The investigation and proceedings that follow can be daunting; not only because of their impact on the respondent’s career and ability to earn a living but also because of the risk of long-lasting reputational harm. We have a long history of representing a wide range of regulated professionals facing misconduct and fitness to practise proceedings. We will guide and support you throughout the process, protecting you career and your reputations.
Regulatory bodies can be aggressive in their approach, with most applying the civil standard of proof, i.e. the balance of probabilities. This can make defending proceedings particularly challenging, highlighting the need for robust representation. Early advice and action is crucial. Decisions made during the initial stages of an investigation can have an impact on the tone and direction of future proceedings, which can last for many months, and in some circumstances, for years. Throughout this process, we take steps to ensure that you can continue practising and that your professional development is unhindered.
Our expertise
We regularly act for clients from a wide range of professions, including doctors, dentists, solicitors, accountants, teachers, and many more. We are experienced in acting in proceedings relating to minor procedural and ethical breaches up to the most serious misconduct, including serious criminal offences.
We provide beginning to end representation to guide you through the entire course of an investigation, including in connection with:
- making representations to regulatory bodies to avoid formal disciplinary proceedings;
- making representations to the Disclosure and Barring Service;
- representing professionals in relation to Interim Orders;
- representing professionals in fitness to practise proceedings;
- representing professionals in relation to sanction where impairment is found;
- challenging decisions by judicial review and appeal to the High Court; and
- reputation management and media engagement.
Often our involvement arises from having first acted for an individual in relation to a criminal investigation, with professional disciplinary proceedings in parallel or afterwards. We also regularly act in cases where there has been no criminal investigation and in cases where the misconduct alleged does not amount to a criminal offence. Whatever the circumstances, the impact on your ability to work and protecting your reputation is at the heart of everything we do.
We will guide you throughout the process, providing early advice and assistance prior to the formal initiation of proceedings; including through to taking steps to ensure that any interim restrictions are fair and proportionate. We are experienced in making representations to regulators in order to avoid the need for full proceedings before a tribunal. Where it is necessary to proceed to a contested hearing to consider fitness to practise, or to consider the imposition of a sanction where impairment has been found, we work closely with the country’s leading regulatory barristers, ensuring that our clients are robustly defended.
All regulatory bodies and the tribunals to which they refer matters are unique and have their own practices and cultures. Codes of conduct and disciplinary procedures can change frequently. There is no uniform approach, and an effective method of engagement with one regulator may not work with another. Where a regulator or tribunal acts unfairly or unlawfully, we will challenge them and hold them to account, either through judicial review or by way of appeal to the High Court.
Our advice and support extends beyond the doors of the tribunal. Where proceedings result in unwanted media attention, we are experienced in engaging with publications and media outlets to ensure fair and accurate reporting. We also advise corporates and organisations in relation to regulatory compliance and enforcement.
We act in proceedings involving the following regulators:
- General Medical Council
- General Dental Council
- Teaching Regulatory Agency
- Health and Care Professionals Council
- British Psychoanalytical Council
- Solicitors Regulation Authority
- Financial Conduct Authority
- Financial Reporting Council
Our experience
Examples of our instructions include:
- Successful defence of a senior anaesthetist referred to the Medical Practitioners Tribunal (MPT) by the General Medical Council (GMC), despite having been unanimously acquitted by a jury of serious sexual offences in a clinical setting. We successfully defended our client before the tribunal, which ultimately imposed only a minor sanction, enabling them to return to practice.
- Representing a psychotherapist and psychiatrist referred to the British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC) following a complaint by a former patient that our client had taken financial advantage of him. The complaint, if upheld, would have amounted to a breach of the BPC’s Code of Ethics and could have resulted in our client being suspended or struck off from the BPC Register. Through our early intervention we were able to prevent the most serious of the allegations being referred to a Disciplinary Hearing Panel.
- Acting for a schoolteacher under investigation by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) following an allegation that they dishonestly misappropriated funds from parents of pupils at his school. By making detailed representations to the TRA in relation to personal difficulties our client had been experiencing at the time of the incident, we were able to avoid the TRA referring the matter to the Professional Conduct Panel, saving their career.
- Acting in crown court proceedings and before Health and Care Professionals Council for a radiographer accused of fraud by false representation in relation to allegations that he submitted false claims for payment totalling over £50,000 to an NHS trust.
- Representing a doctor facing investigation by the NHS Counter Fraud Unit, following allegations that they had stolen and laundered money as a result of overpayments spanning several years.
- Representation of a doctor facing allegations of FGM following a complex police investigation.
