Richard is Head of the Disability Rights and Public Law team at Pannone.

Richard’s background is in social welfare law having worked as a welfare rights adviser in Manchester for over six years before training as a solicitor in 1993-4. Whilst at Glaisyers solicitors Richard developed their highly regarded housing and welfare law unit and earned a reputation as a committed and hard working lawyer.

Richard specialises in disability rights, community care and public law and human rights. He regularly pursues novel and challenging cases by way of judicial review, in the Court of Protection and, by way of appeal, in the Court of Appeal.

Best career moment: Any number of small but significant moments, often at court, when the argument rightly won the day. Cases in the 'early days' of human rights arguments in community care and housing cases when judges, sometimes reluctantly, recognised the importance of the arguments and the issues always strike a chord but the day my client leapt from the first floor window of the court to escape the bailiffs, causing pandemonium in the court, will always be memorable.

Richard's reputation as a lawyer dedicated to fighting for the rights of the most vulnerable continues to grow as the work of the team develops, be this challenging inadequate care assessments and poor care services, raising human rights arguments to challenge ill conceived public funding decisions or tackling disability discrimination in the provision of public and private services.

Richard regularly provides training on community care and public law issues to the voluntary and statutory sector and is a regular speaker at conferences and events.

Richard is a member of the Northern Administrative Law Association and the Human Rights Law Association.

Notable cases include:

• Manchester City Council v Romano
• Manchester City Council v Worthington
• Rochdale MBC v MA & NA

Richard qualified in July 1997 and became a partner in 2004. He joined Pannone as a partner in December 2009.