Michael’s practice centres on professional negligence, insurance, property damage, product liability, commercial disputes and related areas. Michael is ranked by Legal 500 as a Rising Star for professional negligence and is the most junior barrister recognised in that practice area.
Michael regularly advises or acts at all stages of litigation and in a variety of hearings, including as sole counsel in the High Court. Alongside this, Michael prides himself on working effectively as part of a larger team. A notable example was one of the Lawyer’s Top 20 cases of 2019, a £300m professional negligence dispute.
Before joining Chambers, Michael was the Judicial Assistant to Lady Justice Gloster, worked on what became the Insurance Act 2015 at the Law Commission and tutored in Commercial Law at the University of Oxford. During practice Michael has also spent a period on secondment with a specialist insurance firm. This background has provided direct experience of what solicitors and clients but also judges want from counsel.
This followed undergraduate and BCL degrees at the University of Oxford (the latter on a faculty scholarship) and the BPTC, during which he won multiple prizes. Michael also won the largest national mooting competition, the final of which was judged by Lord Clarke, Christopher Clarke LJ and Sir Richard Aikens.
View full profile »News
- Daniel Shapiro KC, Michael Harper and Alethea Redfern acted for World Challenge Expeditions Ltd in its successful claim against Zurich Insurance Company Ltd
- DIPT v Sanglier v Apollo: the importance of assessing the evidence, settling reasonably, and understanding the terms on which you contract
Articles
- DIPT v Sanglier v Apollo: the importance of assessing the evidence, settling reasonably, and understanding the terms on which you contract
- Hindsight is 20/20: Assessment of damages in light of Covid-19
Qualifications
- BPTC
- BCL, University of Oxford
- BA Hons, University of Oxford
- Lord Denning Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn
- Graduate Fund Scholarship, Oxford Law Faculty
Memberships
- COMBAR
Recommendations
Technically brilliant and very able in complex matters.
Legal 500, 2024
“Michael is enormously talented and enthusiastic in equal measure. He consumes the facts voraciously and applies the law surgically.”
Rising Star, Legal 500 2022
