Email address
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+44 (0)203 205 7138Share profile
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About
Provided by Richard Matthews KC
Practice Areas
Richard is widely regarded as a foremost regulatory and corporate defence King’s Counsel in England and Wales. His expertise spans the breadth of regulatory and business crime, especially health and safety enforcement, fire safety (the Fire Safety Order) and environmental enforcement. His particular expertise encompasses gross negligence and corporate manslaughter, having advised government on the drafting of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007. Richard has considerable experience of representing corporations, directors and individuals facing a wide range of regulatory investigations and enforcement action, particularly health and safety, environmental and fire safety. In addition to prosecutions and trial representation, Richard’s experience of these fields extends to actions for judicial review (of both the HSE and Environment Agency) concerning the exercise of powers and issuances of notices.
He has regularly advised and represented many leading UK and international corporations and appeared for interested parties, particularly corporations, in a great number of jury inquests concerned with work-related deaths and Public Inquiries. He has advised in many of the UK’s most sensitive safety related issues over many years. Richard’s experience extends to prosecutions related to pesticides, trade in ‘parallel products’, copyright protection and the proceeds of crime.
Career
Richard was educated at Girton College, Cambridge, and was called to the bar in 1989. He was appointed King’s Counsel in 2010.
Publications
Health and Safety Enforcement: Law and Practice (Oxford University Press, 4th edition 2016)
Blackstone's Guide to Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 (Oxford University Press, 2008)
Chambers Review
UK Bar
Richard Matthews KC of Mayfair Place Chambers is an impressive silk who has a wealth of experience in cases spanning the full breadth of regulatory and criminal health and safety issues. He has represented international corporations and individuals, as well as FTSE companies, in investigations and prosecutions brought by the HSE. He is also noted for his representation of individuals at inquests arising from accidents at work.
Richard Matthews KC of Mayfair Place Chambers runs a busy environmentalpractice and has expertise in the criminal and regulatory spheres, particularly health and safety. He is frequently instructed to act on the defendant side for major corporate clients in cases concerned with water pollution and waste management.
Richard Matthews KC of Mayfair Place Chambers comes highly recommended for inquests involving aspects of health and safety or product liability law.
Strengths
Provided by Chambers
"Richard is strategically superb. He is a persuasive advocate."
"Richard is an extremely charming advocate."
"Richard Matthews is the leading silk across health and safety, inquests and public inquiries. He is head and shoulders above others. He is tactically very astute and has very good judgement."
"Richard Matthews is excellent."
"Richard Matthews is without a doubt one of the pre-eminent silks in this area."
"Richard is fantastic. He is firmly established and a pioneer in the health and safety sector. He has literally written the book. He has a wealth of experience."
"Richard knows the law back to front, but what differentiates him from the others is how he seeks to apply it. He will take novel and innovative points and he rarely loses. He is an intellectual giant."
"He has incredibly sound judgement and is absolutely fantastic to work with. He has outstanding advocacy skills; he's calm and collected at all times. I would describe him as a very safe pair of hands."
"Richard is strategically superb and a persuasive advocate."
"Richard is strategically superb. He is a persuasive advocate."
"Richard is an extremely charming advocate."
"Richard Matthews is the leading silk across health and safety, inquests and public inquiries. He is head and shoulders above others. He is tactically very astute and has very good judgement."
"Richard Matthews is excellent."
"Richard Matthews is without a doubt one of the pre-eminent silks in this area."
"Richard is fantastic. He is firmly established and a pioneer in the health and safety sector. He has literally written the book. He has a wealth of experience."
"Richard knows the law back to front, but what differentiates him from the others is how he seeks to apply it. He will take novel and innovative points and he rarely loses. He is an intellectual giant."
"He has incredibly sound judgement and is absolutely fantastic to work with. He has outstanding advocacy skills; he's calm and collected at all times. I would describe him as a very safe pair of hands."
"Richard is strategically superb and a persuasive advocate."
