News & Events
News & Events
We are delighted to share that thirteen of Outer Temple’s barristers have been included in the 2026 Pro Bono Recognition list for volunteering their time (25 hours or more) to provide free legal assistance to individuals, charities and community groups. Now in its third year, the List, published annually, recognises solicitors, barristers, chartered legal executives, trade mark attorneys, patent attorneys and registered foreign/European lawyers who provided 25 hours or more pro bono legal assistance over the last year. The initiative is supported by the Law Society, the Bar Council, CILEX and all the major pro bono organisations under the aegis of the Attorney General’s Pro Bono Committee. Pro Bono Recognition List 2026 The following members have been recognised in the…
News 21 Apr, 2026
We are delighted to announce that James Leonard KC has been nominated Pro Bono KC of the Year at the 2026 Bar Pro Bono Awards for his pro bono work in the landmark case of Buzzard-Quashie v Chief Constable of Northamptonshire Police [2025] EWCA Civ 1397. The Bar Pro Bono Awards, celebrating their 30th anniversary this year, recognise and celebrate the remarkable pro bono achievements of the Bar in England and Wales. Each year, the awards shine a light on the exceptional pro bono work carried out by barristers. The 2026 Bar Pro Bono Awards ceremony will be taking place on Tuesday, 19th May at Inner Temple, London. James Leonard KC has been shortlisted for Pro Bono KC of the…
News 8 Apr, 2026
James Leonard KC was invited to speak on LBC Radio’s ‘The Legal Hour’, hosted by Daniel Barnett. James Leonard KC joined Daniel Barnett on Saturday 12th July 2025 on LBC’s Radio Show. James Leonard KC discussed Health & Safety, and on the show interacted with callers who spoke of personal experiences about what factors relating to Health & Safety affect them at work. Callers spoke of heat as one factor, and Weil’s disease as another. James’ Health, Safety & Environmental work leads to appearances in Courts at every level but his caseload includes the most serious cases for high profile clients. They invariably include fatalities in the workplace, allegations of Gross Negligence Manslaughter against individuals, and offences under the Corporate…
News 16 Jul, 2025
James Leonard KC and Oliver Powell, instructed by Simon Belfield of DWF, appeared on behalf of the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (‘MCA’), at Southampton Crown Court. After a 4 ½ week trial, a jury unanimously convicted Intrada Ships Management Ltd of failing to take all reasonable steps to secure that a ship was operated in a safe manner. Background On 13 December 2021, at about 3.25am UK time, the Scot Carrier, a UK registered general cargo vessel, and the Karin Høj, a Danish registered barge, were in the Baltic Sea just off the South coast of Sweden. They had just reached the southerly end of the Bornholm Traffic Separation Scheme (‘TSS’) and were both heading in the same south-westerly direction.…
News 13 Dec, 2024
James Leonard KC has been instructed in the 62 inquests into the conduct of former consultant breast surgeon Ian Paterson, an NHS doctor also operating in the private sector. Ian Paterson, a former consultant breast surgeon, was jailed for 20 years in 2017 after being convicted of 20 counts of wounding with intent. The surgeon was employed by the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust and practised in the private sector. He was appointed as a consultant at Solihull Hospital in 1998 and practised there until May 2011. More than 560 patient deaths have been considered so far by a multi-disciplinary team of medical experts, leading, so far, to the opening of 62 inquests in relation to the way in…
News 18 Oct, 2024
James Leonard KC represented the RNLI in a high profile inquest after the deaths of a 12 and 17 year old who drowned after an “intense” rip current at Bournemouth Beach in March 2023. Following an Inquest, Dorset senior coroner Rachael Griffin said she was satisfied nothing further could have been done to prevent their deaths following the “unexpected anomaly of nature”. She praised the “brave, prompt and determined intervention” of the lifeguards on duty, without which “more lives would undoubtedly have been lost”. James Leonard KC represented the Royal National Lifeboat Institution whose general manager, Peter Dawes stated, “Sunnah and Joe followed all the safety advice on the beach but still lost their lives – this is a stark…
News 15 Oct, 2024
Outer Temple’s Helen Pugh, James Leonard KC and Charlotte Elves were instructed in Commercial Bank of Dubai SC & Ors v Al Sari. The Court of Appeal handed down judgment which clarifies the law on alternative service in contempt proceedings. The Court of Appeal have clarified the law on alternative service in contempt proceedings in an important judgment handed down in Commercial Bank of Dubai SC & Ors v Al Sari [2024] EWCA Civ 643. The Court of Appeal accepted the submission of the 1st Appellant (represented on appeal by Helen Pugh of Outer Temple Chambers) and 2nd Appellant (represented on appeal by James Leonard KC and Charlotte Elves) that an order permitting alternative service in a previous phase of…
News 13 Jun, 2024
Outer Temple’s Health and Safety law specialist, James Leonard KC, represented Melfort Construction Services Ltd in a four-week trial at Lincoln Crown Court following the death of an employee on site. James Leonard KC represented Melfort Construction Services Ltd in a four-week trial at Lincoln Crown Court. The allegation was a failure on the part of Melfort, a specialist groundworks contractor, to ensure the health and safety of an employee who sadly died at a construction site in Lincoln in 2020. The employee was working for Melfort Construction as a dump truck driver and Melfort Construction had been sub-contracted to the Lindum Group to carry out groundwork. The employee was driving his front-loaded dump truck when he opened the barriers…
News 6 Dec, 2023
Outer Temple Chambers is delighted to announce that we have been shortlisted as an ‘Outstanding Set’ in Diversity & Inclusion, by the Chambers UK Bar Awards 2022. Congratulations also to James Leonard, Naomi Ling, Matthew McDonagh, and Justina Stewart, who have been shortlisted for individual awards. Chambers & Partners announced the shortlist ahead of the Awards Ceremony on 17th November in London. Naomi Ling, Employment Naomi Ling has been shortlisted as ‘Employment Junior of the Year’ in recognition of her outstanding Employment practice last year. She is a highly sought-after employment barrister with over 20 years of experience in this area. Recent instructions of note include; Abdar v Morrisons, McCloud v Lord Chancellor, Turley v Port of Felixstowe James Leonard, Health…
News 1 Sep, 2022
James Leonard and Oliver Powell, instructed by Chris Baranowski of DAC Beachcroft, appeared on behalf of Mr Gary Robinson, the former director of Complete Demolition Ltd, at the Central Criminal Crown Court. Mr Robinson was indicted on two counts: (1) gross negligence manslaughter; and (2) section 37 of the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (‘HSWA 1974’). Background: On 23 August 2018 Robert Stoian went to work as a labourer for Complete Demolition Ltd (‘the Company’). The Company been contracted to remove the internal fittings on the fifth floor of the Global Switch Building in Docklands, East London. This included; the studded partition walls, the suspended ceiling and raised floor. Embedded in one of the partition walls was a glazed unit which was 5.1m wide,…
News 9 May, 2022
We are delighted to announce that the Third edition of Lissack and Horlick on Bribery and Corruption has been published by LexisNexis Butterworths. The practitioner’s book was edited by Fiona Horlick QC and Richard Lissack QC, and was contributed to by a number of Outer Temple members. In 2010, the UK’s law on bribery changed from a collection of ancient statutes, distorted in some cases by contradictory authority, to a single statute often regarded as one of the most rigorous, and wide-ranging in application, in the world. Since coming into force in 2011, numerous prosecutions were brought on the basis of the Bribery Act as well as five of the eight deferred prosecution agreements reached in the UK to date. It…
External Publications 30 Sep, 2020
James Leonard successfully defended the Master of the Isle of Wight Red Funnell ferry in relation to charges brought by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency following a collision in September 2018, just outside Southampton Water, between his vessel, the Red Falcon and a 30 foot motor cruiser named the Phoenix. The collision risked the lives of four people on board the Phoenix but the Court was persuaded that fault for the collision lay with the helm of the Phoenix and that it was satisfied Capt Drummond had kept a proper lookout within the meaning of the International Regulations relating to Collisions at Sea and was not in breach of section 58 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. The Court ordered…
News 12 Dec, 2019
