Barrister Profile

Main Areas of Practice

Administrative Law or Judicial Review
Coroners or Inquests
Defamation Law or Privacy Law
Human Rights

Biography

Nick is at the forefront of the complex and cutting edge area of “legacy litigation”. Nick is particularly skilled at dealing with issues relating to Article 2 ECHR, informants, Closed Material Procedures and other national security issues. He is one of the leading juniors in this area. Nick has broken new legal ground in this area, including:

1. Secondary victims of intentional torts do not need to satisfy the Alcock principles of proximity to claim (O’Halloran v PSNI & Anor [2020] NIQB 30]. This case is a fundamental broadening to the class of Plaintiffs who can claim for damages arising out of an intentional tort;
2. The implied duty of confidence in documents provided in discovery can be varied by a Court to allow documents disclosed in a lead case to be shared with a wider group of cases (Frizzell v PSNI [2019] NIQB 90);
3. The relevant test for pre-proceedings discovery in a legacy cases (McAleese (obo McAleese) v Ministry of Defence & Anor [2018] NI Master 9].

Beyond legacy litigation, Nick has extensive experience of actions against the police such as false imprisonment (including terrorism related arrests), misfeasance in public office and malicious prosecution. He has particular skill and expertise in claims for false imprisonment arising out of arrests and searches under terrorism legislation.

Nick is also instructed in a number of inquests, both legacy and non-legacy. He has represented relatives of those who have died in hospital; in prison; and during contact with the PSNI. He has expertise in the application of Article 2 to inquests, including in the developing area of NHS treatment. Further, Nick has experience in judicially reviewing decisions of Coroners as to scope ad structure of the inquest. He is on the Coroners Panel of Counsel. Closely affiliated with inquests, Nick has a growing practice in clinical negligence actions.

Nick is developing a practice relating to Article 8, breach of privacy, defamation, libel and the Data Protection Act 1998. Prior to coming to the Bar of Northern Ireland Nick was employed in the role of Junior Counsel to the Robert Hamill Inquiry, Azelle Rodney Inquiry and Mark Duggan Inquest. His particular expertise is in the role that national security issues have to play in inquests and public inquiries.