Scott is an upcoming junior who has developed a reputation for impeccable research and insightful case analysis. He is a great all-rounder who can turn his mind to a broad range of cases.
Prior to being called to the Bar, Scott was a solicitor, teacher, university lecturer, parliamentary adviser, and Crown Prosecutor. He also has business, military and third sector experience.
Early Life & Education
Scott was born into a military family, which following several postings, made their home in South Wales. He was active in every part of school life from an early age, as the chair of the student council, member of his school rugby team, and participant in music & drama productions. He was also selected as the representative for his parliamentary constituency to sit in the first National Youth Assembly and was later asked to join the panel on Dateline Sunday, a current affairs television show produced by HTV (now ITV Wales).
Outside of school, Scott completed additional qualifications during the evenings at his region’s adult education centre. He then went on to the Open University, attending tutorials on weekends and attending a residential school at the University of Nottingham at the age of 17. As the university's youngest student in Wales, he was given the honour of cutting the ribbon at the opening ceremony of its new Welsh HQ in Cardiff.
Scott moved on to university fulltime, completing an LLB in Law and Business at Swansea University. He followed this with postgraduate study in commercial law at Cardiff University.
Military Service
At university, alongside his academic commitments, Scott joined the Territorial Army (now Army Reserve) and served for 5 years within the Corps of Royal Engineers. He qualified as a Combat Engineer and assisted in Operation Fresco, launched in response to the national firefighters’ strike. He later trained alongside police, fire, and ambulance services, as a member of the newly established Civil Contingencies Reaction Force. Scott was also selected to join the National Biathlon Development Squad at RAF Kinloss where he completed training to become a biathlon coach and qualified as a National Small-Bore Rifle Association Range Conducting Officer. He was later selected to join his regimental biathlon team and competed overseas against other service personnel.
Business
Scott showed an early interest in business, running several small businesses whilst at secondary school. This interest continued through university, during which time he worked in university events management. He sustained his interest in business, whilst continuing to hold down his academic commitments and meet his reserve armed services obligations.
Following graduation, he pursued his passion for law & business by combining work in project & commercial management with postgraduate study in commercial law. As a commercial (and later business) manager he was responsible for income generation, financial stability, legal compliance, and health & safety. He managed a team comprising c.150 staff & contractors and £million+ budgets.
Return to Education
Several business successes first led to Scott being asked to deliver guest lectures to university students. He revelled in this experience and decided to return to university on a fulltime basis to train as a teacher. His PGCE was focused on what was then referred to as the Business, Economics & Enterprise (BEE) programme, but as he held legal qualifications, his placement providers asked him to teach law, in addition to business management. During his secondary school placement, Scott taught A-Level Business, A-Level Law, and special needs ICT education. During his further education placement, Scott taught Access to HE Business and Access to HE Law, and post-16 key skills (mathematics). He was the only member of a 200+ cohort to have his work selected for publishing. His paper on Curriculum Cymreig is still regularly cited today. He went on to complete a Master’s Degree in Professional Development, Education & Training. For his MA, Scott completed research examining the attainment gap at university between students commencing their higher education with traditional A-Levels vs BTEC qualifications.
Teaching Experience
While still a PGCE student, Scott was appointed as an Associate Lecturer at Gower College. Following the award of Qualified Teacher Status, he was appointed as an Associate Lecturer at Cardiff Metropolitan University.
Shortly after landing his first associate lecturer role in higher education, Scott was appointed as a full lecturer at Swansea University. His versatility was quickly noticed, and he went on to teach across several subject areas ranging from leadership to human resources management. At Swansea University, he served as his school library representative, a deputy programme director, open day speaker, and member of the student-staff consultative committee.
Externally, Scott presented a proposal to integrate a strand of practical legal education into all university undergraduate business programmes at the Association of Law Teachers Conference at Manchester University. He was also made a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Public Service
With his interest in law, particularly the constitution, and all matters devolved, following the publication of Scott’s PGCE paper on the Welsh Curriculum, and further research on the Welsh Baccalaureate, Scott was asked to assist with drafting a submission for the Welsh Affairs Committee in Parliament on the subject of the Silk Commission on Devolution. The warm reception of Scott’s work led to Scott being asked to become an adviser to one of the MEPs for Wales within the European Parliament. Although Scott was ensconced in the education profession by this point, he felt that the opportunity to contribute to the development of Wales was too good to pass up. As an adviser, Scott drafted research papers across several policy areas, including economic development, education, and small business development. He also drafted speeches, and questions to be put to expert witnesses appearing in front of European Parliament committees. He completed his advisory duties whilst continuing to maintain a busy teaching load.
Scott was later asked to join the staff at the Welsh Assembly/Senedd (now Welsh Parliament) as a senior adviser. In this role he coordinated policy working groups and co-authored several policy papers across the fields of agriculture, business, economy, education, energy, and health.
Legal Practice
Scott's work as a parliamentary adviser brought him into contact with several legal services providers and advocacy groups. His abilities were recognised and was offered the opportunity to enter private practice.
He returned to university as a part-time student once again. This time it was to complete the Legal Practice Course at BPP University, whilst continuing to develop experience in private practice. He worked across a range of areas, including employment law, property, and wills & probate. He gained representation experience in the tribunals and the County Court.
Following qualification, Scott worked as a legal consultant, before being asked to join South-West Wales’s leading law firm. He worked as a solicitor, whilst continuing to teach at Swansea University. His practice straddled litigation and commercial, and he was often deployed as an in-house advocate.
Following the retirement of the firm’s sole criminal solicitor, Scott was asked by the senior partner take over the criminal law caseload. Whilst Scott’s experience was predominantly commercial in nature, he quickly took to criminal defence. Several prosecution advocates suggested that Scott would be an asset to the Crown Prosecution Service, and shortly after he was appointed as a Crown Prosecutor.
As a member of the CPS Magistrates’ & Youth Court Team, Scott performed the full range of duties including: presenting cases, conducting trials, and managing a caseload (which included adding, amending, and discontinuing) charges. Scott’s advocacy abilities were recognised and it was suggested that Scott should consider requalifying as a barrister. He went on to complete the Higher Rights of Audience qualification at BPP University becoming a Solicitor-Advocate. He then completed qualifying sessions at Lincoln’s Inn, and was called to the Bar shortly thereafter. Whilst working as a Crown Prosecutor (Solicitor) Scott completed the CPS Pupil Development Programme training. He was granted a full barrister's practising certificate under the equivalency provisions and transferred from the Roll of Solicitors shortly thereafter.
Further Teaching Experience
As his role as a Crown Prosecutor was a full-time commitment, Scott was unable to continue to commit to a busy teaching schedule. However, determined not to lose contact with academia, Scott put himself forward to be a subject convenor at the Society of Legal Scholars. He was made a co-convenor of the Practice, Professions & Ethics subject section at the Society for Legal Scholars, which allowed him to continue to make an academic contribution to the law. As a convenor he reviewed papers and co-chaired the subject section’s conference track at the annual SLS Conference at Oxford Brookes University.
One of the factors behind Scott’s desire to requalify as a barrister, having practised as a solicitor, was the potential to be able to combine practice and academia, something which is possible as a barrister in private practice, but not feasible when employed fulltime at the Crown Prosecution Service.
Following his call to the Bar, and completion of the Pupil Development Programme Course(s), he secured the role of Senior Lecturer in Law & Legal Practice at the University of Wales, Trinity St David. Taking this role allowed Scott to once again combine teaching and practice. As a senior lecturer, Scott served as a programme manager, module leader and examiner. He worked across a wide range of modules including contract law, litigation, and trusts. He also delivered the taught component of the CILEX legal apprenticeship programme to fulltime employees of law firms and local authority legal departments across South Wales.
Tenancy
Scott was given tenancy at 33 Bedford Row around the time that he took up his role at UWTSD, which afforded him the flexibility to be able to continue to teach, whilst developing his practice. As his practice grew, Scott moved away from fulltime teaching. He is now a Post-Call Advocacy Tutor at the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn.
Today, Scott’s work is primarily split between the Crown & County Courts, but he also undertakes work in tribunals, the Magistrates Courts, High Court, and Court of Appeal. He accepts instructions in criminal, civil and regulatory law. Whilst family law is not a key area of his practice, he does undertake pro-bono family cases as his contribution to the work of Advocate, the Bar’s Pro Bono charity.
Criminal
In the Crown Court, Scott accepts both private and publicly funded instructions in general crime, but is particularly specialised in dealing with financial, environmental, and planning crime. He prosecutes and defends. Scott regularly appears for local authorities and the Probation Service in the Magistrates Courts and Crown Court. He also has a busy defence practice.
Civil
In the County Court and High Court, Scott accepts both private and publicly funded instructions across a broad range of areas including (but not limited to) bankruptcy, contract, and personal injury. He also appears in tribunals and undertakes regulatory work. With his business & commercial background and education, Scott is particularly specialised at dealing with corporate matters.
Outside Chambers
Scott previously served as a primary school governor, and charity trustee (including time as both vice chair & chair) of Advocacy Support Cymru, a large regional mental health advocacy charity. Today, he is a governor of his local Catholic secondary school and investor in several small social enterprises. He also regularly fundraises for important charitable causes.
Scott is a keen golfer, cyclist, and skier. He is active in his local sports community through sponsorships of rugby clubs in his hometown.
LLB Law & BusinessPostgraduate Certificate in EducationPostgraduate Diploma in LawLLM Commercial Legal PracticeMA Professional Development, Education and Training
Barrister at Lincoln’s InnMember of the Criminal Bar AssociationMember of the Association of Law TeachersMember of the Society of Legal ScholarsFellow of the Higher Education Academy
Contract LawCriminal LawCriminal LitigationFamily Law & PracticeLegal ResearchLegal Research ProjectsPrinciples of Professional Legal PracticeSucceeding in Professional Legal Practice
Govenor of St John Lloyd Catholic SchoolPost Call Advocacy Tutor at Lincolns Inn
To Name or Not to Name? Anonymity for suspects and defendants in criminal proceedings, (2023), The Justice Gap. Legal Education for Entrepreneurship Students, (2022), Association of Law Teachers Conference. The University of Manchester.Our justice system – and politicians – need to be tolerant of people who make mistakes, (2019), The Justice Gap. Legal Services Reform: a necessity to protect consumers, (2018), The Barrister.
As a solicitor or barrister:
B v A. Trial for breach of contract. Acting for the claimant, successfully argued that a provision in the Consumer Rights Act 2015 reversed the burden of proof meaning that my client’s claim must succeed as the defendant was unable to prove the claimant had damaged the goods following delivery.
D v P. Harassment (civil). Acting for the defendant, successfully argued that whilst my client’s conduct did meet the definition of harassment, an injunction should not be granted as the claimant did not have ‘clean hands’, and injunctions are an equitable remedy.
E v B. Unfair prejudice. Acting for the claimant, secured the removal of director & member who was withholding company information and manipulating company assets to the detriment of other members.
C v N. Unfair & wrongful dismissal. Acting for the defendant, successfully argued that although the dismissal was procedurally unfair, my client’s conduct had contributed to his dismissal, meaning that the claimant’s claim for wrongful dismissal should fail and the award for unfair dismissal should be reduced to reflect the claimant’s conduct.
R v D. Trial for ABH. Acting for the prosecution, secured the conviction of the defendant for ABH who had run a self-defence argument supported by witnesses, and despite bad character (of the victim) evidence being admitted, by successfully arguing that the break in time between the two violent acts materially changed the factual matrix.
R v M. Sentencing for various road traffic offences. Acting for the defendant, provided submissions arguing that although the offences had been committed, the unique circumstances of the incident meant that the criminal process had already sufficiently punished the defendant, and that a discharge was therefore appropriate.
R v A. Prosecution for drug driving. Acting for the defendant, successfully argued that the police had not met the statutory requirements for obtaining a blood sample, rendering the sample inadmissible, resulting in the discontinuance of proceedings.
R v B. Prosecution for perverting the course of justice. Acting for the defendant, secured an agreement on sentence helping my client to avoid a custodial sentence which would have ordinarily been inevitable.
R v J. Application for Restraining Order on acquittal. Acting for the prosecution, successfully argued that despite the victim’s evidence not coming up to proof, the circumstantial evidence was sufficient to justify the making of an RO.
R v S. Application for exclusion of evidence under s78 of PACE. Acting for the defendant, secured the exclusion of DNA evidence served late by the prosecution, owing to its prejudicial effect.
Scott is a self employed barrister in independent practice. During the course of providing legal services as a barrister, Scott collects and uses personal information. He is the data controller in respect of this information for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation ('GDPR').
33 Bedford Row is separate and has its own Data Protection Act 2018/GDPR 'Privacy Policy and Data Protection Statement', in respect to personal information collected, used and stored by or related to it. This covers personal information arising from, or related to, 33 Bedford Row providing services as a barristers chambers, as well as use of its website. This 'Privacy Policy and Data Protection Statement' sets out what information they obtain about you, why and how they use it. This policy also sets out your rights.
Scott has a retention of data policy which sets out how long he retains personal information and the reasons why he adopts certain retention periods.
You can view 33 Bedford Row's 'Privacy Policy and Data Protection Statement' on 33 Bedford Row's website. Hard copies are available on request by contacting chambers directly.