Chris Morris

What Chris can do for you

Chris became the firm’s Senior Partner in January 2018. He first qualified as a dental surgeon, and practised dentistry in the UK and overseas for ten years before training as a solicitor. Chris became a partner at Hempsons in 1996 specialising in regulatory law.

Chris has a well established specialist practice in dento-legal matters, covering a wide range of legal issues impacting on dentistry and he heads Hempsons’ National Dental Team and the firm’s Regulatory Team.

He is a regular contributor to the dental press on dento-legal topics, and lectures widely to the dental profession.

Chris has been President of the Dental Law & Ethics Forum since 2001 and an elected member of the ARDL committee from 2015-2018.

Main areas of expertise

• Defendant clinical negligence litigation for dentists, doctors and other healthcare professionals
• NHS regulatory work (e.g. Performers List hearings and FHSAA appeals)
• Defending healthcare practitioners before the GDC, GMC, GOC and HPC
• Specialist List appeals
• Acting in disputes between dentists
• GDC and GMC registration issues

The clients he works with

• Defence organisations
• Professional bodies
• Commissioners
• Individual healthcare practitioners (medical, dental, dietitians, opticians and others)

Memberships

• Dental Law & Ethics Forum
• Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers
• British Dental Association

Examples of external publications

• Commentary on facing the judge and jury (Dental Tribune)
• Performers list declarations (Dentistry)
• Dentists and jury service (Dentistry)
• Business disputes between practitioners (Dentistry)
• Applications to join a performers list (Dentistry)

Important cases

DP v General Dental Council [2016] EWHC 3181 (Admin)

• British Dental Association -v- General Dental Council

Citation: [2014] EWHC 4311 (Admin)

• General Dental Council -v- Savery

Citation: [2011] EWHC 3011 (Admin); [2012] Med. L.R. 204;

[2012] A.C.D. 11; Official Transcript

• Mohammed Qusim Shiekh -v- General Dental Council (2009)

Citation: [2009] EWHC 186 (Admin)

• R (on the application of Shiekh) -v- General Dental Council (2007)

Citation: [2007] EWHC 2972 (Admin)