Allan Wilson
Consultant
Contact details
Allan Wilson is a seasoned litigator with a strong track record acting on public procurement cases and judicial reviews. He is also noted for his depth of knowledge regarding disputes in the healthcare sector.
Allan is a consultant in the Cardiff Litigation and Dispute Resolution team and has expertise in contentious procurement capability. He has extensive experience of advising public sector clients, including Government departments and Welsh Ministers, NHS England and the Health Boards in Wales, local authorities, Trust Ports and Housing Associations, particularly in relation to judicial review and procurement challenges.
He also has considerable experience of substantial and often high profile, media sensitive disputes and has dealt with commercial clients in the banking, manufacturing, construction, forestry, funeral services, information technology, communication systems, transportation and professional sports fields to name a few. He has also advised in relation to major pensions litigation.
His work has included securing and defending injunctions of all types, including delivery up orders for business critical items and particularly freezing orders and search and seize orders. He has acted as an Independent Supervising Solicitor for the purposes of enforcing search and seize orders.
He often gives advice on methods of preventing disputes or how to minimise their effects, particularly in the context of contract termination and he advises on the tactics to be adopted in pre-litigation situations, specifically to deal with reputational protection.
Allan is a qualified Mediator and is a member of the Legal Practice Course Advisory Board at Cardiff University, as well as an external examiner for Cardiff University’s Expert Witness Accreditation Scheme.
Main areas of practice
Allan’s main areas of practice centre on giving advice to clients, bringing or defending procurement challenges under the various public contracts regulations and defending often high profile, media sensitive claims for judicial review, particularly in the health sector.
Clients
Allan’s clients include Welsh Ministers, local authority procurement teams, NHS England and all Welsh Health Boards, all of Allan’s clients have benefitted from his input when facing claims of significant value or sensitivity.
Expertise
- Health and Social Care Funding Disputes
- Healthcare
- Resolving Disputes
- Judicial Review
- Public Procurement
Career
Allan was articled at Slaughter and May and spent 5 years with that firm in London before joining one of Blake Morgan’s predecessor firms, Morgan Bruce and Nicholas in 1985. He developed the Commercial Litigation offering at the firm, he was part of its recruitment team for 13 years and became Divisional Director for Litigation in 1998, serving on the firm’s Board in that capacity for some 5 years. He was seconded part-time to the Commercial Contracts Management Unit of the Department of Health in 2005/2006 to assist with the Independent Sector Treatment Centre programme. He began undertaking work in the procurement sector from 2006 onwards and then developed his judicial review work as reorganisations and changes occurred within the health sector in both England and Wales. He has a degree in linguistics and is a German speaker.
Contact details
Memberships
- Procurement Lawyers Association
- Advisory Board for Legal Practice Course, Cardiff University
Significant Experience
- Allan advised the seven Welsh Health Boards on proceedings brought against them by a number of care home providers challenging payments made to them for Funded Nursing Care. The care homes were supported by 21 of the 22 Local Authorities in Wales and the case went to the Supreme Court on 26 April 2017. The Judgment will have ramifications for all care homes and patients in receipt of funded nursing care in both England and Wales (see Forge Care Homes and Others –v- Cardiff and Vale University Health Board and others).
- Allan advised NHS England in relation to a challenge brought by the Hepatitis C Trust, seeking to quash NHS England's decision to implement recommendations as to the use of three new drugs to treat hepatitis C made by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence ("NICE"). The recommendations were the first ever to require prioritisation of treatment to those with the highest unmet clinical need. The Court rejected the claim, concluding NHS England's approach represented a rational way of identifying those to whom treatment should be given as a priority. (see R(oao) Hepatitis C Trust –v- National Health Services Commissioning Board).
- Allan advised a local authority in receipt of a procurement challenge to the award of a 10 year contract for building supplies, where allegations were made of discrimination and unfair treatment, as well as manifest errors. Matters were resolved through mediation.
- Allan advised the developer of a proposed gas-fired power station to be built in the North of England in relation to a multi-million pound claim concerning its contractual obligations to proceed with construction and secure statutory consents for the project. The threat of proceedings was successfully removed.
Additional Expertise
Allan has also handled proceedings before the Information Tribunal concerning the Environmental Information Regulations and he has advised regarding requests under the Freedom of Information Act.
Quotes
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