I started Head of Legal to explain developments in law, and the law behind the news, to an informed and interested but not necessarily legal audience. And because I can’t help thinking, writing and obsessing about law, particularly my specialisms in constitutional, public, human rights and European law and the way they interact with politics and society.
I blogged here at lot until about 2015-16, then was quiet for a long period for a mix of reasons. I’m back now.
I’m a barrister, and worked as a government lawyer for twelve years, advising ministers and government departments on a wide range of public law issues from tax to terrorism, from freedom of information to pensions, from discrimination to health and from defence to broadcasting. My career in government included stints at the Cabinet Office, where I advised on the EU Constitution negotiations, and at the Attorney General’s Office where I advised Lord Goldsmith on a wide variety of legal issues. I advised nearly every government department, from the Home Office to Health and from the Treasury to Defence.
After leaving practice I continued to train government lawyers at the National School of Government, then taught public and EU law to undergraduates at the Open University, and to graduates as subject leader for public law at BPP University Law School. I’m still involved in legal education as an external examiner for City Law School.
I now write about public law and commission legal content for LexisNexis.