John Boumphrey

John has a well-developed business practice encompassing contract, tort, employment, copyright, trade marks, passing off, sport and aspects of media including defamation. He also advises across the full range of General Common Law. He is particularly drawn to cases which include a range of issues.

John has advised on various aspects of European law particularly in relation to Trade Marks. He has applied for, and defended, a broad range of injunctions including ‘search’ and ‘freezing’ orders.

His work includes significant experience in advising where Criminal and Civil actions are running concurrently.

John frequently acts in circumstances where advice is needed in order to assist in avoiding media attention and has successfully applied for injunctions preventing the advertising and publication of a film and subsequent attempts to sell it on Amazon or show it at various private clubs.

He has advised on taking steps which have resulted in the removal of inaccurate information from the internet by Google and Amazon and  has advised public relations firms and website providers on various aspects of their work.

John sits as “Independent Person” under the Localism Act for a local authority and has also chaired a local authority remuneration committee. He has a good understanding of the interior workings of councils and the higher echelons of the civil service and has advised on complex matters involving the disciplinary processes of Parliament and their interaction with courts. He has advised in relation to actions against local politicians and MPs.

John has advised on aspects of European law and lectured Montenegrin Judges and prosecuting authorities on money laundering as part of their application to join the EU.

John is able to advise in a quasi-non-executive or critical friend capacity and has contributed to complex projects and events as an extra source of oversight.

Areas of Expertise

• Contract
• Tort
• Employment Law
• Unfair Dismissal
• Constructive Dismissal
• Injunctions
• Post contractual obligations and restrictive covenants
• Inducement to breach contracts
• Vento damages
• Partnerships
• Insurance
• Regulatory
• Administrative
• Judicial Review
• Local authority
• Standards
• Sport
• Contracts
• Disciplinary
• Doping
• Defamation
• Intellectual Property
• Copyright
• Trade Marks
• Design rights (registered and unregistered)
• Passing Off
• Privacy
• Internet use
• Ecommerce
• Publication
• ADR and Mediation
• Sale of Goods
• Some consumer credit
• Aspects of Banking and Finance
• Boundary disputes
• Civil fraud
• Push payment fraud
• Abuse of process as a cause of action
• Aspects of company litigation
• Media
• Data Protection
• GDPR
• Privacy
• Right to report
• Aspects of Financial Services
• Aspects of Insolvency
• Planning (enforcement only)
• Product liability
• Professional Negligence
• Shareholder /Director disputes (generally non PLC)
• Aspects of trusts
• Government
• Local
• Parliamentary
• misconduct in public office
• Aspects of charity law

Intellectual Property

John has broad experience in soft IP.

Whilst in early practice John taught a course on music copyright to audio engineering students at Alchemea (now part of Institute of Contemporary Music Performance-ICMP). He developed his knowledge of copyright and trade marks through work which included involvement in a range of bootlegging cases in which he represented some of the largest bootleggers in the world. In the course of preparation for the trials which varied from a few days to a few months he had to advise on the validity of recording contracts of many household names and dealt with copyright registered in the US and trade marks registered in the UK, US and Europe. He developed an understanding of the internal and intra organisational workings of various copyright collection societies and the BPI and was invited by the Patent Office (as was) to advise the Indian Government on IP issues.

Alongside copyright, trade mark and registered and unregistered designs John’s work has included; passing off cases with international aspects; advising games developers; agreements for the marketing of software for teaching and, commercial exploitation of sporting rights. He has marshalled disputes or advised on IP rights in, music, lyrics, poetry, jewellery, fashion and recipes. He has advised on bullet-proof jackets for canines and infringing handbag designs. John has dealt with the intricacies of challenge to domain name ownership under the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP).

He was a founding member of the Phoenix Chambers Intellectual Property Crime team one of the first such specialist units at the bar. His work also included advice on disputes where the copyright in a trademark or the copyright in a conversation were in issue. He has delivered lectures on copyright, trade marks and associated rights, for the Institute of Art and Design at Birmingham City University.

John has advised in a range of cases involving General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Subject Access Request (SAR) compliance in relation to major utilities and internet providers. He has represented various large institutional clients in data protection.

He maintains contact with niche London IP practices and legal and technical experts across the subject area.

Public Access

John may accept Public Access work, where he can be instructed directly by a member of the public rather than a solicitor.

John has practised in employment law since working for the Free Representation Unit in the 1990s, his first reported employment case is Intasean v Glenthorpe Engineering Co [1998] UKEAT 924_98_0110 (1 October 1998)

He has a good understanding of the full range of employment issues and often advises where employment abuts other areas of concern like sport, intellectual property, confidentiality or trade secrets. He recently represented the three corporate defendants in the widely reported case Tenon FM Ltd v Cawley & Ors [2018] EWHC 1972 (QB) (25 July 2018) which considered the appropriate approach to injunctive relief, poaching of employees and post contractual obligations.

John has been instructed by the Police Federation and represented officers from a number of forces and also frequently represents health professionals. He has a good understanding of the internal workings of sports organisations and is the Chair of Discipline and Grievance at British Fencing (the National Governing Body for Fencing). He has represented sport participants in disciplinary hearings and acted for clubs in a broad range of sports. He frequently advises local authorities and has sat on and advised remuneration committees. He is a statutory Independent Person on the Standards Committee at Craven District Council and has advised broadly on standards issues.

John is a keen advocate of Alternative Dispute Resolution and is an accredited mediator.

His recent employment work has included race, sex and disability discrimination, restrictive covenants and employee competition, trade secrets, conduct and internal resolution (including mediation), unfair dismissal, redundancy, transfer of undertakings, working time, holiday and sickness remuneration, bonuses, notice pay, whistleblowing, injunctions and fraud.

Public Access

John is qualified to accept Public Access work, where he can be instructed directly by a member of the public rather than a solicitor.

John handles all aspects of personal injury, ranging from modest to catastrophic. He also appears in inquests and public inquiries.

John has a particular interest in injuries arising in sport and has significant sports experience and knowledge to draw from.

John is comfortable dealing with specialist expert evidence and has ready access to medical expertise for informal input.

John has a narrow expertise in cases involving Credit Hire and has acted in credit hire cases since 1994.

He has provided update lectures on sports injuries, head injury, credit hire, low velocity impact and third party costs orders.

John has extensive driving experience and understands emergency response and police driving. He held an RAC Racing Permit for two years and holds a full motorcycle license. He also cycles.

Areas of Expertise

• Claims involving Police or Prisons
• Road Traffic Accidents (including credit hire)
• Occupiers’ Liability
• Highways cases
• Employer’s liability
• Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (“PUWER”).
• Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
• Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992.
• Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992.
• Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 and
• Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992.
• Inquests
• Costs
• Limitation
• Sanctions
• Fraudulent Claims
• Claims involving criminal allegations
• Sexual abuse
• Assault
• Quantum of Personal Injury Damages
• Vento damages

Seminars

• Low Velocity Injuries with Simon Ross and Frances Lawley
• Sanctions for Royal College of Nursing  in Leeds

Public Access

John may accept Public Access work, where he can be instructed directly by a member of the public rather than a solicitor.

John has acted in significant cases involving; Intellectual Property, Animal Cruelty Fraud, Export of Chemical Weapons, Environment Damage to areas of Special Scientific Interest, Asbestos, and Shipping. He has represented a person described by the press as the “largest bootlegger in the world”

John’s expertise in Copyright and Trademark Law and understanding of European Law took him to the House of Lords in the leading case of R v Johnstone. John’s has broad and useful experience outside the bar he has been employed in banking the civil service, and public relations. He has a good understanding of local and parliamentary government.

John sits on the Standards Committee at Craven District Council and is a Statutory Independent Person for the authority under the Localism Act. He also sat on the West Yorkshire Criminal Justice Board Equality and Diversity Committee, he chairs a remuneration committee for a local authority.

John is Chair of Discipline and Grievance for British Fencing and is responsible for maintaining a panel of adjudicators for disciplinary hearings. This experience gives him a good understanding of disciplinary proceedings. He advised in the preparation for the Tour de France, the start of which was held in Yorkshire in 2014 and continues to advise in relation to other significant cycling events.

John has represented police officers, lawyers and politicians in criminal and civil actions and serving police officers facing disciplinary proceedings. For 4 Years, John was Counsel for the Metropolitan Police and he has acted for the Police Federation and its insurers. John was designated Counsel for UNIFED, a short-lived rival to the Police Federation. John also has extensive experience of actions against the police.

John has advised on aspects of European law and lectured Montenegrin Judges and prosecuting authorities on money laundering as part of their application to join the EU

John accepts instructions for inquests. He was Counsel for the estate of the crane driver in the Canada Square crane disaster. John also acted for the parents of Laura Garner in a case which led to changes in the way urgent patients are assessed following admissions to hospital.

Representing doctors, teachers, police officers, nurses, pharmacists, footballers and fencers in front of disciplinary panels.

Areas of Expertise

• Criminal cases involving civil claims
• Intellectual property crime
• Copyright
• Trade mark
• Police discipline
• Inquests
• Importation of licensed medical goods
• Trading Standards offences
• Animal welfare offences
• Cruelty
• Unnecessary suffering
• Horse passport infractions
• Export of materials in manufacture of chemical weapons
• Sports Discipline
• Government
• Local
• Parliamentary
• Misconduct in public office

Seminars

• Prosecution of Hate Crime
• Confiscation
• Assorted update lectures for local authorities

Personal Information

John enjoys spending time with his family (and grudgingly with his dog). He has participated in various sports to high level. He is a former National Junior Epee Champion and won Bronze at the Commonwealth Fencing Championships in 1990. He enjoys Skiing and Mountaineering.

Public Access

John may accept Public Access work, where he can be instructed directly by a member of the public rather than a solicitor.