Will is regularly instructed in a range of public law proceedings, including complex human rights claims, policy challenges, commercial and regulatory public law claims, and cases with a national security dimension.

Recent cases include:

• R (VIP) v Home Secretary [2023] UKSC 10: Supreme Court appeal regarding the Secretary of State’s powers to issue directions to Ofcom on national security grounds (for the Defendant, with Daniel Beard KC, Michael Armitage and Imogen Proud).
• GMCDP v DWP: challenge to the use of AI and algorithmic decision making by DWP to identify potential benefit fraud (for the Claimant, with Phillippa Kaufmann KC, Conor McCarthy). See press coverage here.
• Pan United v Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: challenge concerning the allocation of the tariff rate quota for Chinese garlic (for the Defendant, with George Peretz KC).
• Camelot and ors v Gambling Commission [2022] EWHC 1664 (TCC); [2022] EWCA Civ 1020: successful application to lift the automatic suspension (reverse interim injunction) in a challenge to the award of the Fourth National Lottery licence (with Anneli Howard KC and Sarah Hannaford KC). Press coverage here.
• Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee complaint (ACCC/C/2022/194): acting for WWF and 7 other environmental NGOs in a complaint to the ACCC on the lack of public participation in the negotiation and ratification of Free Trade Agreements (with Kate Cooke and Anita Davies).
• Testbiotech v EU Commission (Cases T-605/21 and T-606/21): acting for Testbiotech in a challenge against Monsanto’s market authorisation to import genetically engineered maize and soybeans (with Kassie Smith KC and Cliodhna Kelleher). Information here.
• Monitoring of children’s digital activities: acting for Defend Digital Me in its attempts to improve the legal framework for the monitoring of children’s digital activities by schools and other education providers.
• R (Richards) v The Environment Agency [2022] EWCA Civ 26; [2021] EWHC 2501: acted for the claimant in a landmark challenge to the Environment Agency’s regulation of a polluting landfill site under Articles 2 and 8 ECHR (with Ian Wise KC, Mike Armitage and Catherine Dobson). The High Court judgment was the first domestic authority to consider a regulator’s positive operational duty under the Convention and whether Article 2 applies to a reduction in life expectancy, and was the first judicial review involving the ‘hot-tubbing’ of expert witnesses. Press coverage here.
• RIIO-2 energy price control appeals: acted for Ofgem in in its largely successful defence of multiple CMA appeals brought by energy companies concerning the gas and electricity prices recoverable from consumers between 2021 and 2026 (with Daniel Beard KC, Gerry Facenna KC and others).
• R (SC) v London Borough of Redbridge: successfully represented the claimant, a heavily disabled child, in a complex housing, social care and 
• education judicial review involving novel ECHR Article 2 ‘right to life’ arguments and an A2P1 damages claim (with Ian Wise KC).
• R (Q) v Staffordshire CC [2021] EWHC 3486 (Admin): challenge to a local authority’s failure to provide an efective education, which included a damages claim under ECHR Article 2, Protocol 1 (for the Claimant, with Ian Wise KC).

Recent advisory work includes:

• Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021: advising DCMS on various aspects of the new framework to strengthen the security of the UK’s telecoms networks (with Robert Palmer KC).
• National Lottery: advising the Gambling Commission on public and regulatory issues connected to the award of the Fourth National Lottery Licence (with Anneli Howard KC).
• Alternative exam arrangements for 2020 and 2021: advising Ofqual on public law and data protection issues arising out of the alternative arrangements prompted by the pandemic (with Gerry Facenna KC and Nik Grubeck).

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

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 [2020] EWHC 798 (Admin) (interpretation of s13(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 [2020] EWCA Civ 594 (injunctive relief to prevent publication of an OFSTED report); AR v SSWP [2020] UKUT 165 (AAC) (interpretative obligation under section 3 Human Rights Act in a social welfare context); R (Morris) v Parole Board [2020] EWHC 711 (Admin) (status of unproven allegations of criminal conduct in Parole Board proceedings); Gladman v SoS for HCLG & Anor [2020] EWHC 518 (Admin) (‘tilted balance’ in the National Planning Policy Framework); and a number of extradition appeals, including Mallya v Government of India [2020] EWHC 924 (Admin).

Cases

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.

Current instructions include:

• Access to intellectual property rights: acting for a company in proceedings regarding a dominant’s firm’s refusal to license IP rights.
• Consumer rights advice: Advising various clients on the application of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, and other pieces of consumer legislation.
• Epic Games v Google: acting for Epic in a challenge regarding app distribution and in-app payments on Google’s Android mobile operating system (with Mark Brealey KC and Daisy Mackersie). Press coverage here.
• Gutmann v Apple: acting for the proposed class representative in abuse of dominance collective proceedings on behalf of millions of iPhone users (With Anneli Howard KC and Stefan Kuppen). Press coverage here.
• Trucks: instructed on a confidential basis for claimants in the Trucks damages litigation.

Previous experience includes:

• CMA’s leasehold homes investigation: acted for a party to the CMA’s consumer protection investigation (with Anneli Howard KC).
• Digital Markets Unit: advised DCMS on the legislation setting up the new pro-competitive regulatory regime for large online platforms.
• Energy price control appeals: acted for Ofgem in in its largely successful defence of multiple CMA appeals brought by energy companies concerning the gas and electricity prices recoverable from consumers between 2021 and 2026 (with Daniel Beard KC, Gerry Facenna KC and others).
• Imprivata/Isosec merger: acted for Imprivata on various aspects of the CMA’s Phase 1 inquiry into an anticipated merger in the digital identity and access management sector.
• Premier League TV rights Exclusion Order (SI 2021/1148): 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.
• Sportradar v Football DataCo and BetGenius: acting for Football DataCo in competition, IP and other private law proceedings regarding access to live football betting data (with Kassie Smith KC and Tom Sebastian). Proceedings settled mid-trial. Press coverage here.

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

Cases

Will is ranked a ‘rising star’ for Data Protection by the Legal 500. He 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.

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 acts for the ICO in enforcement proceedings. For example, he recently 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 (press coverage here).
• Private claims: Acting (led and unled) for parties in private claims relating to misuse of personal information, confidentiality and data protection. For example, Will acted for a siting Master and Costs Judge in X v. The Transcription Agency and Master Jennifer James [2023] EWHC 1092 (KB), the first claim to consider the scope of the judicial exemption under the DPA 2018 (with Alan Bates).
• Public law claims: Will currently acts for the Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People (supported by Foxglove) in proceedings concerning the use of AI and algorithmic decision making by DWP to identify potential benefit fraud (with Phillippa Kaufmann KC an Conor McCarthy); and for Defend Digital Me in its attempts to improve the legal framework for the monitoring of children’s digital activities by schools and other education providers (with Conor McCarthy).
• Tribunal appeals: Recent cases include: Leads Work Limited v Commissioner (EA/2021/0089/FP) (successfully defending a £250,000 penalty); ColourCoat Ltd v Commissioner (EA/2021/0175/FP) (successfully defending a 130,000 penalty); and Gabriel Kanter-Webber vs Information Commissioner [2021] UKFTT/2020/0281 (contested DPA 2018 section 166 application; currently on appeal to the UT).

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 (with Gerry Facenna KC and Nik Grubeck).
• Group litigation: advising on 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 Claims. 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 forthcoming Online Safety Bill, 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 in product liability legislation.

Freedom of information

Will frequently appears for the Information Commissioner (often against KCs and leading juniors) in freedom of information appeals in front of the First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal.

Current cases include:

• Airwars v Information Commissioner & MoD: request for information concerning the death of a civilian from a 2018 Reaper drone strike in Eastern Syria.
• Cabinet Office v Information Commissioner & Tommy Sheppard MP: Upper Tribunal appeal regarding request for polling data on the Union.
• DWP v Information Commissioner & Keaney: request concerning the £20 uplift to Universal Credit during the pandemic.
• Herman v Information Commissioner and Kent Police: Upper Tribunal appeal concerning a party’s non-attendance at a hearing.
• MacAirt v Information Commissioner and Police Service of Northern Ireland: request for intelligence concerning the 1971 McGurk’s Bar bombing.
• Page v Information Commissioner: request concerning sex education teaching materials and identity of teachers.

Previous cases include:

• Sloan vs Information Commissioner & Cabinet Office  [2023] UKFTT 00342 (GRC): request regarding meetings of the Cabinet Union Policy Implementation Committee.
• Department for the Economy (Northern Ireland) v White & Information Commissioner (GIA/85/2021): Upper Tribunal appeal regarding EIRs Regulations 12(5)(d) and 12(5)(e).
• Home Office v Information Commissioner (EA/2021/0342): request regarding chartering of flights for deportation and administrative removals.
• Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust v Information Commissioner & Rowland (EA/2021/0047): 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 [2020] UKUT 334 (AAC): leading UT judgment on the interpretation of FOIA s.31 (law enforcement) and relationship between a public authority’s ‘powers’ and ‘functions’.
• Home Office v Information Commissioner and the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants [2021] UKFTT/2020/0253 (GRC): request by the JCWI for a policy equality statement on the impact of the EU Settlement Scheme.
• MoJ v Information Commissioner and Cowling [2021] UKFTT/2020/0136 (GRC): request for report of a serious IT systems failure causing widespread disruption across the justice system.
• MoJ v Information Commissioner [2021] UKFTT/2020/0255 (GRC): request for information concerning the release of a high-profile sex offender.
• CPS v Information Commissioner and Callender Smith [2020] UKFTT/2019/0275 (GRC): request for legal advice from Senior Treasury Counsel on the competency and the compellability of the monarch in criminal proceedings.
• Liberty v Information Commissioner and the Ministry of Justice (EA/2020/0140): withdrawn appeal concerning a request for a draft Green Paper on a proposed British Bill of Rights (with Laura John).

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

Cases

Will acts for and advises individuals and NGOs in environmental matters.

Recent experience includes:

• R (Richards) v The Environment Agency [2022] EWCA Civ 26; [2021] EWHC 2501: acted for the claimant in a landmark challenge to the Environment Agency’s regulation of a polluting landfill site under Articles 2 and 8 ECHR (with Ian Wise KC, Mike Armitage and Catherine Dobson). The High Court judgment was the first domestic authority to consider a regulator’s positive operational duty under the Convention and whether Article 2 applies to a reduction in life expectancy, and was the first judicial review involving the ‘hot-tubbing’ of expert witnesses. Press coverage here.
• Testbiotech v EU Commission (Cases T-605/21 and T-606/21): acting for Testbiotech in an Aarhus Regulation challenge to the Commission’s decision to grant Monsanto market authorisation to import genetically engineered maize and soybeans (with Kassie Smith KC and Cliodhna Kelleher). Information here.
• Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee complaint (ACCC/C/2022/194): acting for WWF and 7 other environmental NGOs in a complaint to the ACCC on the lack of public participation in the negotiation and ratification of Free Trade Agreements (with Kate Cooke and Anita Davies).
• Trade law and the environment: advising a well-known environmental NGO on various trade law issues, at both the international and domestic level.
• Pesticides regulation: advised a well-known NGO on public law challenges to pesticide authorisation decisions.
• Environmental Information Regulations: Will regularly acts for the Information Commissioner in EIRs matters (see ‘Data protection, privacy & Information’ section above).

Cases

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 has particular experience advising on international data transfers.

Will acts for WWF and 7 other environmental NGOs (with Kate Cooke and Anita Davies) 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; and for the defendant 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 (with George Peretz KC).

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

Cases

Will regularly acts for challengers and contracting authorities in cases before the TCC.

Experience includes:

• Camelot & ors v Gambling Commission: acting for the Gambling Commission in a challenge to the award of the Fourth National Lottery licence (with Sarah Hannaford KC and Anneli Howard KC). Proceedings included a successful application by the Commission to lift the automatic suspension ([2022] EWHC 1664 (TCC); [2022] EWCA Civ 1020). Press coverage here.
• Atos v SoS for BEIS and the Met Office & ors: Will acts for DXC Technology, an Interested Party in a claim concerning the £1.2 billion procurement of a new supercomputer. The case is one of the Lawyer’s ‘Top 20 cases for 2022’.
• Bechtel v HS2 ((No.2) Costs of the interested party) [2021] EWHC 640 (TCC): leading case on interested parties’ costs in public procurement proceedings – for the Interested Party (with Anneliese Blackwood).
• 2019 Rail Franchise Litigation [2020] EWHC 1568 (TCC): junior counsel in a large team which successfully defended claims arising out of procurement competitions for the South Eastern, East Midlands and West Coast Partnership railway franchises between 2017 and 2019. The case was one of the Lawyer’s ‘Top 20 cases for 2020’.
• Mitie v Secretary of State for Justice: instructed by Mitie in its challenge to the award of a contract to provide facilities management services across the court estate (with Michael Bowsher KC and Anneliese Blackwood). The litigation included an application by the SoS to lift the automatic suspension ([2020] EWHC 63 (TCC)).

Cases

Will regularly acts for and against regulators in commercial judicial reviews and regulatory appeals. He has investigations, enforcement and advisory experience in a range of sectors. He has a particular interest in emerging areas of digital regulation and has advised on the Online Safety Bill, the regulation of crypto-assets, the ‘secure by design’ legislation, the security of the UK’s telecoms networks, and the Digital Markets Unit legislation.

Experience includes:

• Commercial confidentiality: Will has significant experience of FOIA appeals concerning the s.43 commercial prejudice exemption, and confidentiality issues arising in competition, procurement, public and regulatory proceedings.
• Consumer protection: Will acted for Brigante Properties in the CMA’s consumer protection investigation into leasehold homes (with Anneli Howard KC). He regularly advises on the application of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, and other pieces of consumer legislation. He was also instructed for the Claimant in R (Actegy) v The Advertising Standards Authority [2019] EWHC 2374 (Admin), a public law challenge concerning the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (with Alan Bates).
• Crypto-assets and electronic records: Will has advised DCMS on the use of crypto-assets and electronic transferable records in international trade, and is the co-author (with Brendan McGurk and Antonia Fitzpatrick) of the competition law chapter of the most recent edition of the ‘Blockchain Legal & Regulatory Guidance’ produced by Tech London Advocates and the Law Society.
• Cybersecurity: Will acts for the ICO in relation to two sets of data breach enforcement proceedings; has advised on various elements of the new framework to strengthen the security of the UK’s telecoms networks (with Robert Palmer KC); has advised on the cybersecurity of consumer smart devices; and is familiar with cryptographic technologies from work on the Imprivata/Isosec merger inquiry.
• Digital Markets Unit: Will has advised DCMS on the legislation setting up the new pro-competitive regulatory regime for large online platforms.
• Energy: Will acted for Ofgem in its largely successful defence of multiple CMA appeals brought by energy companies against the RIIO-2 price control decisions (with Daniel Beard KC, Gerry Facenna KC and others). As a judicial assistant in the Administrative Court, Will assisted Garnham J in R (Banks) v SoS for BEIS: a state aid challenge to the government’s renewable energy ‘Contracts for Difference’ scheme.
• Gambling: Will acted for the Gambling Commission in litigation concerning the award of the Fourth National Lottery Licence (with Anneli Howard KC and Sarah Hannaford KC), and has advised on various regulatory and public law issues under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. He acted for Football DataCo in competition, IP and other private law proceedings regarding access to live football betting data (with Kassie Smith KC and Tom Sebastian).
• Higher Education: Will has advised Ofqual on various public law and data protection issues (with Gerry Facenna KC and Nik Grubeck) and the DfE on various consumer and contract law issues arising in the higher education context (with Anneli Howard KC).
• Internet regulation: Will has advised DCMS on various aspects of the forthcoming Online Safety Bill, 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 in product liability legislation. He also currently acts for a well-known platform in ongoing and proposed civil proceedings.
• Marketing and advertising. Will acted for the Claimant in R (Actegy) v The Advertising Standards Authority [2019] EWHC 2374 (Admin) (with Alan Bates). He has since advised on enforcement proceedings by the ASA in relation to the CAP and BCAP codes. He regularly acts for the Information Commissioner in enforcement action and appeals concerning unlawful marketing campaigns – for example in Leads Work v Commissioner (EA/2021/0089/FP), where he successfully defended an appeal against a £250,000 monetary penalty.
• Telecoms: Will currently acts for the Secretary of State in R (VIP) v Home Secretary, a Supreme Court appeal on the Secretary of State’s powers to issue directions to Ofcom on national security grounds (with Daniel Beard KC, Mike Armitage and Imogen Proud). He has advised on various aspects of the Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021 (with Robert Palmer KC); Ofcom’s General Conditions of Entitlement (with Tim Ward KC); the use of ‘crown spectrum’; and aspects of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016.
• Travel and aviation: Will advised BEIS on various consumer, contractual and regulatory law issues during the Covid-19 pandemic (with Anneli Howard KC), and has acted in a number of air passenger rights 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 Award.
• 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).