Leeds – 13 July – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – Paul Burnley, a well-respected and foremost contentious health and safety lawyer, is to joinhas joined DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary (“DLA Piper”) as partner in the firm’s Regulatory Group.
Paul joined DLA Piper this month from Eversheds where he worked for the past 15 years. Whilst there, Paul was head of the corporate criminal defence unit for the northern region which consists of the Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle offices.
At DLA Piper Paul will develop the Leeds regulatory practice with particular responsibility for contentious health and safety and crisis management. In addition, he will champion other areas of the Regulatory Group practice in the region, including non contentious safety, health and environment, tax investigations and disputes, financial services, competition and the organisation’s leading public affairs and media relations practice, Upstream. Paul will work closely with partners Teresa Hitchcock and Kevin McLoughlin in Sheffield, Roy Tozer in Birmingham and Richard Smyth in Manchester to complete an extremely strong national team.
Paul is an acknowledged leading national expert in defending companies and /or their directors facing high profile criminal investigation or prosecution by regulatory bodies such as the Health & Safety Executive, BTP, HM Revenue & Customs and the Police. Legal 500 and Chambers have recognised him to be a leader in his field for the past nine years.
In addition, Paul has developed a particular expertise in crisis management and product recall, acting on behalf of major corporate clients such as Jarvis PLC on the Potters Bar tragedy; he joined DLA Piper on 4 July. Paul said: “I am delighted to be joining such an impressive firm as DLA Piper which already has a national reputation in the corporate crime and defence field.
“My expert background will fit perfectly with the existing expertise and client base. For me, it’s a very exciting challenge with a very exciting firm.”
Neil Gerrard, Global Joint Head of DLA Piper’s Regulatory Group said: “Paul is a recognised leading practioner in this area and this high profile appointment signals our strategy of building on our existing regulatory strength. Safety, health and environment, both contentious and non contentious, is a key area for development for us.”
