Paul Antony Darling is an English

commercial law Commercial law, also known as mercantile law or trade law, is the body of law that applies to the rights, relations, and conduct of persons and business engaged in commerce, merchandising, trade, and sales. It is often considered to be a branc ...

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

King's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

and current chair of the

Horserace Betting Levy Board The Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB), commonly abbreviated to the Levy Board, is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in the United Kingdom. It is a statutory body established by the Betting Le ...

Early life and education

Darling grew up in

Cleadon Cleadon is a suburban village in South Tyneside in the North East of England. Prior to the creation of Tyne and Wear in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, the village was part of the historic County Durham. In the 2011 UK Census the popul ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

and went to Tonstall School in

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

before attending

Winchester School Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of t ...

and then St Edmund Hall College, Oxford. His mother was a magistrate and his brother

Ian Darling Ian David Darling is a documentary film director and producer. He is the executive director of Shark Island Institute and its production arm, Shark Island Productions in Sydney, Australia. His documentary producer and director credits inc ...

is a British circuit judge. Darling's grandfather was

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

player Jack Allen.

Career

Darling was called to the bar at

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

in 1983, and in 1999 was appointed

. He was also called to the Northern Ireland Bar. In 2010, Darling became head of Keating Chambers where he remained until 2017. He then took the unusual step of moving chambers, joining general commercial set,

39 Essex Chambers 39 Essex Chambers is a long established barristers' chambers based in London with over 150 barristers, including 58 King's Counsel. The chambers offers expertise in commercial, common, construction, costs, environmental and planning, public and r ...

. His areas of practice include construction and engineering, procurement, domestic and international arbitration – areas in which he has been ranked at tier or band 2 levels by

The Legal 500 Legalease Ltd. is a global legal research and publishing company founded in the UK in 1987. The company assesses global law firms and lawyers for its publications, annual lists and guides, including ''Legal Business'', ''GC Magazine'' and ''The ...

and

Chambers and Partners Chambers and Partners (often noted elsewhere as Chambers & Partners) produces international rankings for the legal industry, which is headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Orbach and Chambers Orbach and Chambers Publishing Limited was founded ...

directories. He is deputy treasurer of Middle Temple for 2023.

Significant cases

Darling has been instructed as lead counsel on several significant cases. * Between 1991 and 2003 he represented the contractor in McAlpine v Panatown & Unex. The dispute involved all aspects of construction law and professional negligence, and culminated in a 14-week

Technology and Construction Court The King's Bench Division (or Queen's Bench Division when the monarch is female) of the High Court of Justice deals with a wide range of common law cases and has supervisory responsibility over certain lower courts. It hears appeals on point ...

trial. The case is often referenced in

English contract law English contract law is the body of law that regulates legally binding agreements in England and Wales. With its roots in the lex mercatoria and the activism of the judiciary during the industrial revolution, it shares a heritage with countries ...

education as a result of the issues raised around the rights of third parties or

Privity of contract The doctrine of privity of contract is a common law principle which provides that a contract cannot confer rights or impose obligations upon any person who is not a party to the contract. The premise is that only parties to contracts should be ab ...

. * Darling represented the appellants,

Scarborough Borough Council Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

, in a 1997 case concerning the collapse of

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

Holbeck Hall Hotel The Holbeck Hall Hotel was a clifftop hotel in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England, owned by the Turner family. It was built in 1879 by George Alderson Smith as a private residence, and was later converted to a hotel. On 4 June 1993, of the ...

into the sea (captured live on television news). * In the 2011 case of Flannery & Another -v- Halifax Estate Agencies Limited, Darling represented the plaintiffs.

Horse racing

In 2006 Darling was appointed as a non-executive member of the

Horserace Totalisator Board The Tote is a British gambling company which is the largest pool betting operator in the United Kingdom. Headquartered in Wigan, England, its main products are sports betting and online casino. Founded in 1928, the company was owned by the U ...

or “Tote”. Between 2008 and 2014, he was a government-appointed member of the

. He was chairman of the

Sports Grounds Safety Authority The Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA) is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Until 2011 it was known as the Football Licensing Authority, having been set up under ...

between 2009 and 2015. He was appointed chairman of the Association of British Bookmakers in 2014. In 2020 he was appointed chairman of the Horserace Betting Levy Board.

Publications

Darling has written and edited several articles and books, and his cases and work have been described in learned and peer-reviewed journals. Examples include: * Who Do You Want? Who Do You Get? Appointing the Right Arbitrator, a peer-reviewed article in ''Asian Dispute Review'' in 2010 * Lafarge (Aggregates) Ltd v Newham London Borough Council - case review in ''Arbitration Law Reports and Review'' * Straight There No Detours: Direct Access to Barristers, a research paper by the

University of Westminster , mottoeng = The Lord is our Strength , type = Public , established = 1838: Royal Polytechnic Institution 1891: Polytechnic-Regent Street 1970: Polytechnic of Central London 1992: University of Westminster , endowment = £5.1 million ...

* Wilmot-Smith on Construction Contracts, 4th Ed. 2021 (Co-Editor)

Honours

In the

2015 Birthday Honours The 2015 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as p ...

, Darling became the third member of his family to be appointed to the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

. He was recognised for his services to sport safety and horse racing.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Darling, Paul 21st-century King's Counsel English King's Counsel Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Members of the Middle Temple People educated at Winchester College Alumni of St Edmund Hall, Oxford Members of the Bar of Northern Ireland