Jonathan Laidlaw KC

Criminal Regulatory

Throughout his career, Jonathan Laidlaw KC has maintained a health and safety practice appearing for a large number of corporate clients which include Texaco, Gulf, BOC, Ford, Southern Cross, Esso, BHP Billiton, Fluor, Marwood and Merck. In recent years he has successfully defended BHP Billiton in a series of cases brought by the DTI, the MCA and the HSE arising from incidents at the Liverpool Bay field; acted for Southern Cross in cases involving fatalities in their care homes; successfully defended Fluor in a prosecution arising from the construction of the Inoes Chlor plant in Warrington; successfully defended Marwood Limited in a case which was to have been tried in Bradford; successfully defended one of the directors in Lion Steel one of the first corporate manslaughter trials; successfully defended the Ancient Order of Foresters; represented Cape Industries facing charges arising from a fatality; appeared for the Princes Sporting Club who faced corporate manslaughter charges; for Monovan Construction Limited, the first company to be sentenced under the new Sentencing Council Guideline; for JTF Wholesale who face corporate manslaughter charges and BAM, Ferrovian and Kier following a fatality on the Cross Rail project.

His present workload in this area includes acting for Pret a Manger, for Harley Facades, the cladding company in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and for Showsec/Live Nation in the Manchester Arena Bombing Inquiry and the Brixton Academy investigation.

Jonathan Laidlaw KC has twice been nominated by Chambers and Partners as “Health and Safety Silk of the Year”.

The 2023 Chambers guide said, “Jonathan Laidlaw KC is an expert advocate, lauded for the breath of his expertise in health and safety cases … He defends companies and directors in regulatory, disciplinary and professional matters, and regularly acts for those facing prosecution by the HSE. He is now highly sought after in the US market to represent corporates facing health and safety prosecutions, particularly those concerning corporate manslaughter”. Amongst the testimonials it has been said “Jonathan has a deep knowledge and ability to predict, anticipate and navigate safely through some complex issues” … “he leads the case from a strategic and tactical point of view” … “he is excellent with clients” and “Jonathan has an amazing ability to assimilate information in a shirt space of time and pull it all together in court”.

The 2024 Chambers guide say, “A superb KC and a strategic mastermind” … “Jonathan has an excellent reputation”.

Legal 500 say, “Jonathan is a master of advocacy. He is a force to be reckoned with and leads the way in this field.”