Kenneth Hamer

Kenneth has substantial and wide ranging experience in professional conduct and competence matters. He has expertise in health care, legal, accountancy and financial aspects of professional discipline. He is a former member of the prosecuting panel of the Bar Standards Board, and since 2017 has been a Legally Qualified Chair at the General Medical Council – Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service. He also sits as a Legal Assessor at the Nursing & Midwifery Council and as a Legal Adviser to the General Dental Council. In recent years he has regularly acted for the General Pharmaceutical Council on appeals to the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

He regularly advises or represents solicitors in disciplinary and regulatory cases and appears at hearings before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal and other professional bodies. He was a member of the prosecuting panel of the Bar Standards Board and the General Council of the Bar for over 20 years, and he also represents or advises barristers facing disciplinary issues. In 2014 he was instructed by the Bar Mutual and successfully represented a joint Head of Chambers on appeal before the Visitors concerning responsibilities under the Code of Conduct for the administrative arrangements in chambers. From 2006 – 2012 he was chair of the Appeal Committee for the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

Kenneth is the author of the leading textbook Professional Conduct Casebook, published by Oxford University Press. His book, now in its fourth edition, is hugely relied upon by practitioners in this field. It contains all key professional conduct cases in a single portable volume and analyses cases across an extensive range of professions including the healthcare professions, law, accountancy and financial services, the police and prison service, and sports law, and contains well over 1000 cases. He regularly lectures and writes on professional conduct issues and is the joint editor of the Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers’ Quarterly Bulletin.

In 2003 Kenneth was appointed by the Home Secretary to conduct a review and report on the legislative provisions in the Police Act 1996 and non-statutory guidance for appointing independent members to police authorities. The review consisted of Kenneth as chair with the Chief Executive of the NHS Appointments Commission and the Chief Executive of Devon and Cornwall Police Authority as specialist advisors. Kenneth’s report, Review of the Selection and Appointments Process of Independent Members of Police Authorities, was presented to Parliament on 4th May 2004, and contained a range of recommendations to improve the appointments process of key posts in police authorities, highlighting the need to engage local people and the importance of police authorities continuing to develop effective links with other community groups.

In 2012 Kenneth chaired a working group of senior practitioners and regulators who submitted a written response on behalf of ARDL to the Law Commission Consultation Paper on the Regulation of Health Care and Social Care Professionals.

Chambers UK 2024 writes:

• “He was invaluable in a difficult case. A very experienced barrister in professional discipline; he wrote the book on it.” 
• “Well known in this sector for his encyclopedic knowledge. He is the go-to barrister for case law and developments in fitness to practise.”

Representative cases

• Kauser v. General Pharmaceutical Council, November 2020 (Peterborough County Court)

  Successful defence by regulator in claim brought by registrant regarding registration – no duty of care owed by regulator – claim struck out.

• Soni v. General Pharmaceutical Council [2020] EWHC 348 (Admin)

  Appeal by registrant dismissed – anonymous letter sent after committee’s decision showing no real prospect of fresh committee coming to different conclusion on allegation.

• Soni v. General Pharmaceutical Council, October 2019, (Swift J) unreported

  Fresh evidence – registrant removed from register following sexually motivated assault – anonymous letter received following publication of decision – letter satisfying criteria in Ladd v. Marshall to be adduced on appeal.

• Hussain v General Pharmaceutical Council [2018] EWCA Civ 22

  Court of Appeal rejects any procedure defect in hearing or that sanction of erasure was disproportionate.

  The case arose from a BBC documentary into a number of pharmacies in London selling prescription-only medicines without a valid doctor’s certificate, and the appellant Mrs Hussain was the responsible pharmacist on duty when an undercover reporter was able to buy Amoxicillin, a prescription-only medicine, over the counter in the absence of a valid prescription.

• Khan v General Pharmaceutical Council [2017] 1 WLR 169 SC (S)

  Supreme Court Review procedure – need for panel to focus on current impairment at original hearing and at review hearing – whether sanction excessive and disproportionate.

• Abdul-Razzak v General Pharmaceutical Council [2016] EWHC 1204 (Admin)

  Supply of prescription-only medicines without a prescription by counter-assistants at pharmacy – role of responsible pharmacist – patient safety – video evidence – weight to be placed of footage.

• Burrows v General Pharmaceutical Council [2016] EWHC 1204 (Admin)

  Criminal caution for fraud – failure of registrant to attend fitness to practise hearing – representation by counsel at hearing – removal from register – lack of insight.

• Rasool v General Pharmaceutical Council [2015] EWHC 217 (Admin)

  Bias – chairman of fitness to practise committee chairing earlier interim order against employee of registrant – no risk of impartiality.

• Gulamhusein v General Pharmaceutical Council [2014] EWHC 2591 (Admin)

  Concurrent proceedings – interim suspension order granted pending trial of criminal proceedings – test for extension of interim order.

• Conlon & Others v Bar Standards Board [2014] Lex Citation 136

  Barrister – visitors – jurisdiction of lay or barrister members to sit as visitors. Head of chambers – obligations under Code of Conduct – delegation of responsibility – reasonable steps to ensure proper arrangements made within chambers for carrying out administrative functions.

• Williams v Bar Standards Board [2014] 31 October 2014 (unreported)

  Successful appellant barrister – unfettered discretion of visitors to award cost against Bar Standard Board.

• R (Hill) v Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales [2014] 1WLR 86 CA

  Member of tribunal absent during part of oral evidence – transcript provided to panel member who later returned to hearing – whether hearing complied with rules of natural justice/fairness – whether capable of being waived.

• Shaikh v General Pharmaceutical Council [2013] EWHC 1844 (Admin)

  Hearsay evidence – admissability – rule 24 GPhC 2010 Rules – application to admit new evidence on appeal refused.

• R (Cela) v General Pharmaceutical Council [2012] EWHC 2285 (Admin)

  Appeals – time limit – merits and interests of justice.

• Ansari v General Pharmaceutical Council [2012] EWHC 1159 (Admin)

  Fitness to practise – misconduct – convictions for driving – whether sanction of removal excessive – pharmacists.

• Chaudhari v General Pharmaceutical Council [2011] EWHC 3433 (Admin)

  Disciplinary proceedings – misconduct – admission of judgments in earlier civil proceedings – weight – adjournment of proceedings – pharmacists.

• Sheikh v Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain [2010] EWHC 2602 (QB)

  Claim for harassment against society – disciplinary proceedings brought by regulatory body exercising statutory powers – statutory defence under Protection from Harassment Act 1997 – action struck outout.

• Yusuf v Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain [2009] EWHC 867 (Admin)

  Role of chairman in putting respondent’s case to witnesses when respondent not attending hearing – no unfairness in process adopted by the committee.

• Richards v Law Society [2009] EWHC 2087 (Admin)

  Case clearly made in correspondence – standard of proof.

• Chamba v Law Society [2009] EWHC 190 (Admin)

  Solicitor – solicitors disciplinary tribunal – dishonesty – sanction – test to be applied by tribunal for dishonesty.

• R (Neelu Chaudhari) v Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain [2008] EWHC 3190 (Admin)

  Interlocutory hearing before disciplinary body held in private – not determinative of civil rights and obligations within Art 6(1) of ECHR – application for public hearing dismissed.

• R (Sunaina Chauhhari) v Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain [2008] EWHC 3464 (Admin)

  Judicial review of investigating committee’s decision not to prefer charges against named pharmacist – lack of evidence that was pharmacist responsible for dispensing relevant prescription – no real prospect of success.

• Sritharan v Law Society [2005] 1WLR 2708CA

  Solicitor – intervention by Law Society – automatic suspension of practising certificate – whether power to restore certificate pending hearing before Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal – whether power of court to devise scheme to replace statutory intervention.

• Collins v Office for the Supervision of Solicitors [2002] EWCA Civ 1002

  Claim by former client against Law Society alleging negligent investigation by the OSS into the handling of his affairs by his former client – whether duty of care owed by Law Society investigation officers – assumption of responsibility – measure of damages.

• R v Law Society ex parte Reigate Projects Limited [1993] 1 WLR 1531

  Solicitor – dishonesty – compensation – whether consequential losses recoverable from Law Society Compensation Fund – policy not to compensate for consequential loss – whether unreasonable and contrary to objectives of fund.

1999 – Counsel for passenger group at Southall Rail Accident Inquiry
2000-2001 – Counsel for passenger group at Ladbroke Grove Rail Accident Inquiry
2003-2004 – Chair of Home Office Review of the Selection and Appointments Process of Independent Members of Police Authorities
2019 to date – Counsel for British Standards Institution at Grenfell Tower Inquiry

Representative cases

• In re Barlow Clowes Gilt Managers Ltd [1992] Ch 208

  Practice – discovery – public interest immunity – use in criminal proceedings of confidential information obtained by liquidators.

• R v Clowes and Others [1992] 3 All ER 440

  Witness summons against liquidators – production of documents – information provided to liquidators voluntarily and in confidence – whether public interest in confidentiality outweighing public interest in ensuring that defendants received fair trial.