M.A. (Cantab), BCL (Oxon), D.Phil (Oxon)
M.A. (Cantab), BCL (Oxon), D.Phil (Oxon)
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Brendan is a leading junior with a wealth of experience in Commercial, Public law and Regulatory disputes. He has appeared and made submissions at every level, including before the Supreme Court and the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union. He offers expertise across Chambers’ core areas and he is in equal demand amongst public and private clients in Judicial Review, EU, Competition, Procurement, and Tax litigation. He is currently involved in the ‘Trucks’ litigation in the Competition Appeal Tribunal and a number of procurement and commercial disputes arising out of the COVID 19 pandemic. In addition, he regularly acts in Animal Welfare, Financial Services, Insurance, Sport and Professional Negligence disputes. Brendan is personable and persuasive and is regularly instructed in his own right as both a trial advocate and an appellate advocate. His intellectual rigour, hard work and commercial common sense has resulted in a thriving advisory practice. In March 2019 Hart published Brendan’s new book ‘Data Profiling and Insurance Law’ which considers the legal implications of Insurers’ use of personal data in underwriting and claims decisions and which won the prestigious British Insurance Law Association book prize for 2020. In 2021, Brendan co-authored ‘The UK Internal Market Act 2020’ along with George Peretz KC, Alan Bates and Jack Williams. In early 2024, his new book ‘Financial Services Law and Distributed Ledger Technology: Regulating Cryptoassets and Decentralised Finance’ will be published by Edward Elgar in early 2024 its financial law series. He is co-author of Professional Indemnity Insurance, the second edition of which was published in February 2016 by Oxford University Press as well as the chapter on UK Merger Control (with Ben Rayment) in Weinberg and Blank on Takeovers and Mergers. In addition, Brendan has published several articles on Insurance and Competition law. Brendan is recommended as a leading junior in Administrative and Public law, Animal law, Competition, EU law, Life Sciences Regulatory law, Procurement, Tax and Professional Negligence. He was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 2015 and to the Bar of Ireland in 2018.
Administrative & Public Law: “His written advocacy is excellent; he is incredibly good at what he does.” “He’s great to work with and extremely creative; he’s really good at thinking outside the normal parameters of the cases.” – Chambers UK, 2023
Animal Law: “Clients praise Brendan’s written output and advocacy. He is meticulous and thinks outside the box.” – Chambers UK, 2023
Life Sciences Regulatory: “An excellent lawyer, who is very approachable and helpful.” – Chambers UK, 2023
Public Procurement: “Very academic and very clever.” “A superb senior junior, who is calm, composed and extremely bright.” – Chambers UK, 2023
Tax: Indirect Tax: ‘‘Brendan is a real rising star of the junior Bar; he is excellent on his feet and his written submissions are always compelling and extremely well written. He is adept at distilling complex factual and legal matters into convincing and easily understood arguments.’’ – Chambers UK, 2023
EU law: “A smooth and articulate advocate, Brendan is highly technical and produced great written work. He has stood up to tough questions from judges on EU law authorities in the highest courts, such as the CJEU.” – Legal 500, 2023
Public procurement: “A well prepared advocate who is very good on his feet.” – Legal 500, 2023
Tax: VAT and Excise: “Brendan is a fantastic advocate, his oral submissions are particularly persuasive and he is adept at pitching his submissions so that they contain the appropriate level of detail.” – Legal 500, 2023
“Excellent senior junior who is always completely on top of his brief. Also an absolute pleasure to work with.” – Competition, Legal 500, 2022
“An excellent senior-junior surely on the verge of taking silk. Phenomenally bright and excellent on his feet – he manages to turn hearings around.” – Legal 500, 2022
‘His intellectual capacity is really fantastic. He’s good to work with and his written work is outstanding; all round he’s an incredibly capable, very compelling advocate’’ – Chambers UK, 2020
Brendan is currently involved in:
Recent work and significant cases include:
“His written advocacy is excellent; he is incredibly good at what he does.” “He’s great to work with and extremely creative; he’s really good at thinking outside the normal parameters of the cases.” – Chambers UK, 2023
“Brendan is a responsive and strategic barrister. Clients and solicitors have confidence in Brendan leading on cases and giving tactical advice to achieve clients’ objectives.” – Legal 500, 2022
Brendan is currently involved in:
Recent work and significant cases include:
Brendan is currently involved in:
Recent work and significant cases include:
“Excellent senior junior who is always completely on top of his brief. Also an absolute pleasure to work with.” – Legal 500, 2022
“An excellent senior-junior surely on the verge of taking silk. Phenomenally bright and excellent on his feet – he manages to turn hearings around.” – Legal 500, 2022
Brendan is currently involved in:
Recent work and significant cases include:
Brendan’s competition law publications include:
“A smooth and articulate advocate, Brendan is highly technical and produced great written work. He has stood up to tough questions from judges on EU law authorities in the highest courts, such as the CJEU.” – Legal 500, 2023
“Excellent senior junior who is always completely on top of his brief. Also an absolute pleasure to work with.” – Legal 500, 2022
“An excellent senior-junior surely on the verge of taking silk. Phenomenally bright and excellent on his feet – he manages to turn hearings around.” – Legal 500, 2022
Brendan is currently involved in:
Brendan was previously involved in:
Brendan is currently involved in:
Recent work and significant cases include:
“Very academic and very clever.” “A superb senior junior, who is calm, composed and extremely bright.” – Chambers UK, 2023
“A well prepared advocate who is very good on his feet.” – Legal 500, 2023
Brendan published ‘Data Profiling and Insurance Law’ in March 2019, the leading work on the use of big data by insurance companies and the impact of such use on central principles of insurance law.
Brendan is co-author of Professional Indemnity Insurance, the second edition of which was published in 2016 by Oxford University Press, the leading practitioners’ text on the subject and has published several articles on insurance law.
Brendan is currently involved in:
Recent work and significant cases include:
Recent work and significant cases include:
‘‘He is an excellent all-rounder’’ – Legal 500, 2018
Brendan has acted in the following matters:
Brendan is currently involved in:
Recent work and significant cases include:
‘‘Brendan is a real rising star of the junior Bar; he is excellent on his feet and his written submissions are always compelling and extremely well written. He is adept at distilling complex factual and legal matters into convincing and easily understood arguments.’’ – Chambers UK, 2023
“Brendan is a fantastic advocate, his oral submissions are particularly persuasive and he is adept at pitching his submissions so that they contain the appropriate level of detail.” – Legal 500, 2023
Current cases:
Recent work and significant cases include:
Administrative & Public Law: “His written advocacy is excellent; he is incredibly good at what he does.” “He’s great to work with and extremely creative; he’s really good at thinking outside the normal parameters of the cases.” – Chambers UK, 2023
Animal Law: “Clients praise Brendan’s written output and advocacy. He is meticulous and thinks outside the box.” – Chambers UK, 2023
Life Sciences Regulatory: “An excellent lawyer, who is very approachable and helpful.” – Chambers UK, 2023
Public Procurement: “Very academic and very clever.” “A superb senior junior, who is calm, composed and extremely bright.” – Chambers UK, 2023
Tax: Indirect Tax: ‘‘Brendan is a real rising star of the junior Bar; he is excellent on his feet and his written submissions are always compelling and extremely well written. He is adept at distilling complex factual and legal matters into convincing and easily understood arguments.’’ – Chambers UK, 2023
Leading junior in Competition – Legal 500, 2023
Leading junior in EU law: “A smooth and articulate advocate, Brendan is highly technical and produced great written work. He has stood up to tough questions from judges on EU law authorities in the highest courts, such as the CJEU.” – Legal 500, 2023
Leading junior in Public procurement: “A well prepared advocate who is very good on his feet.” – Legal 500, 2023
Leading junior in Tax: VAT and Excise: “Brendan is a fantastic advocate, his oral submissions are particularly persuasive and he is adept at pitching his submissions so that they contain the appropriate level of detail.” – Legal 500, 2023
Leading junior in Administrative law and Human Rights: – Legal 500, 2023
Leading junior in Professional Negligence – Legal 500, 2023
Administrative & Public Law: “His grasp of the detail and the clarity of his written material is impressive. He is also friendly and easy to work with.” – Chambers UK, 2022
Public Procurement: “A barrister with excellent client-handling skills, who is very capable and able to take on complex cases.” “His responsiveness and technical prowess are fantastic. He is surgical in court, and his strategic advice is excellent.” – Chambers UK, 2022
Tax: Indirect Tax: ‘‘Very hard-working, intelligent and articulate.” “He is very well prepared and impressive on his feet.’’ – Chambers UK, 2022
Leading junior in Administrative and public law (including Elections): “Brendan is a responsive and strategic barrister. Clients and solicitors have confidence in Brendan leading on cases and giving tactical advice to achieve clients’ objectives.” – Legal 500, 2022
Leading junior in Competition: “Excellent senior junior who is always completely on top of his brief. Also an absolute pleasure to work with.” – Legal 500, 2022
Leading junior in EU law: “An excellent senior-junior surely on the verge of taking silk. Phenomenally bright and excellent on his feet – he manages to turn hearings around.” – Legal 500, 2022
Leading junior in Public procurement – Legal 500, 2022
Leading junior in Tax: indirect and VAT: “Brendan is a pleasure to work with and his technical indirect tax knowledge is very strong. Brendan’s work is always thoroughly researched and his written pleadings are always punchy and persuasive. As an advocate, Brendan is very polished. He is particularly impressive and accomplished on his feet.” – Legal 500, 2022
Leading junior in Professional Negligence – Legal 500, 2022
Administrative & Public Law: “He’s good on his feet – he has a very lovely court manner and is very smooth with the judge. He’s straightforward to work with; he just rolls up his sleeves and gets involved.” – Chambers UK, 2021
Public Procurement: “Responsive and calm, he provides practical, commercial advice to clients.” “He’s knowledgeable and able to distil information into understandable concepts.” – Chambers UK, 2021
Tax: Indirect Tax: ‘‘His opinions are very clear and he goes out of his way to understand queries.’’ – Chambers UK, 2021
Leading junior in Administrative and public law (including Elections): ‘‘Extremely clever and thoughtful – very on top of the detail of nuanced tests.’’ – Legal 500, 2021
Leading junior in Competition: ‘‘Very bright and articulate, Brendan is thorough, calm and a pleasure to work with.’’ – Legal 500, 2021
Leading junior in EU law: ‘‘Very bright and articulate and enjoyable to work with.’’ – Legal 500, 2021
Leading junior in Public procurement: ‘‘He is very intellectual and extremely thorough. He is very good on heavyweight, black letter law’’ – Legal 500, 2021
Leading junior in Tax: indirect and VAT: ‘‘He is extremely impressive on his feet, delivering powerful speeches and being unfazed by difficult and probing questions from the judiciary’’ – Legal 500, 2021
Administrative & Public Law: “His intellectual capacity is fantastic; he’s good to work with, his written work is outstanding, and he’s an incredibly capable, compelling advocate. His ability to break down the facts and applicable law was highly impressive.” “An imaginative, intelligent, up-and-coming barrister with an expanding practice.” “His submissions were forceful, persuasive and well researched.” – Chambers UK, 2020
Public Procurement: “His capacity to understand and get to grips with complex issues is really very impressive.” – Chambers UK, 2020
Tax: Indirect Tax: ‘‘His intellectual capacity is really fantastic. He’s good to work with and his written work is outstanding; all round he’s an incredibly capable, very compelling advocate’’ – Chambers UK, 2020
Leading junior in Administrative and public law (including local government): ‘‘His submissions are forceful, persuasive and well-researched’’ – Legal 500, 2020
Leading junior in Competition: ‘‘He draws on his wide experience of competition law to find imaginative ways of tackling problems.’’ – Legal 500, 2020
Leading junior in EU law: ‘‘An accomplished advocate who adjusts when he assesses which way the wind is blowing from the bench’s interventions.’’ – Legal 500, 2020
Leading junior in Professional Negligence: ‘‘He is very bright and strong on the detail.’’ – Legal 500, 2020
Leading junior in Public procurement: ‘‘An extremely thoughtful lawyer, who analyses a situation from all possible angles’’ – Legal 500, 2020
Leading junior in Tax: indirect and VAT: ‘‘His submissions are forceful, persuasive, and well-researched’’ – Legal 500, 2020
Administrative & Public Law: “Committed, creative, and has excellent instincts as well as the knowledge to back them up. Uses his breadth of experience to great effect.” “Incredibly knowledgeable.” – Chambers UK, 2019
Public Procurement: “His legal acumen and his commitment to the cause cannot be questioned.” – Chambers UK, 2019
Leading junior in Administrative and public law (including local government): ‘‘He has excellent instincts as well as the knowledge to back them’’ – Legal 500, 2018
Leading junior in Professional Negligence: ‘‘His advocacy is top notch.’’ – Legal 500, 2018
Leading junior in Public procurement: ‘‘Shapes information into understandable content based on very good procurement knowledge’’ – Legal 500, 2018
Leading junior in Tax: indirect and VAT: ‘‘He is an excellent all-rounder’’ – Legal 500, 2018
Administrative & Public Law: “He is very good, very clever and has a nice style with the courts.” – Chambers UK, 2018
Public Procurement: “Intelligent, diligent, balanced and measured.” “He’s an insightful speaker on procurement issues.” – Chambers UK, 2018
Brendan obtained First Class Honours (Law BA Hons) as an Undergraduate at Cambridge and as a Postgraduate at Oxford (BCL, 2 year). His D.Phil was supervised by Professor John Gardner and is entitled ‘The Rule of Law in the Regulatory State’. He was short-listed for a Prize Fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford in 2003, won a Queen Mother’s Major Scholarship in 2004 and a Bar European Group Scholarship in 2006. Before coming to the Bar, Brendan held a lectureship in Constitutional and Administrative Law at Wadham College in the University of Oxford. He taught as an associate lecturer in Competition Law at Cambridge University between 2018-2021.
Brendan was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 2015 and the Bar of Ireland in 2018.