Giles has acted for over thirty years in professional discipline and regulatory proceedings, for practitioners and for regulators, employers and public bodies. His practice covers bankers, traders and financial services employees, doctors, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, opticians, psychologists and psychotherapists, solicitors, police officers, firefighters, and sportspeople. He is ranked by Chambers and Partners in professional discipline, where he has been ranked for fourteen consecutive years.

He appears before fitness-to-practise panels and tribunals, in High Court statutory appeals against findings and sanctions, and in the Court of Appeal. He also advises on internal disciplinary proceedings in the NHS, the police and the fire service, and acts as legal assessor to the misconduct and regulatory panels of public bodies.

Regulators and panels

• Healthcare: GMC and MPTS, GDC, NMC, GOC, GPhC, HCPC, UKCP, BACP, COSRT and the Professional Standards Authority; Social Work England; CQC, HSE and Healthcare Inspectorate Wales
• NHS: internal proceedings under Maintaining High Professional Standards (MHPS) and Upholding Professional Standards in Wales (UPSW); ARCP and training decisions of NHS England (formerly Health Education England)
• Financial services: FCA, PRA, FRC and the Pensions Ombudsman
• Legal: SRA, BSB and the Legal Ombudsman
• Police and fire: misconduct panels, Police Appeals Tribunals, medical boards and pension appeals
• Sport: RFU, WRU and ECB disciplinary panels
• Universities: professional disciplinary and fitness-to-practise committees

Restraining NHS disciplinary proceedings

A particular specialism is the High Court injunction to restrain, or to permit, internal disciplinary proceedings against doctors under MHPS and its predecessors. Giles has appeared in many of the leading cases on both sides, for consultants and for Trusts, from Lim and Hussain (2011) through Mattu in the Court of Appeal, Chakrabarty, Makhdum and A v HTX, to Smo (2020) and Nirmal (2026), and has advised on and conducted the internal proceedings that follow. Few practitioners at the Bar have comparable experience of this line of authority.

Selected cases

• H v General Medical Council, 2024–2025. Successfully sought permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal against the decision of Eyre J on a statutory appeal against findings and erasure. Led by Martin Forde KC. Acting for the doctor.
• D v General Medical Council, 2023–2025. High Court appeal against findings and erasure by a locum A&E consultant. Acting for the doctor.
• M v General Medical Council, 2024–2025. High Court appeal against findings and erasure by a consultant psychiatrist. Acting for the doctor.
• GMC v Dr K, 2021–2024. Wide-ranging allegations of dishonesty in the use of social media and in applications to work as a GP; allied judicial review. Successful outcome at the MPTS. Acting for the doctor.
• General Optical Council v K, 2022–2023. Allegations of sexual impropriety against an optician; successfully defended at a three-week final hearing. Acting for the optician.
• General Pharmaceutical Council v G, 2022–2023. Allegations against a locum pharmacist concerning the administration of controlled drugs; two-week final hearing. Acting for the GPhC.
• GMC v Dr M, 2019–2022. Allegations of sexual impropriety against a psychiatrist; successfully defended at a three-week final hearing. Acting for the doctor.
• GMC v Dr D, 2022. Allegations of sexual impropriety against a GP; successfully defended at a two-week final hearing. Acting for the GP.
• GMC v Dr H, 2021. Allegations against a trainee GP concerning social media posts on the transgender debate; successful in part, with a one-month suspension. Acting for the trainee.
• Metropolitan Police v Inspector M, 2022–2023. Misconduct allegations concerning off-duty time and work. Acting for the Metropolitan Police.
• NHS England v H, 2025. ARCP appeal for an oral and maxillofacial surgery trainee; advice on judicial review.

Reported cases

NHS disciplinary proceedings and MHPS

• Nirmal v Birmingham Women's and Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust [2026] EWHC 723 (KB). Without-notice injunction restraining a misconduct hearing against a trainee doctor discharged; claim ongoing. Led by Martin Forde KC. Acting for the doctor.
• Smo v Hywel Dda University Health Board [2020] EWHC 727 (QB), [2021] IRLR 273; and [2019] EWHC 1973 (QB). Injunction restraining a working-relationships investigation conducted alongside MHPS proceedings. Acting for the Health Board.
• Chakrabarty v Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust [2014] EWHC 2735 (QB), [2014] Med LR 379. Capability hearing without NCAS assessment; departing from Lim. Acting for the Trust.
• Dunn v Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2013] EWHC 3636 (QB). Injunction; delay and fairness in disciplinary proceedings.
• Lloyd-Owen v Spire Healthcare Ltd [2013] EWHC 3542 (QB), [2014] Med LR 268. No contractual right to legal representation at a nurse's disciplinary hearing.
• Mattu v University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust [2012] EWCA Civ 641, [2013] ICR 270; [2011] EWHC 2068 (QB). Court of Appeal. Article 6 ECHR not engaged by an NHS disciplinary dismissal. Acting for Dr Mattu.
• Makhdum v Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust [2012] EWHC 4015 (QB). Injunction refused as sought too late. Acting for the consultant.
• A v HTX [2012] EWHC 857 (QB). Ill-health panel referral; breaches of policy not linked to relief sought. Acting for the Trust.
• Lim v Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust [2011] EWHC 2178 (QB), [2012] Med LR 146. Capability hearing requires NCAS assessment. Acting for the Trust.
• Hussain v Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust [2011] EWHC 1670 (QB), [2012] Med LR 163. Contractual status of MHPS; exclusion from work. Acting for the consultant.
• R (Puri) v Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2011] EWHC 970 (Admin), [2011] IRLR 582. Article 6 and internal panels.
• R (Loizou) v Mid-Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust [2010] EWHC 2523 (Admin). Composition of MHPS panels; extension of time for judicial review.
• Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust v Lairikyengbam [2010] ICR 66 (EAT). Locum consultant employed beyond twelve months: contract void but employee status preserved.
• Lakshmi v Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust [2008] EWHC 878 (QB), [2008] IRLR 956. Breach of contract in refusing to adjourn a disciplinary hearing.

Regulators and professional discipline

• Moodliar v General Medical Council [2025] EWHC 913 (Admin). Appeal against findings of dishonesty in medicolegal work and erasure dismissed. Acting for the doctor.
• Demanya v General Medical Council [2025] EWHC 247 (Admin). Appeal against erasure for dishonesty dismissed. Acting for the doctor.
• Dr K v General Medical Council, 2023. Judicial review of a case examiners' decision. Acting for the doctor.
• Dr C v General Medical Council, 2022. Judicial review of a decision to investigate a historic matter; resolved with the GMC withdrawing part of its case. Acting for the doctor.
• R v UK Council for Psychotherapy, 2021. Judicial review of a decision to investigate fitness to practise; permission refused and costs awarded to the UKCP. Acting for the UKCP.
• M v University Health Board (Wales), 2019. Judicial review by a Health Board of a decision of its own disciplinary panel; permission refused. Acting for the Health Board.
• Solicitors Regulation Authority v Adeyemo [2013] EWHC 3346 (Admin). Costs of a withdrawn appeal in disciplinary proceedings; direct-access barrister's hourly rate.
• R (West Midlands Fire and Rescue Authority) v First Secretary of State [2008] EWHC 1458 (Admin). Reasons on a firefighter's disciplinary appeal.