Case studies

Regulatory

Examples of our work in this area

• We represented the General Dental Council in the key case of R (on the application of Shiekh) v General Dental Council [2007] EWHC 2972 which offered guidance in the important area of regulators' powers to suspend registrants on an interim basis pending the outcome of substantive inquiries. Mr Shiekh was subsequently erased from the General Dental Council’s register and appealed that decision to the High Court. We handled the appeal which was heard in 2009 and the decision of the General Dental Council’s Professional Conduct Committee was upheld by Mr Justice Lloyd-Jones (Shiekh v General Dental Council [2009] EWHC186]). The judgment is of wide application in the field of professional discipline in cases involving practitioners who have been convicted of relatively minor dishonesty offences.
• We handle some 200 cases annually for one regulator and advise on matters ranging from appeals, to judicial review, to employment law, to management of their property portfolio and complicated information law questions such as how to treat the registration details of registrants who have undergone gender reassignment. We appreciate that the timescales for such advisory work can often be much shorter than that for regulatory prosecutions, but our standard procedures for the client provide for appropriate response times and supervision of such work. Our long-standing association with the client demonstrates how successful we have been in meeting their expectations on timings and cost.
• We worked for ILEX Professional Services Ltd (the regulatory arm of the Institute of Legal Executives) to draft their new Investigation, Disciplinary and Appeals Rules. These rules will have a wide impact and will now govern the fitness to practise regime in relation to Legal Executives.