Partner, Irwin Mitchell LLP
Ensuring justice for workers injured in their workplace or developing diseases as a consequence of occupational exposure to noxious substances has been the focus of Ian’s personal beliefs and professional practice for more than 20 years.
After completing (what was then) the CPE in Manchester, he trained at Irwin Mitchell and qualified in 1994, shortly after which he became a member of APIL. He has been a member of APIL ever since and was elected as the secretary of the APIL occupational health group in 2018; becoming joint coordinator of the group in 2022.
He is a fellow of APIL and an accredited occupational and asbestos disease specialist. Having trained in Sheffield, he became a partner at the Leeds office of Irwin Mitchell in 2001 and, since 2015, has been based in the London office heading the team specialising in asbestos disease cases.
Supporting clients with terminal illnesses has been the core of his work since his (albeit peripheral) involvement in the case of Hancock v J.W. Roberts in 1994. He subsequently represented many clients affected by asbestos disease who had worked at or lived or grown up close to the factory in Armley, Leeds
He led the team acting for the claimant in the Court of Appeal case of Cox v Transco (a leading case on asbestos exposure by an occupier and inferences to be drawn from primary facts) and in the case of Gardner v Royal & Sun Alliance, an important case in terms of insurance cover.
More recently, he has been active in the formulation of plans to ensure appropriate mechanisms are place to properly compensate clients with mesothelioma, enabling them to access immunotherapy and other non-NHS funded treatments, through PPO’ and trust/float agreements to secure long term funding without challenges to reasonableness.
Ian currently lives in north London and has 3 grown up children.