Managing partner, Leighton Buzzard
The principle of law and justice has always fascinated me. There are no lawyers in my immediate family, so I am not sure where this came from. At the tender age of 16, I applied to my local county court for my compulsory week of work experience. I fell in love with the courtroom. Considering this was Slough County Court (it has been described as looking more like a shower block than a court building), there was clearly some magic to it.
I wasn’t much use in the back office and the court ushers were short-staffed, so I found myself donning a gown and running the daily hearing lists. At 16, life couldn’t get much better. I was fascinated by the resident district judges and visiting circuit judges, always hoping to hear their war stories. I reapplied to the court for my summer job and kept coming year after year.
This work experience cemented my desire for a career in law, so I did the sensible thing and applied to study IT at university. My parents must have questioned my ability to become a lawyer at this stage, but they smiled and waved me off. After graduation, I studied the GDL and LPC at the College of Law, Guildford. I was back on track to become a lawyer.
Those familiar with Mount Browne, Guildford will know one half is Surrey Police HQ and the other the College of Law campus. Perhaps I watched too many episodes of MacGyver or The A-Team as a child, but I found myself being sworn in as a constable (of the special variety) by a magistrate before I graduated law school. At this stage, my parents had given up hope of having a lawyer in the family. My father, upon finding out I was now a police officer was mortified, doubly so when he realised I wasn’t getting paid.
'You are equally likely to find me in a courtroom or riding around a race circuit in the UK or Europe'
However, this was the best of both worlds. During the day I was working for a law firm in the City, chasing the elusive training contract, and in the evening I was trading my suit for body armour and getting involved in all manner of police work. I was always drawn to road policing. Having completed my strategic and fast roads training, I became part of an ANPR (automatic numberplate recognition) intercept unit. This was cutting-edge at the time, resulting in stopping lots of interesting people and then arresting them. The law enforcement aspect was just as interesting as desk-based lawyering.
My passion for motorcycling led me to apply for a job at White Dalton Motorcycle Solicitors. I qualified as a solicitor there and, a decade later, took up the helm as managing partner. The firm offered the perfect mix of hard-nosed litigation and enjoying two wheels, whether riding to court or a trip to the French Alps for a motorcycle magazine.
The motorcycle community is a small-knit group of, generally unloved, road users who require specialist representation more often than you realise. Having left the police after 13 years, I also found myself being instructed to defend cases of careless riding or causing death by dangerous riding. My time as a police officer on the roads policing unit helped no end.
The bulk of my work is representing motorcyclists who have suffered life-changing injuries. The work is bittersweet. These bikers come to my firm at their lowest point, but I take great pride in representing them and watching their lives turn around with intensive rehabilitation and financial security.
Between my police career and litigation work, I have seen every possible way of falling off a motorcycle and hurting yourself; my wife does question my sanity for continuing to ride. I am lucky enough to enjoy a small collection of special bikes. The lawyers in my firm also enjoy riding and they do not get a company car, but they can have a company motorcycle to ride.
I write for a few motorcycle magazines and present the legal corner for the leading YouTube motorcycle channel, 44Teeth (nothing to do with dentistry). As such, you are equally likely to find me in a courtroom or riding around a race circuit in the UK or Europe.
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