Richard Voke

Richard Voke

Consultant Partner

Regulatory & Environmental Team

Talk to Our & Environmental Team

Richard Voke is a Consultant Partner within our Regulatory & Enviromental Team.

Richard is a specialist in Risk and Regulation, with longstanding experience in Health and Safety and environmental law defence work, which he has practiced for 25 years.

Richard’s clients appreciate his tactical and pragmatic approach. Before becoming a lawyer, Richard gained a Master’s degree in Environmental Toxicology and spent 8 years with the HSE as a specialist in the Hazardous Installations Division, where he prosecuted his own cases. He then spent two years as a risk management consultant, most notably leading a World Bank project on environmental catastrophe prevention in West Africa, and developing environmental and health and safety protocols for energy companies in the Sahara.

Richard advises and defends organisations in their dealings with the Environment Agency, HSE, Local Authorities and other government regulators.

*Richard Voke is a Consultant at Acuity Law working on a self-employed basis*

Expertise
  • Interpretation and advice on regulatory legislation (health and safety, environment, food, fire, security, planning, trading standards, Anti-Bribery etc)
  • Specific major hazard industry regulatory representation in UK (COMAH and abroad)
  • Regulatory litigation – defending criminal cases brought by HSE/EA/EHOs, etc
  • Directors, senior officer and shareholder risk/liability management from threats such as corporate manslaughter, bribery and environmental law
  • Inquest representation for organisations and individuals
  • Liability on internal and external security issues
  • Contractor control and risk limitation
  • Environmental, health and safety accident/incident investigation leadership
  • Regulatory risk and liability management systems such as ISO 14001, 18001/45001, etc
  • Mediation of commercial disputes

Work Highlights

Defences against most regulatory bodies, including health and safety, environmental, food, planning, waste, trading standard and employment-related matters.
Series of seminars/training and follow up advice to board level of large multisite (and multinational) organisations, such as the USA State Department, Serco, Siemens TC, BAM Nuttall, Amcor, Universities of Bristol/West of England/Oxford/South Wales, Rail Company on corporate and individual accountability in health and safety and other relevant law, such as corporate manslaughter.
Speaker at a US Embassy conference on counter terrorism and senior management liability. He is a visiting Research Fellow At Bristol Universitity’s Civil Engineering Department’s Complex Safety Systems Team.

Accolades

The Planning & Environmental Team is ranked Tier 2 in the Legal 500

Legal 500

Testimonials

Richard Voke is ‘outstanding both in the depth of his knowledge and in his pragmatic and tactical approach’, providing ‘superb service’.

Richard Voke has a ‘strong technical background in environmental science as well as environmental law’; he has been involved in multiple pollution and contamination prosecutions for clients in the energy and care sectors, in addition to advising on regulatory due diligence issues related to various transactions in the oil and gas sector.

He is very experienced and wise in his approach.