Full Profile

Gilles is an accredited expert in personal injury, with long experience of litigating in the courts including two cases which reached the House of Lords.  Recognised in the current editions of Legal 500 and Chambers in Personal Injury and Health and Safety, he acts for clients across the full spectrum of liability claims.  His caseload includes employers’ and public liability cases, occupational disease, health and safety prosecutions and fatal accident inquiries.  He is a solicitor advocate with extended rights of audience before the Court of Session, UK Supreme Court and Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

He is accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in Personal Injury Law; Honorary Member and Past  Dean of the Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow; Past Preceptor of the Ballie’s Institute, Glasgow; Past Scottish Chair of the Forum of Insurance Lawyers (FOIL); Safety Group Coordinator of the Scottish Committee of the Health and Safety Lawyers Association; a Notary Public; and a specialist contributor to “Corporate Liability: Work Related Deaths and Criminal Prosecutions” (Third Edition 2014), Gerard Forlin QC.

Experience

• Agnew v Kvaerner Govan.  Gilles successfully defended at first instance and on Appeal this case, which was the first reported Scottish decision on time bar in HAVS cases.
• Bavaird v South Lanarkshire Council & Others.  Gilles acted on behalf of a local authority in connection with the issue of transfer of successor liabilities in connection with disease claims.
• FAI into the Death of Natasha Jade Paton.  Gilles acted on behalf of a local authority in connection with a high-profile Inquiry concerning a school excursion bus crash during severe winter weather conditions.
• Lepick v St Columbas School.  Gilles successfully defended at Proof a school in connection with an alleged fall of an employee at work.
• Carlin v Stirling Council.  Gilles successfully defended a mesothelioma claim by the family of a music teacher against a local authority.
• Waters & Others v Midlothian Council.  Gilles successfully defended multiple noise-induced deafness claims, the first claims made against the refuse department of a local authority which could have opened the floodgatesto many future claims.
• Brunton v City of Edinburgh Council.  Gilles successfully defended an action for HAVS involving complex issues of medical causation against a local authority.
• Gilles acted on behalf of a local authority in connection with a criminal prosecution in respect of a breach of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974, arising out of electrocution of an employee during the course of excavation.