He is fearless with a brilliant tactical mind. He sees arguments that others don't and is great at getting results.

Chambers & Partners 2020

Overview

Richard is a solicitor-advocate who has worked independently in environmental law since 1990. Getting his firm to where it is has meant fighting many cases which are significant both for the advancement of environmental law and “on the ground”. These include establishing principles relating to classification of Special Protection Areas for birds, seeing proper application of rules on EIA, keeping night flights down at Heathrow Airport, improving government accountability in planning decisions, and improving access to justice by reducing worries about costs exposure. Much of his work is planning-related and (perhaps in recognition of establishment tweaked) he is recognised as an influential individual in the planning field.

Richard has been able to help clients in all sorts of situations, including large and small development proposals, wind farms, telecommunication masts, aircraft noise, road, airport and port proposals, pipelines, industrial plants, green spaces, and in cases relating to the marine environment. Besides challenging local and central government decisions, his work involves claims against bad neighbours, particularly for noise and other pollution, as well as before tribunals and with ombudsmen. Cases that have caught the public eye include battles about night flying, excessive noise from Harrier aircraft training, and noise from the Alton Towers theme park. More recently, government proposals for a huge Holocaust memorial in a small park in central London were found to be unlawful and Warren Farm, 25 hectares of green space in west London, was protected from development.

The work has taken him to most levels of court, including several cases in the House of Lords and Supreme Court, the European Court of Human Rights, and (before Brexit) in the European Court of Justice.

Richard went to Trinity College, Cambridge, and qualified as a solicitor in 1978 with Farrer & Co. He worked as a shipping lawyer in London and Tokyo, took time off to obtain a master’s degree in environmental science and policy from Yale University and gain practical environmental consultancy experience in Canada in fisheries and geoscience, before returning to work in England in 1989. He set up on his own in 1990 and has worked ever since helping clients use the law to help their own and the wider environment.