A man in a business suit with glasses is posing against a plain white background.

Richard A Hartley KC

Year of Call: 1985Year of Silk: 2008

Practice areas:

Clinical Negligence
Inquests
Personal Injury
Regulatory
Sports Injury Law

“He's a great and very experienced practitioner.”

“Richard clearly has the necessary knowledge for the case, and our client has expressed confidence in his ability as a advocate.”

Chambers and Partners - UK Bar, 2024

“Richard has a pragmatic approach.”

Chambers and Partners - UK Bar, 2023

“A very good advocate and a very good negotiator.”

“He has an absolutely fantastic manner with clients and experts.”

“An insightful and forensic barrister.”

Chambers and Partners - UK Bar, 2022

“He is very bright, extremely good with clients and always well prepared.”

“Richard is really pragmatic and very approachable.”

Chambers and Partners - UK Bar, 2021

“He's knowledgeable, extremely approachable and takes a very practical approach to his cases.”

“He's extremely professional, hard-working and dedicated. He has a real empathy with his clients and is very diligent with paperwork.”

Chambers and Partners - UK Bar, 2020

A very good advocate and a very good negotiator." "He has an absolutely fantastic manner with clients and experts." "An insightful and forensic barrister."

Chambers and Partners, 2022

“Very down to earth with clients and makes them feel at ease. Very passionate about ensuring he helps to get the best possible settlement.”

Legal 500 - 2021

Richard has amazing qualities with clients. He's practical, provides insightful advice and is very approachable."

Chambers and Partners - UK Bar, 2025

He is an exceptional advocate and routinely succeeds in difficult matters where others would not."

Chambers and Partners - UK Bar, 2025

Richard Hartley KC is an extremely strong negotiator. His advocacy skills in court and ability to rapidly identify the key issues means that on large cases, he is a secure pair of hands.

He never disappoints and is always very charming to both his clients, the court and his opponents.

Chambers and Partners - UK Bar 2026

Richard is a fantastic leader. His skill and ability has resulted in positive outcomes on a number of matters which would not have occurred if it had not been for him.

He is creative in moving cases along and facilitating collaboration.

Chambers and Partners - UK Bar 2026

Richard has a gentle and warm approach with clients. His approach can often lull opponents into a sense of security, when in reality his sharp legal mind should make them wary.

Richard is bold in his analysis and a calm head in the most complex or challenging of cases.

Chambers and Partners - UK Bar 2027

Richard is able to explain complicated legal and technical matters with ease.

Richard Hartley KC is never to be underestimated. He is a consummate professional and always delivers.

Chambers and Partners - UK Bar 2027

Overview

He is a Civil Practitioner with a busy paper and Court practice. Specialising in personal injury and clinical negligence work of the higher value and more complex kind as well as dealing with Sports Injuries, Regulatory Law and Insurer Recovery cases. He is instructed by both Claimants and Defendants. Richard is regarded as one of the busiest and most well-respected P.I. Silks in Manchester and his effectiveness continues to attract praise. He took silk in 2008 and has continued to develop a strong practice. He has received praise in the major legal directories.

Expertise

The majority of his work concerns major injuries sustained in road traffic accidents, accidents at work, occupiers liability claims, clinical negligence, product defects and fatal accidents. The injuries differ greatly, but recently he has worked increasingly on claims involving major brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, major orthopaedic injuries and sports injuries involving claims for the lost chance of sporting earnings - including several high profile players and clubs from a variety of sports.

As well as pure compensation claims, he deals with some of the ancillary work such as health and safety prosecutions and appeals, regulatory law, coroner's inquests and Article 2 Inquiries. He is frequently instructed in cases involving very large claims, sometimes with a Junior and sometimes alone. Considered to be approachable as well as hard working. Solicitors have frequently fed back to the clerking team that he has put clients at ease and combined a professional attitude with a friendly approach.

He has appeared in reported cases involving acceleration of injuries, jurisdictional disputes and liability and quantum decisions. He has appeared as Lead Counsel for the Claimant in most of the recent high value sports injury cases and has appeared for premiership and international players and appeared in what is currently the highest ever value sports injury claim and is currently instructed in several other similar cases for Claimants and Defendants. He has also appeared in cases involving professional Rugby League and Rugby Union players, golfers and other sportsmen.

Special Interests

Richard enjoys cases involving complex medical and engineering issues, detailed factual disputes and complex legal arguments. He regularly gives talks on his experience in litigation and on topics as diverse as The Court of Protection, Brain injury claims, Motorcycle Cases, Sports Injuries and many other aspects of Personal Injury Litigation. He is a significant contributor to Chambers’ programme of seminars and Lectures to firms of Solicitors.

Achievements

Legal Directories

Ranked in the 2027 edition of Chambers and Partners - UK bar as Band 1 Silk for Personal Injury
Ranked in the 2026 edition of the Legal 500 as silk for Personal Injury

Appointments

Richard sits as a Recorder in Criminal Cases in the Crown Court and in Civil Cases in the County Court.
He is a member of the Northern Circuit Working Party on Joint Settlement Meetings.
Richard Hartley took silk in 2008

Awards

Lawyer Monthly Legal Awards 2018 (Personal Injury - Barrister of the Year - UK)

Memberships

Richard Hartley is a member of the following bodies:

PIBA - The Personal Injuries Bar association
The Northern Circuit Medical Law Association

Personal Information

Richard tells us that he has little time for hobbies, but that when his four children allow it, he can sometimes be found snowboarding, (badly) or watching a local football team, (always with hope but seldom with joy ... until recently).

However, his love of motorcycles dictates that he can more often be located restoring an old motorbike or riding a modern one locally or abroad.