Stephen Murfitt

Stephen specialises in all aspects of professional disciplinary tribunals, construction, engineering and commercial disputes.

Main areas of practice

As well as professional disciplinary tribunals Stephen has a wide experience of disciplinary committees, High Court cases and arbitrations.

He also advises on commercial litigation, with particular reference to all aspects of construction and engineering disputes, intellectual property law, information technology and computer law, and commercial disputes.

Stephen is a current Chair of the national Access Dispute Panel which determines disputes relating to the use of the rail network as between Network Rail and Train Operators. He is a director of The Festiniog Railway Company and receives instructions with regard to disputes appertaining to  railways.

Clients

Stephen’s clients include professional regulators, commercial companies and railway sector clients.

Significant experience

Over the last decade Stephen has worked with others to develop the firm’s Professional Regulatory practice. Stephen acts for a number of professional regulators in the presentation of cases before conduct and fitness to practise committees. He has also sat as a legal adviser to the General Optical Council, the General Teaching Council, the Clergy Discipline Panel, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, the General Dental Council and the Chartered Institute of Surveyors. He is a chairman of National Rail Access Dispute Panel. He has conducted a number of judicial reviews on behalf of regulatory bodies.

In addition to presenting conduct cases and sitting as a legal adviser, Stephen has assisted regulators with the setting up of a regulatory regime. This has included the drafting of a code of practice together with the underpinning policies, disciplinary rules, guidance policies, and systems. He has trained committee and panel members and has written their guidance manual. He has been instructed with regard to the amendment of primary legislation and the drafting of subsequent secondary legislation.

Education: Stephen acts for a number of HEIs in relation to the regulation of students. He has appeared as a regulator at the Combined College Appeal Tribunal [CCAT] at Oxford University.

Seminars: Stephen has written, lectured and presented seminars on professional regulation.

Expertise

• Regulatory, Disciplinary & Compliance
• Regulatory and Compliance Support for Businesses
• Judicial Review

Career

Stephen joined the firm in 1972 and has been a partner since July 1976. He was awarded an LLM in Advanced Litigation with a distinction by Nottingham Trent University in 1997.

Between 2000 and 2010 Stephen was the head of the Litigation and Dispute Resolution department. Between 2011 and 2014 Stephen was the Chair and Senior Partner of the Firm.

In 2017 Stephen was awarded a Ph.D by the University of York in relation to railway studies.