Crown Office Chambers advises on professional negligence cases across a broad range of sectors including legal, insurance, IT and financial services. The set has members involved in the Grenfell Tower civil litigation, Andrew Rigney KC leads the team representing Rydon, the main design and build contractor, in relation to several claims, alongside Michael Harper and Toby Chandler. Ivor Collett acts for the defendant solicitors in Kagbara and others v Leigh Day, a case in which Nigerians who secured damages from Shell in an English court after leaks from an oil pipeline allege that the proceeds of their settlement were mishandled by the solicitors. Carlo Taczalski represents the defendant brokers in CPH Holdings v Generali v Aon UK Limited, a high value claim that centres around the arrangement of appropriate insurance cover. Henk Soede joined from Deka Chambers in 2024.
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Profile
Position
Michael’s practice centres on professional negligence, insurance, property damage, product liability, commercial disputes and related (or overlapping) areas.
Michael regularly advises or acts at all stages of litigation and in a variety of hearings, including as sole counsel in the High Court. Alongside this, Michael prides himself on working effectively as part of a larger team. Examples include a £300m professional negligence dispute (one of the Lawyer’s Top 20 cases of 2019).
Career
Before joining Chambers, Michael was the Judicial Assistant to Lady Justice Gloster, worked on what became the Insurance Act 2015 at the Law Commission and tutored in Commercial Law at the University of Oxford. During practice Michael has also spent a period on secondment with a specialist insurance firm.
This background has provided direct experience of what solicitors and clients but also judges want from counsel.
Memberships
COMBAR, PNBA
Education
BPTC; BCL (University of Oxford; with faculty scholarship); BA Jurisprudence (University of Oxford).
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Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Clerks are efficient and easy to deal with. Rob Frankish and Lauren Whiston have been particularly helpful.'
- 'Steve Purse is impeccable in terms of both service and relationship ;he knows what we need and ensures that we get it.'
- ''Steve Purse is excellent and always finds a way to find someone when needed.'
- 'The clerking team are excellent - Steve Purse is one of the best in the business and does an unparalleled job in getting us the right team for the case. Joe Shepherd and Lauren Whiston have both been great in supporting Steve in recent years.'
- 'The clerks are strong, particularly Steve Purse, who really looks after solicitors and makes sure to deliver the right barrister for them and their client, and the new senior clerk, James Wilkinson.'
- 'Crown Office Chambers is one of the go to sets for professional indemnity work. Their silks are well respected and they have great depth of juniors.'
- 'Crown Office Chambers is rightly regarded at the top of professional negligence.'
- 'Crown Office is a top-tier construction and professional negligence set.'