Michael Veal - Partner

Michael is widely recognised for his practice in Commercial Dispute Resolution and Regulatory Crime. He has acted for regulators and commercial clients in some of the leading cases of recent years, as well as particularly complex or sensitive matters.

Michael manages a team of lawyers which deals with a range of commercial disputes. Michael's focus has been on professional negligence and corporate claims, including commercial and employee fraud and those involving emergency injunctive relief.

As head of the firm's Regulatory and Business Crime team, Michael acts for clients in relation to all matters of white collar crime. Having a good deal of experience of both prosecution and defence work, he provides a pragmatic service to clients covering prosecutions, enforcement notice appeals, related public law matters and non-contentious advice. He and his team are experienced in handling cases in the fields of health & safety, environmental, trading standards and money crime among others.

Michael is an experienced advocate and regularly appears in court.

• Committee member of the Health & Safety Lawyers' Association
• Qualified as a solicitor in the Republic of Ireland
• Recognised by the Good Lawyer Guide for outstanding legal practice
• Ranked as a Leading Individual for Health & Safety (UK-wide) and Dispute Resolution (Southampton and surrounds) in Chambers UK 2013

Notable cases

• R v Tangerine Confectionery Limited; R v Veolia ES (UK) Limited [2011] EWCA Crim 2015
• R v EGS Limited [2009] EWCA Crim 1942
• Moroney v Anglo-European College of Chiropractic [2008] EWCA Civ 1560
• L v Birmingham City Council and others [2007] UKHL 27; [2007] 3 All ER 957
• Johnson v London Borough of Havering [2007] EWCA Civ 26; [2008] QB 1
• Enterprise Rent-A-Car v Eurodrive Car Rental Limited [2005] EWHC 1429 (Ch)
• Coulter v Chief Constable of Dorset Police [2004] 1 WLR 1425 and [2005] 1 WLR 130

Michael Veal is hailed as a high-quality lawyer whose clients appreciate the empathy he brings to their tricky dispute matters, and his willingness to go the extra mile. Market sources comment extensively on Veal's "incisive and cerebral" analytical mind, and judge him to be "a practical problem solver who makes things look easy when they're not."
Chambers UK 2013

Michael Veal leads Lester Aldridge LLP’s southern England team from the firm’s Bournemouth office. Prosecution highlights included the asbestos-related case R v Marks & Spencer plc and others. The team also handles defence work for commercial clients.
The Legal 500 UK 2012