Biography

Huw is an experienced advocate at all levels of court and tribunal. He is a leading Barrister, has presided over a public inquiry in Jersey and has worked overseas, including serving as the Attorney General of a British Overseas Territory.

Huw has been involved in a range of business and commercial disputes including:

• Breach of contract claims
• Professional negligence
• Company law (including shareholders’ interests and disputes) 
• Financial services law, including disputes over pensions and regulation (both onshore and offshore)
• Bankruptcy and insolvency (both corporate and personal)
• Costs (including detailed costs assessments).
• Leasehold agreements
• Business rates disputes

Background

Huw has specialised in contentious and non-contentious Chancery matters for over 30 years, alongside his other main specialism of public law.  Chancery matters include the law of trusts, wills, probate, land, companies, bankruptcy, partnerships and a host of other related matters.  In particular, trust law and the law of wills and probate have very considerable areas of overlap, and Huw has drafted hundreds, if not thousands, of wills and trust deeds in that time as well as advising on nearly every conceivable problem encountered in putting wills and trust deeds into practice.  He also has considerable experience of advising on potentially contested probate matters and appearing in court in such cases; on average, he is engaged on 5 or 6 of these each month.

After working as a Magistrates' Clerk for 5 years, Huw joined the Treasury Solicitor's Department and spent 9 years handling a variety of government legal work, inlcuding judicial review, specialist prosecutions, Admiralty law, and regulatory practice.  He then joined the finance industry in Jersey to establish the compliance/AML regime for one of the Island's large Trust Companies (and acted as in-house counsel). He then worked in funds and investment compliance and as a general business and compliance consultant.  

Following a short stint in a local authority handling employment and freedom of information issues as well as more general matters, Huw moved to Bermuda, where he was Crown Counsel/Acting Deputy Solicitor-General.  While there, he travelled extensively as a member of the negotiating team seeking Tax Information Exchange Agreements and was a member of the Island's delegation to the OECD Peer Review Group on exchange of information.  

He also acted as an assessor for the OECD examining the effectiveness of TIEA mechanisms.  He then became Attorney General of the Turks and Caicos Islands, having responsibility for advising the Government of the Islands on all legal matters, including the aftermath of the 2009 Auld Commission of Inquiry, planning and development, land issues and the full range of government activity, and for prosecuting offences.  

In working with clients, Huw prefers to get involved at an early stage to ensure that any negotiation or dispute is managed to best advantage through the courts or if appropriate, mediation or ADR.  He is bilingual in Welsh and English and has experience of conducting proceedings in Welsh.  He also has some knowledge of French, German, Italian and Russian.