Peter Atkinson (Consultant)

(Consultant)

Prior to joining Walker Morris's Regulatory team, Peter was a partner in the Leeds office of Pinsent Masons. He has particular experience in the following areas:

Health and Safety
His experience includes representing clients following serious and fatal accidents on construction sites, in factories and other workplaces and representing clients charged with manslaughter in such circumstances. Examples of such cases include fatal accidents arising out of defective equipment and premises, inadequate safety systems, employees’ inadvertence and accidents involving children trespassing on industrial premises and building sites.

Peter will guide clients through the difficult process of accident investigation with the intention of reducing the impact on the client and individual concerns. He appears regularly in the criminal courts and in employment tribunals when appealing against improvement notices. He has given extensive advice to construction clients on the CDM regulations and advised other clients across a wide range of Health and Safety regulations including the 'softer areas' of stress and bullying at work.

Environment
Peter's experience of environmental matters is extremely broad-ranging. He has advised clients on permit applications and appeals, trade effluent consents, carbon trading, packaging waste regulations, radioactive sources, noise and other nuisances. He has regularly advised and represented clients in the waste industry. He has advised on judicial reviews of decisions by regulators, for example, successfully challenging a local authority in a decision where it had failed to take account of HSE representation regarding a COMAH site. He has also advised in leading cases on environmental impact assessment.

Trading Law and Product Liability
Peter has for many years defended well-known high street retailers and food manufacturers in prosecutions by trading standards, environmental health and fire authorities. He takes a down-to-earth and pragmatic approach and, where possible, seeks to negotiate a satisfactory outcome with the regulators.

His wealth of experience in dealing with product liability cases includes advising clients in relation to the need for a recall, the implementation of a recall, the assessment of risk, defending enforcement action and enforcing claims against clients. Examples of such product liability cases include defective beer kegs, tractor wheels, electrical switchgear, toys, cigarette lighters, lamps, and furniture.

Peter is regarded by Legal 500 and Chambers as a leading individual in his field.