Nick Hanning, FCILEx (Advocate)

Role and Background

Nick has a wealth of legal practice, practice management and regulatory experience.

He qualified as a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) in 1990 and in 2000 he was one of the small group to qualify as the solicitors first ever Legal Executive Advocates and in 2009 was among the first Legal Executives to become a partner in a Solicitors’ Practice.  In May 2020, Nick was formally appointed as a Deputy District Judge.

In practice, Nick specialises in work-related psychiatric injury cases particularly occupational stress claims and those involving bullying, harassment or discrimination. He acted for the Claimant in the seminal House of Lords case of Majrowski -v- Guy’s and St Thomas’s NHS Trust which established the principle of vicarious liability of employers under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and also for the Claimant in the largest ever Employment Tribunal award of £4.5 million.

He regularly provides training to Occupational Health Professionals in all areas of law affecting Occupational Health. He was a contributing author of Discrimination Law and Occupational Health Practice (2012).

He has developed expertise in Data Protection Law. He is a Data Protection Officer and regularly advises our retainer clients and others about the GDPR and Data Protection Act issues.

In terms of management, he helped set up a new practice, Reynolds Williams, in Poole in 2000 and was practice manager (and later COFA) until what was then RWPS LLP merged with Dutton Gregory LLP in October 2014.

He has considerable experience in regulatory issues. He was a CILEx Council Member for 10 years, served as CILEx President for the year 2012-13 and was appointed to the Board of CILEx Regulation in October 2019. He was closely involved in Finance, Legal Services Reform and Judicial Appointments while also working on the successful application for independent Practice Rights.

Nick is also heavily engaged in the sphere of access to justice. He chaired the ILEX Pro Bono Forum between 2007 and 2010 and then CILEx Pro Bono Trust from 2011 to 2018. He currently chairs the South West Legal Support Trust and is a Trustee of Advocate (formerly the Bar Pro Bono Unit). He is a member of the Civil Justice Council and the Litigant in Person Judicial Engagement Group and served on the Bach Commission on Access to Justice. Nick also sits as a Deputy District Judge and a Judge for First Tier and Employment Tribunals.

Nick can provide valuable insight and support to your practice in the following areas:

• Data Protection; implementation of compliant processes, staff training and guidance on dealing with data breaches when they occur
• Practice and case management especially in personal injury and employment
• Regulatory compliance
• Quality assurance and accreditation

Contact us

To discover more about how we can help your firm with compliance issues, please either call 01509 214 999 or send us an email.