Will is regularly instructed in a range of public law proceedings, including commercial and regulatory public law challenges, complex human rights claims, environmental judicial reviews, central government policy challenges, cases with a national security dimension, and matters at the intersection of other areas of law (e.g. competition, consumer, data protection, subsidy control and trade law).

In addition to public law litigation, Will has investigations, enforcement and advisory experience in a range of areas, including the digital, education, energy, gambling, product safety, telecoms and transport sectors. He has a particular interest in emerging areas of digital regulation and has advised on the Online Safety Act, the Digital Markets Unit legislation, Telecommunications (Security) Act, the E-Commerce Regulations and other legislative frameworks.

Will is the co-author of the chapter on ‘AI and Public Law’ in the Second Edition of The Law of Artificial Intelligence (Sweet & Maxwell).

Cases

Experience includes:

Central government decision-making:

• AFM and SAG-AFTRA v Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology: judicial review concerning changes to UK copyright law.
• Birmingham City Council v Secretary of State for Transport: challenge concerning termination of a £2.4bn PFI project.
• Lifescape Projects v Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero: challenge against the Government’s 2023 Biomass Strategy.
• R (VIP) v Home Secretary: Supreme Court appeal concerning the Secretary of State’s powers to issue directions to Ofcom on national security grounds.
• A company v Home Secretary: challenge against the exercise of Government powers to block telecoms companies from installing equipment at sensitive sites.
• Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021: advising on the application of the framework to strengthen the security of the UK’s telecoms networks.

Civil liberties and human rights:

• Adriatic Land 5 Limited v Long Leaseholders at Hippersley Point: Court of Appeal case concerning retrospectivity of the ‘leaseholder protections’ in the Building Safety Act 2022 and their compatibility with the A1P1 right to property.
• ARC TIME Freehold Income Authorised Fund & Ors v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government: A1P1 challenge concerning A1P1 compatibility of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024.
• Richards v Environment Agency: landmark challenge, under Articles 2 and 8 ECHR, against the Environment Agency’s regulation of a polluting landfill site (and first JR to involve ‘hot tubing’ of expert witnesses).
• Various Claimants v Home Secretary: human rights, data protection and common law damages claims on behalf of a number of migrants’ whose phones and other possessions were unlawfully seized on arrival in the UK.
• GMCDP v DWP: challenge against the use of AI and algorithmic decision making by DWP to identify potential benefit fraud.
• Z (supported by the AIRE Centre) v Home Secretary: linked deportation and EU Settlement Scheme appeals.
• AM, YM FN v London Borough of Haringey: housing judicial review, including novel claim for ongoing breaches of ECHR Article 2.
• X and Y v Ministry of Defence: challenge against the blanket application of national security and defence exemptions under the DPA 2018 in the context of applications to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme.
• R (SC) v London Borough of Redbridge: complex housing, social care and education judicial review involving ECHR Article 2 arguments and an A2P1 damages claim.

Commercial and regulatory:

• URS Corporation Ltd v BDW Trading Ltd: Supreme Court appeal concerning retrospectivity of s.135 of the Building Safety Act 2022.
• An online marketplace v Secretary of State for Business and Trade: judicial review concerning a product withdrawal notice served by the Office of Product Safety and Standards.
• Airwave Solutions Limited & Ors v CMA: Court of Appeal proceedings concerning the CMA’s decision to impose a price cap on Motorola’s Airwave telecoms network.
• Adobe/Figma merger: acting for Adobe in relation to its proposed $20 billion acquisition of Figma.
• Greenwood v Information Commissioner: challenge concerning the Information Commissioner’s approach to Freedom of Information Act 2000 appeal proceedings.
• Camelot and ors v Gambling Commission: challenge concerning the award of the Fourth National Lottery Licence, including an application to lift the automatic suspension (reverse interim injunction). Will has advised more generally on various public and regulatory issues connected to the award of the Fourth Licence.
• RIIO-2 energy price control appeals: multiple CMA appeals brought by energy companies concerning the gas and electricity prices recoverable from consumers between 2021 and 2026.
• R (Actegy) v The Advertising Standards Authority: public law challenge concerning consistency of advertising rules with consumer law.

EU, subsidy control and trade:

• AFM and SAG-AFTRA v Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology: Francovich damages claim concerning implementation of EU copyright law.
• Pan United v Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: challenge concerning the allocation of the tariff rate quota for Chinese garlic.
• Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee complaint: acting for WWF and 7 other environmental NGOs in a complaint to the ACCC concerning the lack of public participation in the negotiation and ratification of FTAs.
• Testbiotech v EU Commission: challenge against Monsanto’s market authorisation for genetically engineered maize and soybeans.

Secondment at DCMS: from April to November 2020, Will was seconded at DCMS, where he advised on a range of public and regulatory law issues concerning media enterprises, online platforms, and emerging technologies, including on various aspects of the Online Safety Act.

As a full-time Judicial Assistant in the Administrative Court from January to April 2020, Will assisted Supperstone J (Judge in Charge) and other High Court judges on various substantive and procedural matters. The cases he worked on included: Pwr and others v DPP (interpretation of s.13(1) of the Terrorism Act 2000 and compatibility with Article 10 ECHR); R (Banks) v SoS for BEIS (renewable energy state aid challenge); R (X School) v Ofsted (injunctive relief to prevent publication of an OFSTED report); AR v SSWP (interpretative obligation under section 3 Human Rights Act in a social welfare context); R (Morris) v Parole Board (status of unproven allegations of criminal conduct in Parole Board proceedings); Gladman v SoS for HCLG (‘tilted balance’ in the National Planning Policy Framework); and a number of extradition appeals, including Mallya v Government of India.

Will is regularly instructed by commercial clients, regulators, and other public bodies in a wide range of contexts, including standalone, follow-on and class action competition law claims, regulatory appeals, regulatory enforcement and investigations, mergers, public law cases with an economic angle, and in an advisory capacity.

Cases

Case experience includes:

• Bulk Mail Claim Limited v Royal Mail: certified collective proceedings concerning bulk mail services (following on from a 2018 Ofcom Decision).
• Epic Games v Google: abuse of dominance challenge regarding app distribution and in-app
• Gutmann v Apple: certified collective proceedings on behalf of iPhone users arising out of ‘Batterygate’.
• Gutmann v BT/EE: proposed collective proceedings concerning mobile phone contract charges.
• Keltbray & Squibb v CMA: appeal against fines for cover bidding in the demolition sector.
• Shotbolt v Valve Corporation: proposed collective proceedings alleging abuse of dominance (including imposition of MFNs) in relation to the distribution of PC games and add-on content.
• Sportradar v Football DataCo and BetGenius: competition, IP and other private law proceedings regarding access to Premier League and other football betting data.
• Trucks: instructed by various claimants in the Trucks damages litigation.

Regulatory experience includes:

• Adobe/Figma merger: acting for Adobe in relation to its proposed $20 billion acquisition of Figma.
• CMA’s leasehold homes investigation: acting for a party to the CMA’s consumer protection investigation.
• Energy price control appeals: multiple CMA appeals brought by energy companies concerning the gas and electricity prices recoverable from consumers between 2021 and 2026.
• Imprivata/Isosec merger: acting for Imprivata during the CMA’s Phase 1 inquiry into an anticipated merger in the digital identity and access management sector.

For examples of Will’s commercial and regulatory judicial review experience, see the section above.

Advisory experience includes:

• Digital Markets Unit: advising on various aspects of the DMU legislation.
• ITV Adjudicator: legal advisor to the ITV Adjudicator (established following the merger of Carlton and Granada to resolve disputes between ITV and television advertisers).
• Mid-contract price rises: advising on the consumer and regulatory law implications of broadband and mobile mid-contract price increases.
• Premier League TV rights Exclusion Order: advised DCMS on the English Premier League’s roll-over of its existing television broadcasting rights contracts.
• Public interest mergers: advised DCMS on reforms to the media mergers regime and the regime’s interaction with the National Security and Investment Act 2021.

Will is the co-author (with Brendan McGurk and Antonia Fitzpatrick) of the competition law chapter of the ‘Blockchain Legal & Regulatory Guidance’ produced by the Law Society and Tech London Advocates.

Will is regularly instructed in contentious and advisory matters concerning the GDPR, Data Protection Act, PECR, ECHR Article 8, Freedom of Information Act and Environmental Information Regulations.

Cases

Data Protection and privacy

Will regularly acts for NGOs, regulators, central government and private clients on data protection matters in the context of private claims, investigations, regulatory enforcement and judicial reviews, as well as in an advisory capacity.

Litigation and enforcement experience includes:

• ICO enforcement action: Will regularly advises on enforcement proceedings. For example, he acted unled in relation to the ICO’s investigation into GDPR breaches by the Department for Education and Trustopia, which resulted in the use of personal data of up to 28 million learners being used by gambling companies for age verification.
• Private claims: Acting (led and unled) for parties in private data protection, misuse of private information and confidentiality claims. For example, Will acted for a siting Master and Costs Judge in X v The Transcription Agency and Master Jennifer James, the first claim to consider the scope of the judicial exemption under the DPA 2018 (and successfully obtained indemnity costs for his client unled). Will also acts for 16 asylum seekers in damages claims against the Home Office for unlawful imprisonment, searches, phone seizures and scanning, extraction and retention of private information.
• Public law claims: recent work includes challenges against the DWP’s use of AI and algorithmic decision making to identify benefit fraud, and the MoD’s blanket application of the defence and national security exemption under the DPA 2018 to applicants to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme.
• Tribunal appeals: Recent cases include: Leads Work Limited v Commissioner (successfully defending a £250,000 penalty) and ColourCoat Ltd v Commissioner (successfully defending a 130,000 penalty).

Advisory experience includes:

• Exam arrangements for 2020 and 2021: advised Ofqual on public law and data protection issues arising out of the alternative arrangements prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Group litigation: advising on various opt-out and opt-in claims. Will has also written (with Laura John) on the Supreme Court’s Lloyd v Google judgment for the Journal of Mass See here.
• International data transfers: advised on international data transfer issues under the UK GDPR, Convention 108 and Convention 108+, and the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement.
• Internet regulation: advised on various aspects of the Online Safety Act, the application of the e-Commerce Directive to online platforms, existing avenues of legal redress against social media sites, regulatory enforcement against platforms based outside of the UK, and the status of online marketplaces under product liability legislation.

Freedom of information

Will has appeared in dozens of freedom of information appeals (often against KCs and leading juniors) in front of the First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal.

Cases include:

• Airwars v Information Commissioner & MoD: information concerning the death of a civilian from a 2018 Reaper drone strike in Eastern Syria
• Greenwood v Information Commissioner & Met Police: leading case on withdrawal of appeals
• MacAirt v Commissioner and PSNI: request for intelligence concerning the 1971 McGurk’s Bar bombing
• Cabinet Oice v Commissioner & Tommy Sheppard MP: UT appeal regarding request for polling data on the Union
• Cabinet Office v Information Commissioner: request for internal discussion of an alleged Ministerial Code and BARs breach by the former Home Secretary, Priti Patel
• Page v Commissioner & Ors: request for sex education teaching materials and identity of teachers
• Sloan vs Information Commissioner & Cabinet Office: request regarding meetings of the Cabinet Union Policy Implementation Committee
• Home Office v Information Commissioner: request regarding chartering of lights for deportation and administrative removals
• Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust v Commissioner & Rowland: request for profit margins on private patient services
• Law v Information Commissioner and Ministry of Justice (EA/2021/0119): request for ‘serious further offence’ data
• DVLA v Information Commissioner and Williams: leading UT case on the interpretation of FOIA s.31 (law enforcement)
• Home Office v Information Commissioner and the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants: request by the JCWI for a policy equality statement on the impact of the EU Settlement Scheme
• MoJ v Information Commissioner: request for information concerning the release of a high-profile sex offender
• CPS v Information Commissioner and Callender Smith: request for legal advice from the Paul Burrell trial on the competency and the compellability of the monarch in criminal proceedings
• Liberty v Information Commissioner and the Ministry of Justice: request for a draft Green Paper on a proposed British Bill of Rights

Will is the co-author of the Practical Law note on section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act (the personal data exemption).

Will regularly advises NGOs and Central Government on a range of Retained EU law, EU Relations and international trade law issues, including accrued EU law rights, issues arising under the EU Withdrawal Acts, the Withdrawal Agreement, the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and other international agreements such as the CPTPP and WTO SPS Agreement. He also has significant experience advising on international data transfers.

Will has acted for WWF and 7 other environmental NGOs in a complaint to the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee on the lack of public participation in the negotiation and ratification by the UK of Free Trade Agreements; in Pan United v Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, a challenge concerning the allocation of the Chinese garlic tariff rate quota; and for the Government in AFM and SAG-AFTRA v Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, a Francovich damages claim regarding the UK’s alleged failure to implement EU and international copyright laws.

He is also a regular contributor to Monckton’s EU Relations Law Blog.

Cases

Education

• BPTC, BPP University
• GDL, BPP University
• BA, History, Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford

Scholarships and prizes

• Lincoln’s Inn: Walter Wigglesworth Pupillage Scholarship; European Education Award; Lord Denning BPTC Scholarship; Hardwicke Entrance
• BPP Law School: BPTC Advocacy Scholarship; BPTC Excellence Scholarship; GDL Scholarship.
• Oxford University: Joan Thirsk Prize (best pre-modern thesis in history or a joint school); Proxime Accessit to the HWC Davis Prize (for Preliminary Exams – 4th in year).
• Lady Margaret Hall: CV Wedgwood Prize (best thesis in history or a joint school); Parker Scholarship (for graduates pursuing a legal career); Academic Scholarship.
• Other: ALBA 2019 conference scholarship; Inaugural Lady Sophie Laws Scholar for the 2019 BEG conference in Gdansk; winner of the 2017 University of Southampton Inter-Varsity Mooting Competition (final judged by Green LJ).