Areas of Expertise:
Family, Civil Litigation, Personal Injury, Crime
Steven began his career in criminal law and was regularly instructed in cases ranging from the Youth Court to the Crown Court. Whilst Steven predominantly defended, he occasionally prosecuted for the Department for Work and Pensions, The London Probation Service and The Crown Prosecution Service. This foundation in the Criminal Courts gave him invaluable advocacy skills that he has adopted in his current practice.
Steven’s Personal Injury practice tends to focus on Defendant’s counter allegations of Fraud and Fundamental Dishonesty, with a growing practice in acting for Claimants who are self-representing following a break down in their relationship with their own solicitors.
A regular attendee at Court with vast experience in Personal Injury Fast Track and Multi Track matters, Steven now predominately works in the area of Family Law and Civil Litigation with a particular emphasis on Care Proceedings and Business Energy Claims. Steven has acted in over 300 Business Energy Claims, providing detailed written advice on merits, limitation, disclosure and quantum, and settling pleadings across a substantial volume of multi-track litigation. In relation to his Family Practice, he is regularly instructed to act for local authorities, parents, guardians and other parties to proceedings.
Steven prides himself on his attention to detail and high client care, allowing him to grasp complex cases quickly and empathise with those he works so hard to represent.
Steven has a busy paper based practice and regularly undertakes general drafting work. In addition to his paper-based workload, he participates in mediation, negotiation and advocacy in the courts.
Direct Access
As a direct access barrister Steven can be instructed by clients directly, this can lead to a saving in costs and allows clients to communicate directly with their chosen advocate. Steven’s direct access work spans all civil litigation and matters of law, ranging from High Court Injunctions to Drink Drive Prosecutions in the Magistrates Court.
As a final note, Steven is also Police Station accredited meaning that he can represent Clients at their very first dealings within the Criminal Justice System.
Interests:
To relax, Steven enjoys diving, skiing, golf and reading. Prior to the arrival of his two children, you could have found him in the Shed End of Stamford Bridge watching his beloved Chelsea Football Club.
Qualifications:
LLB – Law
Bar Vocational Course
Police Station Accreditation
Steven has a busy family law practice, predominantly in public law children proceedings. He is regularly instructed on behalf of parents, local authorities, wider family members, intervenors and other individuals against whom findings are sought.
He has extensive experience of complex care proceedings involving non-accidental injury, sexual abuse, serious physical abuse and neglect, domestic abuse, substance misuse and significant mental health difficulties. His cases frequently involve multiple children and parties, extensive medical and expert evidence, substantial police and social care disclosure and lengthy fact-finding hearings.
Steven is particularly experienced in cases which develop significantly during the course of proceedings. His recent work has included proceedings involving multiple local authorities and agencies, allegations and cross-allegations between members of extended families, international elements and cases where the factual and evidential issues have expanded considerably beyond those which originally brought the family before the Court.
He also represents foster carers and intervenors against whom serious findings are sought. He understands that, for those individuals, the consequences of findings can extend considerably beyond the immediate care proceedings and have profound personal and professional consequences.
Steven also undertakes private law children work, particularly where cases involve serious safeguarding allegations, international elements or have become unusually complex. His experience includes relocation, severe alienating behaviours, forced marriage and Forced Marriage Protection Orders.
Recent and Notable Instructions
Case A – Acting for a mother from the Traveller community in complex public law proceedings involving significant mental health concerns, during which the mother was detained under the Mental Health Act. The proceedings involved multiple local authorities as the family travelled around the country. Following a successful rehabilitation programme, the children were returned to their mother’s care and/or remained within the wider family, whilst maintaining the family’s travelling lifestyle.
Case B – Acting for a mother in proceedings which began with allegations of non-accidental injury but developed into exceptionally complex, multi-handed proceedings involving multiple local authorities and agencies. The proceedings subsequently expanded to encompass numerous allegations and cross-allegations of serious sexual abuse involving children and members of the wider family, together with concerns surrounding potential sexual exploitation and trafficking.
Case C – Acting in proceedings involving allegations of forced marriage, Forced Marriage Protection Orders and cross-jurisdictional issues, requiring consideration of the interaction between protective orders, safeguarding concerns and wider children proceedings.
Case D – Acting for a Romanian father in proceedings in which the Court described the circumstances as one of the worst cases of parental alienation it had seen. The case commenced in private law before developing into public law proceedings and involved international social work and extensive multi-agency intervention. The child had reached the point of rejecting any relationship with his father. Following prolonged intervention and work with the family, that relationship was re-established and the proceedings ultimately concluded with the child travelling to Romania to spend holiday periods with his father.
Case E – Acting for a father in proceedings concerning a baby with whom he had been prevented from establishing a relationship. The mother had made false allegations of abuse against the father and informed professionals that he wanted nothing to do with the child, notwithstanding his repeated attempts to establish a relationship. The proceedings ultimately concluded with a change of residence, with the child moving into the father’s care within the paternal family.
Case F – Acting for a professional foster carer placed within the pool of possible perpetrators following allegations that drugs had deliberately been administered to a child during respite care as a means of managing the child’s behaviour. The allegations carried extremely serious personal and professional consequences. Police were involved and there were parallel criminal proceedings, requiring consideration of the evidential relationship between the criminal and family jurisdictions.
Case G – Acting for intervenors and members of the wider family against whom findings were sought that they had physically harmed children. The case required detailed challenge to serious allegations against individuals who were not themselves parents to the subject children but who faced potentially significant consequences if findings were made against them.
Case H – Acting in substantial care proceedings involving more than 50 allegations, including allegations of physical beatings, starvation, isolation and extreme neglect. The proceedings involved extensive police material requiring detailed forensic consideration of the underlying evidence relating to individual allegations. Parallel criminal proceedings for alleged child cruelty remained ongoing and had a significant impact upon the preparation and conduct of the family proceedings.
Case I – Acting in complex private law proceedings involving relocation alongside substantial disputes concerning the children’s living arrangements, finances and educational provision.
His practice in this area has developed alongside the rapidly evolving case law on broker commissions and fiduciary duties. He has closely followed, and adapted his drafting and strategic approach to reflect, the most recent appellate developments, including the changes in analysis following Johnson. His pleadings and written advices are structured to reflect the current judicial treatment of secrecy, disclosure, rescission and restitutionary remedies.
Steven’s work in this area includes:
- Advising on the viability of secret commission and fiduciary duty claims
- Providing written advice on limitation, concealment and discovery issues
- Settling Particulars of Claim and amended pleadings
- Advising on rescission, counter-restitution and quantum strategy
- Assisting with expert evidence and pricing analysis
- Working closely with solicitors and their teams to develop robust and consistent working practices in high-volume BEC litigation
- Being available to support file handlers with technical queries and complex issues
- Attending offices to provide face-to-face assistance and strategic input where required
These claims frequently involve substantial sums and require careful strategic management from the outset. Steven approaches them with technical precision, commercial awareness and a focus on maintaining consistency across large portfolios of cases.
What Steven's clients say
Steven and I have worked together for many years and he is our main Counsel for all our Claimant work. He is dependable and we trust him to get the job done
MH – professional client
Steven was instructed on a high value claim involving historic rape, he successfully appealed against a Master’s decision not to set aside the Claimant’s default judgment and went on to achieve a fantastic result for the Client. His attention to detail was meticulous and we have instructed him on multiple cases since
GDC – professional client
Steven provided a level of support that went beyond my expectations. He believed in me when no one else did and he helped me through the complicated and difficult legal process
TA – lay client (direct access)
Steven’s attention to detail and ability to grasp the complex issues in a case makes him our primary choice when it comes to instructing Counsel. He is approachable, personable and dependable and we have confidently recommended him to other firms
LE – professional client
We had never instructed a barrister directly but found Steven very approachable and easy to communicate with. His service was fantastic and we have continued to use him and recommend him to others
KH – lay client (direct access)
We instructed Steven when a family member was accused of a criminal offence they did not commit. Steven’s attention to detail was second to none and his presence in court was powerful and compelling. We appreciated how he was always willing to give his time and how clearly he explained things to us; she was acquitted
MH – lay client (direct access)