Background

I started working in the law on leaving school in 1957 at the age of 16, initially as a conveyancing clerk with a number of city practices. I joined Farrers in 1962. When the Institute of Legal Executives was formed I qualified as a Fellow, winning a prize for the largest number of distinctions achieved that year in the final examination papers. My first position at Farrers was as personal assistant to a senior private client partner. During this period I dealt with a wide range of urban residential and rural agricultural estate and estate planning work. The then partners in Farrers were keen for me to qualify as a solicitor, so I was articled and qualified in 1976, and, despite having studied part-time at home, achieved a number of distinctions in the solicitors' finals. I was made an associate by Farrers in 1977, a partner in 1978 and an equity partner in 1980.

Towards the end of the 1970s my workload turned more towards the commercial sector. At this time I was involved in a number of major development and planning matters. I formed the firm's commercial property team in the early 1980s and headed it thereafter. I have also, during this time, dealt with Farrers own property affairs and have been a member of various of the firm's management and policy committees over the years.

In 1987, I was instrumental in setting up the Covent Garden Area Trust, a body aimed at facilitating the continuation of the old GLC Central Covent Garden planning policies following the sale of the Market by the LRB. I have acted as legal advisor to the Trust since its inception and in 2006 was appointed by the then Deputy Prime Minister as Chairman. In this capacity, I am responsible for a board of up to 21 directors who include local residents and business men, highly regarded experts in the fields of planning, conservation, architecture, property and fashion retailing, and members of Westminster City Council and the Greater London Assembly. As Chairman, it is my responsibility to unify the various skills and very different views available to me into a coherent strategy on which the Trust can base its dealings with the local planning authority and the commercial owners (who are both the Trust’s freeholders and its tenants – for a full description of the unique legal structure, reference can be made to an article of mine published in the Journal of Planning and Environmental Law which can be found on the Trust’s website www.cgareatrust.org.uk).

I have published articles in the Estates Gazette and in the Journal of Planning and Environmental Law. I was for some years editor of the precedents section of the authoritative landlord and tenant law text book Hill and Redman (the section was reviewed in the Estates Gazette as the best of its kind). I am a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and on the Register of Expert Witnesses.

The following sections outline some of the areas in which I have gained particular experience in the 40+ years of my career to date.

My leisure interests include reading, most kinds of music, cinema and food and wine: I am in good health, am fit, and enjoy swimming, visits to the gym, hill walking and cycling.