Syan Ventom
Year Called: 2008
Teams:Crime & Regulatory (General Crime, Licensing, Trading Standards, Environment)
Memberships:South-Eastern Circuit
Practice Areas:
Syan Ventom practises in regulatory matters (with extensive experience of
environmental law) and general crime, including confiscation proceedings.
He enjoys a nationwide practice regularly appearing in courts on the Western, North-Eastern and South-Eastern Circuits. He is able to accept instructions to appear in any part of the jurisdiction.
What they said in 2015
“Mr....was very pleased to be acquitted, a great result” – Instructing
Solicitor, Weymouth
“We were delighted with the result” – Instructing Solicitor & Investigating
Officers, Oxford
“May I say what a pleasure it was to work with you on Friday, a very
relaxed style which made it all very much easier, thank you”
– OIC, Wiltshire
“He knew exactly what to say to the magistrates, and how to say it”
- lay client after acquittal, Southampton
What they said in 2014
“Every time we instruct Syan he exceeds our expectations” – Instructing
Solicitor, Leeds
“He is a highly effective advocate and always delivers” – Instructing
In-house Counsel, Exeter
“A fantastic result” – Instructing Solicitor, Chester
“We were very pleased with his advice” – Instructing Solicitor, Portsmouth
“His written work is clear, concise, and persuasive” – Instructing Solicitor,
Exeter
Environmental crime
Previously employed as Principal Counsel by the Environment Agency, Syan has prosecuted more than 200 cases involving waste, pollution, fisheries, flood defence and radioactive substances. He has prosecuted complex multi-handed cases in the Crown Court (including one example involving fourteen defendants) without a leader. He has appeared in the Court of Appeal. His in-depth knowledge and extensive experience of this area of law means he often appears against senior juniors and Queens Counsel.
Waste
Differently constituted benches of the higher courts have variously described the law of waste as ‘difficult’, ‘opaque’ and ‘Delphic’.
His expertise of waste extends to all aspects of this area of the law, having dealt with cases relating to the definition of waste, unpermitted waste operations, non-compliance with environmental permit conditions, fly-tipping, exemptions, hazardous waste, the trans-frontier shipment of waste, statutory notices, breaches of the duty of care, registration of carriers and producer responsibility.
Pollution
Syan has been involved in cases brought following the pollution of fresh, marine and ground waters, by hydrocarbons, sewage, farm effluent and various chemicals.
He also has experience of cases involving serious air pollution. Examples include the release of landfill gas (with a particularly high concentration of Hydrogen Sulphide) that descended upon a school and the escape of a cloud of gas that impacted upon nearby workers following an incident at a plastics factory. He has also prosecuted cases of nuisance caused by odours from composting operations and other waste facilities.
Fisheries
Syan has prosecuted offences featuring illegal fishing methods for salmon, sea trout, elvers, and coarse fish.
Flood Defence
Syan has prosecuted several cases involving interference of flood defence works on the Somerset Levels. He has also appeared in arbitration regarding flood defence matters.
Radioactive Substances
Syan has dealt with cases involving the loss of radioactive sources at hospitals and farms, as well as cases of excessive radioactivity at a steel works (involving the isotope Polonium 210) and a kaolin mine.
Statutory Nuisance
ss 79-82& Schedule 3 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 deal with Statutory Nuisance. Syan has expertise in dealing with noise, odours and other forms of Statutory Nuisance, and is intimately familiar with the variousstatutory defences and exceptions they make this a complex area of law. He has provided training on Statutory Nuisance to both investigators and lawyers.
Public Law
Ideally qualified to deal with cases with an environmental aspect recent examples of Syan’s Public Law practice include a Judicial Review involving the environmental permit conditions of a clinical waste transfer station.He also has experience in Licensing hearings and appeals.
LPP
Syan has been instructed as independent counsel in order to identify and remove LPP material from material seized during raids od premised. In a number of cases he has been involved in searching for material held digitally, as it is becoming increasingly common for investigating bodies to download files in situ or to seize computers.
Confiscation
Syan has expertise in cases where confiscation proceedings are brought subsequent to conviction in environmental cases, having prosecuted numerous examples including the first significant Environment Agency confiscation case. He has particular expertise in confiscation cases involving waste, and also in more novel circumstances, for example where an intensive pig farm breached the conditions of its environmental permit by housing too many pigs.He has also acted for the prosecution in a case involving theft by a former metropolitan police officer where the main available asset was the defendant’s police pension.
General Crime
Syan has prosecuted and defended in cases of violence (including s.18 GBH, in a domestic setting and involving youths), dishonesty (including commercial burglary and robbery, fraud and forgery), drugs (including PWITS Class A), firearms, arson, child cruelty and dangerous dogs. He has defended several celebrities in motoring matters.
Other Information
Syan has provided training to the magistracy on environmental crime and the sentencing of environmental offences.He has extensive knowledge of the oil and gas industry and diving having previously worked within those industries.
12 College Place, FauvelleBuildings, Southampton SO15 2FE
Tel: (023) 8032 0320 Fax: (023) 8032 0321