Richard was one of the first exponents of litigation PR in the UK and is well known amongst leading journalists for his handling of highly sensitive national and international news stories. His work includes dispute, litigation, crisis and reputation management mandates. Richard has 20 years PR experience, beginning his career with British Rail, where he handled media relations on issues ranging from privatisation to rail accident crisis management. In 1993, he joined the Press Office of the UK’s Labour Party culminating in his becoming Deputy Head of the ‘Rebuttal & Attack’ media team, at Labour’s Millbank headquarters, a post he occupied during the 1997 General Election.

In the last decade Richard has handled media aspects of some of the most challenging and high profile civil actions brought before the High Court. Richard is regularly featured as one of the top 500 most influential PR practitioners in the ‘PR Week Powerbook.’

Richard’s litigation and dispute PR briefs have included, among others, the following:

- €1bn ‘pre-pack’ dispute – the biggest in UK history
- $100m Yemeni oilfield breach of contract dispute
- Multi-billion dollar Class Action launched against RBS
- Shareholder derivative action launched against BAE Systems
- The ‘Nat West Three’ bankers in their fight against extradition to the US
- ICAP in its high profile defence of a poaching claim brought by rival brokerage
- Multi-jurisdictional litigation involving former Soviet Union/CIS entities
concerning aluminium and other natural resources

Gus has worked in professional services public relations since 1998 and is a legal PR specialist. He began his career in public affairs for a top 10 agency where he carried out political research and political campaigning through the media on behalf of blue chip companies, institutions, government bodies and professional services organisations. His interest in legislative research led him to specialise in legal public relations and his experience includes over four years at a leading national UK law firm where he headed up its PR function.

Gus offers clients strategic and tactical reputation management advice across the full range of PR activities including media training, crisis management and internal communications. Gus regularly advises on boardroom communications and leadership communications and has a keen interest in the opportunities presented by the Legal Services Act. Additionally Gus is a ligation PR specialist, having managed the media in hundreds of civil and criminal trials. He regularly partners with defamation lawyers where a reputation management mandate requires both legal and PR expertise.

In the legal sector, Gus has helped to manage the reputations of a number of leading global, City, national, regional and niche law firms. He also works with professional services firms in the accountancy, insurance, banking, HR and management consultancy sectors as well as corporates and high profile individuals. Gus is currently co-authoring a media guide for lawyers for the Law Society.

Jon is a legal journalist and author and has been writing about the law for the national and specialist press for over 13 years. He has written regularly for The Times, Observer, Guardian, The Financial Times, Daily Express, The Independent and Sunday Express.

Jon also has considerable experience writing for the specialist legal press. He was editor of Independent Lawyer; associate writer on The Lawyer; features writer for the Law Society’s Gazette; and has been a columnist and contributor for the Solicitors Journal and New Law Journal. He was the Bar Council’s legal journalist of the year.

Jon was also director of campaigns with the Legal Action Group, a charity which seeks to promote access to justice and a fairer legal system. Byfield supported the LAG’s Access to Justice Audit, a research project undertaken by Jon and which formed the basis of last year’s Justice Gap, an online series of films by the Guardian marking the 60th anniversary of legal aid.

Jon is the author of a number of books, including The Justice Gap: Whatever happened to legal aid (Legal Action Group, May 2009, with Steve Hynes), and The Daily Telegraph’s People Power (Daily Telegraph and LawPack, May 2008), a practical guide to campaigning and A Parent’s Guide to the Law (LawPack, January 2010). Jon’s articles for the national press can be read here. To see Jures related articles, click here

Jon blogs every week for Guardian Law which can be read here.

James joined Byfield in 2008 and has worked in professional services PR for over five years. He is a legal PR specialist whose clients include national, regional and boutique law firms, barristers’ sets and legal associations. James takes a lead role in securing national coverage and ensuring the smooth day-to-day management of accounts. He also regularly supports Richard on litigation projects and has built strong experience around employment and personal injury cases in particular. James also takes a leading role in project managing market research assignments.

James, a graduate of University College London, was one of the first PR professionals to gain the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s bespoke diploma for professional services and holds a Masters degree in Journalism. While training to be a journalist, James completed a number of internships with local newspapers. A keen writer, James has written for a range of publications including Solicitors Journal, Workplace Law and Director of Finance. He has also completed the Business NLP Practitioner course and has gained the Market Research Society’s Advanced Certificate.

Victoria joined Byfield Consultancy in 2010 after completing a Masters degree in PR and Communication Management at London’s Middlesex University in June 2009. Prior to that Victoria graduated from City University with a BA (hons) in Journalism with Sociology. During her degree, Victoria gained professional experience working for Twentieth Century Fox’s PR department and as a reporter for a local newspaper. Victoria assists the team at Byfield with the day-to-day running of accounts and securing editorial across a number of trade, local and national publications. Victoria is also responsible for all website maintenance and updates.

Carol advises Byfield on our HR, business development, general finance and office administration. Carol has over 17 years experience working with a variety of businesses. Her PR sector experience is vast: she was a Commercial Director and a Board Director at Eulogy! responsible for the financial and operational running of the business and Operations Director and Board Director for Limelight PR. During her time at Limelight, Carol helped the business to double in size within two years.

In 2007 Carol took the plunge and set up her own company, New Horizons Business Management, which helps business owners and entrepreneurs to grow their companies.

Bill Jones has worked for both multi-national consultancy firms and in his own highly-successful UK PR firm, Lexis Public Relations, which he sold to the management team in 2002. Since then, he has specialised in helping PR firms as an advisor and mentor on best business practices, and has been working with Richard and Gus at Byfield since 2009. Bill has served on the Board of the Public Relations Consultants’ Association (PRCA) and as chair of the PRCA’s Best Practice Committee while in 2010, he was made a Founding Fellow. He was also a member of the Steering Group on the PR industry set up by the Institute of Public Relations and the Department of Trade & Industry.

Bas advises Byfield on our financial management and growth strategy. He has worked in the PR industry for 17 years, having started his career at Ludgate Communications where he first met Gus and Richard. Bas has spent the last decade managing the finance department of Tulchan where he has seen the company grow from start-up to a top five UK Financial PR consultancy which is now expanding internationally and has converted to a Limited Liability Partnership from a limited company.