
Burton v IC (FtT, 2021)
Successfully advising and representing the FCA in this FOIA appeal relating to the application of s348 of the Financial Services and Markets Act to mutual societies.
Khan v IC (FtT, 2021)
Successfully acting for the FCA in this FOIA appeal concerning the proper scope of the request and adequacy of searches.
X v IC (FtT, 2023)
Ongoing advice and representation in relation to two FOIA appeals concerning the application of section 14 FOIA (vexatiousness).
Advice on various FOIA internal reviews and referrals to the ICO.
Advising the FCA on the data protection, and privacy and electronic communication, matters arising from the regulatory framework for pension dashboards.
Patrick is experienced in the financial services regulation having been seconded to the General Counsel’s Division of the FCA. He gained experience across the breadth of financial services regulation.
Patrick continues to be instructed by the FCA on a range of matters. Most recently he has been advising and assisting on the drafting of the Handbook rules for pension providers and dashboard providers in relation to pension dashboards.
In 2023/24 he was instructed as junior counsel to the Defendant (led by Michael Uberoi) in a professional negligence claim against a wealth management firm. The proceedings alleged that a failure to complete a DB pension transfer was negligent and/or a breach of contract and/or a breach of COBS. The claim settled just before trial.
To find out more, contact Matt Sale on +44 (0)20 7427 4910 or Andy Hunter on +44 (0)20 7427 4905 for a confidential discussion.
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