Nationally-recognised experts in regulatory issues from public law and inquests to education law
3PB's public and regulatory team are nationally recognised experts, prosecuting and defending matters brought by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Health and Safety Executive, Care Quality Commission, local authorities and other regulatory bodies including medical regulators.
Our education team is ranked in all legal directories and has a range of counsel that can assist with discrimination claims, Judicial review, safeguarding, all special educational needs requirements and admission and exclusions issues. This team is extremely active and on hand to assist with all manner of enquiries in an efficient manner. Our work includes tribunal, county court, high court and disciplinary/independent review proceedings, often working with some the country most prestigious universities and independent schools.
Members of the team advise on a broad spectrum of education, professional discipline, inquest, health and safety, marine law and public law enquiries.
As the importance of public and administrative law has increased and the scope of regulatory legislation expanded, so 3PB's expertise has continued to expand to meet the new challenges presented. We advise individuals challenging government or regulators as well as representing government departments (including the Official Solicitor), local authorities, the NHS and Police Authorities.
Members of our sub-teams are specialists in their areas and have recently handled ground breaking cases such as:
- representing the Firearms Licensing Officer in the Keyham/Plymouth shootings inquest
- four 3PB barristers acting for Ofsted in the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse
- acting for Her Majesty’s Coastguards in the Gaia-Pope inquest
- representing the Church of England against retired vicar Dr Stephen Sizer following his antisemitic posts
- acting for Anthony Donadio against the GMC in a High Court appeal
- acting in a very high profile licensing appeal for a nightclub in the Midlands
Our barristers bring a recognised depth of expert knowledge and formidable advocacy skills, drawn from long experience in courts, committees and tribunals of every level and description as well as sterling client service and exceptional work rates.
Legal 500 2025 notes that "3PB has members with expertise across a wide range of civil and criminal health and safety cases for local authorities, regulatory bodies, businesses, individuals, and the Health and Safety Executive."
The team are available via any of our six UK centres: London, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bristol, Oxford and Winchester. We are also well equipped with the technology to facilitate virtual meetings, conferences and proceedings where required/possible.
Our Public and Regulatory Barristers...
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The 270-barrister national chambers, 3PB Barristers (3 Paper Buildings), is delighted to announce that Matthew Cannings - who heads 3PB's Property and Estates Group - has been appointed by His Majesty the King as a Recorder on the Western Circuit. His part-time judicial appointment takes effect from next Monday 18 November 2024. Matthew was called to the bar in 2006 and was appointed as a part-time Deputy District Judge in 2019. Matthew has nearly twenty...
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Louise Hartley, who moves from her role as Head of Legal at Sport England, joins the national chambers 3PB (3 Paper Buildings) having also worked extensively across a range of other regulatory sectors including the healthcare and telecommunications industries. Louise led the legal function at Sport England for more than five years, having earlier spent four years working as in-house counsel at both the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and the PSA (Phone-paid Services Authority)....
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3PB are pleased to announce that barristers Alice Horn, Jack Felvus and Laurie-Elizabeth Ketley (pictured here, left to right) have successfully completed their twelve-month pupillages and become members of the 250-barrister, national chambers. Former Prince of Wales and David Karmel Scholar Alice Horn (call:2022) joins following a ten-year career in industry internationally. Alice is a much-in-demand barrister with significant experience in both County Court and High Court matters and specialises in commercial litigation, adjudication and...
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3PB congratulates its Public and Regulatory Law team for earning 3 new rankings in this year’s Chambers and Partners edition. To its existing 2 accolades for Administrative and Public Law, the team has added 2 rankings for Professional Discipline and one ranking for Inquests and Public Inquiries. Head of Group Mathew Gullick KC commented: “This significant gain in Chambers and Partners’ latest publication reflects both new and existing members of our national set of chambers,...
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3PB Barristers (3 Paper Buildings) breaks another record in the latest edition of Chambers and Partners with a total of 96 rankings (81 last year) achieved by 80 of its barristers. The national set is rewarded with accolades in 21 areas of law, in the London Bar as well as in the North Eastern, South Eastern, Western and Midlands Circuits and exceptional comments for its expertise and service delivery. Click here to view the full...
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3PB Barristers’ (3 Paper Buildings) Sunyana Sharma, represents His Majesty’s Coastguard (‘HMCG’) in a 2-week inquest following the tragic deaths of Joseph Abbess and Sunnah Khan who drowned whilst swimming between the red and yellow flags at Bournemouth beach on 31 May 2023 following a flash rip current. The coroner considered the risk assessments carried out by the Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole Borough Council (‘BCP’) and the RNLI prior to the accident, the cause and...
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3 Paper Buildings (3PB) is delighted to announce that leading barrister and silk Rachel Best KC (2006 call) has joined chambers as an associate member. Rachel specialises in employment and discrimination disputes, judicial reviews, inquests and personal injury cases. She was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 2006, the Bar of Ireland in 2021 and was called to the Bar of England & Wales in 2022. She was promoted to Silk in 2024....
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3PB is delighted to announce 10 individual rankings for its Public and Regulatory law group across 4 Circuits (London, Midlands, Western and South Eastern). While the group sees 4 rankings confirmed for its Professional Discipline specialists in London and Western, its Inquests experts have retained 2 rankings. The Group’s Court of Protection barristers celebrate 2 new rankings in London, retaining 2 previous accolades in Midlands and South Eastern. This result, and the team’s commitment to...
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3PB Barristers (3 Paper Buildings), one of the UK's largest chambers, is celebrating this year again its rankings - totalling 167 - in the Legal 500 2025’s edition published today, a 15% increase on last year’s 145. The set is ranked in 23 areas of law, across 4 UK Circuits: London, South Eastern, Western and the Midlands. 3PB’s barristers are also ranked in the Middle East and Asia Pacific regions. The Legal 500 acknowledges 3PB...
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Former Solicitor General in England and Wales, the Rt.Hon. Michael Tomlinson KC (call:2002) is returning to 3PB (3 Paper Buildings) to practice as a barrister after more than 9 years as an MP and becoming one of UK’s top law enforcement officers. Michael was the first newly appointed King’s Counsel in 2022 and was sworn in as a member of His Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council in February 2024. Michael will be based in the...
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3PB Barristers’ (3 Paper Buildings) specialist education, equality and public law barrister Alice de Coverley has spoken to RPC Legal’s The Work Couch podcast as part of their neurodiversity mini-series ahead of ADHD awareness month in October. In the first episode of the series, which looks at the lived experience on neurodiversity, Alice joins host Ellie Gelder, alongside Auticon’s Ashlea Cromby and Tracey West and Victoria Othen of RPC Legal. The conversation covers a range...
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Chambers is delighted to announce that Naomi Webber has been appointed to the Attorney General’s C Panel (London) for a period of five years, commencing on Sunday 1st September 2024. She joins seven other 3PB barristers on the Attorney General’s (AG’s) panel of counsel including A Panel members of William Hansen, Richard Wheeler and Mark Green. Naomi is now one of 19 3PB barristers on the Attorney General's London and Regional Panels and undertaking "Junior...
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Recommendations
Legal 500 2020
Regulatory, health and safety, and licensing: Members of 3PB are particularly experienced in health and safety cases, receiving both prosecution and defence instructions. Notable areas of specialism include maritime prosecutions and care home deaths, where David Richards and Nicholas Cotter are the key names to note respectively. Notable recent cases include Richards' prosecution of a yacht operator for the gross negligence manslaughter of four sailors lost at sea, and Cotter's defence of a care home after three patients died; the home was accused of negligent care following injuries sustained by the deceased upon falling out of a window.
"The combined clerks’ room across the set’s six offices is a ‘well-oiled machine’."
my preferred set for many yearsLegal 500