Michael Collis

Experience

Michael joined Capsticks in July 2021, after nearly seventeen years of practice at the independent Bar. Initially practising solely in crime and extradition, Michael completed a secondment with the NMC in 2013 and thereafter built an impressive reputation as a professional regulatory advocate. Michael joins us after having spent the last two years working as a member of the Counsel Legal Team for the Undercover Policing Inquiry. 

Expertise

Michael has a strong background in criminal law, having prosecuted (CPS Level 3 and List C of the Serious Fraud Office’s Panel Counsel) and defended in a wide variety of cases. He also has a wealth of experience representing the NMC in its most difficult and challenging cases. He has appeared in cases dealing with patient and baby deaths, dealt with un-represented registrants, and has led the NMC’s disclosure exercise in some of its largest cases. Michael has also provided training to the NMC and its lawyers on witness handling skills for substantive hearings.

Notable projects

Michael has dealt with the following notable cases:

• NMC v HL & others (2019-2020) – Instructed as Case Presenter in the four-handed, 23,000-page case, arising from the now-defunct Liverpool Community Health NHS Trust;
• NMC v ED & others (2018) – Instructed as Case Presenter in a four-handed, 13,000-page case, arising from a criminal investigation into the level of care provided in a care home;
• R v OA (2018) – Represented a defendant accused of using his second-hand car business as a vehicle for professional money laundering;
• NMC v AM & others (2017) – Represented one of the midwives referred following baby deaths in Guernsey, culminating in an NMC Extraordinary Review of midwifery practises on the island;
• R v PH (2017) – Prosecuted an identity-theft fraud, in which the defendant used the identity of his severely disabled friend to obtain loans;
• R v SU (2016) – Prosecuted a POCA application, resulting in a six-figure order being made against the defendant;
• R v DV (2016) – Prosecuted a six-figure VAT fraud, in which the defendant used his friend’s identity to try and conceal his role in the fraud;
• S.22 POCA applications (2016-2021) – Advised the CPS as to the likelihood of succeeding in s.22 POCA applications in a series of cases;
• Orchid View (2014-2016) – Instructed as Case Presenter in a multitude of referrals from the now-defunct care home, Orchid View, including a case involving the Home Manager shredding MAR charts in an effort to hide her staff’s over-medicating of patients;
• NMC v PM (2013-2014) – Instructed as Case Presenter a re-hearing, following a successful appeal against the first substantive hearing, following the midwife’s use of forged document in the High Court, and then represented the NMC in the High Court in the second appeal [2014] EWHC 1862 (Admin); and
• R (on the application of Arunthavaraja) v Administrative Court Office [2009] EWHC 18921 (Admin) – Represented the defendant in his attempt to resist extradition to Cyprus and in the subsequent judicial review relating to time limits for filing and serving the notice of appeal

Called to the Bar

2004

Qualifications

• MA Law (Camb)

Memberships

• List C of the SFO’s Panel Counsel 
• Criminal Bar Association 
• South Eastern Circuit Inner Temple