Patrick is a solicitor at BCM and has over twenty years' experience in the legal profession. Before setting up BCM with James, Patrick was headhunted to work for a leading motoring offence Solicitors. He is quoted regularly in the media and is an ADR accredited Civil and Commercial Mediator.

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Little known fact about Patrick: Patrick's previous jobs include working for Guinness (DIAGEO) and as a lifeguard in the USA

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What was your funniest moment in the law?

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I once represented a client who was charged with having no insurance. He was facing a ban due to the fact he had a number of points already on his licence.

He had been living at a rental property with his partner and her 2 children. They all had a keen interest in snakes and had kept a number of them as pets at the property unbeknown to the owner.

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As the owner of the property was due to move back into the property they were given notice. Unfortunately during the move one of the snakes escaped and could not be located. Rather than tell the owner they assumed it had escaped out of the property so moved out.

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Each week my client would return to the property to pick up his post from the owner of the property. On one occasion he arrived and the owner “chased him” as she had found the escaped snake in her airing cupboard.

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My client was unable to retrieve his mail and immediately setup up a postal redirection. Unfortunately during this time his insurance lapsed as he had not received a number of letters. He had been driving for 2 days without insurance when to his shock he was stopped by the police.

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My client accepted he had no insurance, however after putting forward submissions to the Magistrates including photographs of the missing snake, the Magistrates found that due to the “unusual  and special circumstances” surrounding the case they agreed not to disqualify my client.

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A few weeks later I was back in the same court and so was the prosecuting solicitor who was surrounded by defence lawyers. When he saw me he said "Oh Mr Campbell, what is it this time an escaped giraffe?"

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Hobbies

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Patrick likes to travel and is a keen, but not particularly good, sportsman!

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