Alan is ranked in the legal directories as a leading junior in competition, public procurement, EU, and telecoms law.
Much of his work consists of competition, regulatory and public procurement disputes involving both complex economic issues and difficult technical points of law (including EU law). He has acted both for and against all the main UK competition and sectoral regulators and the EU Commission. He was appointed a Deputy High Court Judge in 2023, sitting in the Administrative Court and the Technology & Construction Court.
Alan has played a leading role in the development of the UK’s competition law private damages regime. He led the defence team in resisting the first ever application for a Collective Proceedings Order (Gibson v Pride Mobility) and, since then, has been instructed in many collective actions. For example, he is Lead Counsel for a group of claimants in the ‘Second Wave’ Trucks proceedings and for Bittylicious in the ongoing BSV Claims v Bittylicious cryptocurrency competition law ‘opt-out’ collective action case.
He is also regularly instructed in procurement law proceedings (both for claimants and for contracting authorities/utilities). His experience includes claims arising under the Utilities Contracts, Defence Contracts, and Concessions, Regulations, as well as the Public Contracts Regulations.
Alan’s publications have included chapters in practitioners’ texts such as Bellamy & Child European Union Law of Competition and European Union Law of State Aid. He is a co-author of Blackstone’s Guide to the UK Internal Market Act and was a member of the expert panel appointed by the UK Government to carry out a review of the Human Rights Act.
Research assistant Law Commission of England and Wales 2000-01; called 2003; completed pupillage 2004; judicial assistant to Law Lords, House of Lords 2004-05; tutor in Public Law King’s College, London 2004-05. Alan read Law at Christ’s College, Cambridge, graduating with first class honours. He was awarded the University’s Clive Parry Prize for Public International Law, the De Hart Prize for Public Law (re-awarded twice) and was a scholar of his college. He was subsequently awarded a Thouron scholarship to study at the University of Pennsylvania (where be obtained an LL.M. degree in 2002) and a Middle Temple Queen Mother scholarship for his year at Bar School. He subsequently interned with an organisation in India that was conducting DFID-funded research on the enactment and enforcement of competition law in developing countries. For the judicial year 2004-05, Alan was Judicial Assistant to the then Senior Law Lord, Lord Bingham. More recently, Alan was awarded a Pegasus scholarship which enabled him to spend an extended period working on competition and regulatory disputes at leading New Zealand law firm Chapman Tripp. He is a strong believer in the need for the Bar to be modern, meritocratic, user-friendly and diverse, while staying true to its ethics and values, and he seeks to further that belief through his membership of the Bar Standards Board’s Education and Training Committee. Publications of note: co-author of the State aid chapter of Bellamy & Child (2008 edition).
Constitutional and Administrative Law Bar Association (ALBA); Lawyers for Animal Welfare (ALAW); Bar European Group (BEG); JUSTICE; Human Rights Lawyers Association (HRLA); UK Environmental Law Association (UKELA). Competition Law Association.
Reigate Grammar School; University of Cambridge (2000 BA Hons Law First Class; Clive Parry Prize for International Law; De Hart Prize for Public Law); University of Pennsylvania (2002 LLM; Thouron Scholar).
Outside work, Alan’s interests include independent travel and learning to play the violin. He is a governor of a London primary school and a trustee of a think-tank and an animal welfare charity.