Sean Bennett

Sean is a Senior Associate in our regulatory and professional conduct team.

He’s an expert in prosecuting all manner of cases for regulators and employers when concerns arise about whether professionals have met the standards that are expected of them.

Sean has a vast amount of experience in managing complex investigations from inception to conclusion within tight timescales. This often involves niche areas of healthcare, requiring input from experts in various fields to establish if there is a case to answer.

His experience includes cases of fraud, dishonesty, senior management conduct, sexual misconduct including historic matters, sexual harassment in the workplace, health, cyberbullying, social media usage, internet publications, public interest disclosures and gross negligence manslaughter. 

This experience also makes Sean highly capable of helping and defending professional individuals who are facing misconduct investigations by their professional regulatory body or employer.

Sean is easy to talk to and always takes an honest, straightforward approach with legal matters. He is described as conscientious and recognises the demands on his client’s time. Sean goes above and beyond to offer a bespoke service that matches their needs and preferences.

He is very experienced when it comes to safeguarding. Many of his cases involve vulnerable witnesses and self-representing individuals. He ensures that individuals are supported and that expectations are managed, taking care to minimise the stress associated with regulatory proceedings where possible.

Strong analytical and communication skills enable Sean to sift through large volumes of information effectively to identify and focus on the relevant issues before presenting them as well-reasoned written arguments. He is pragmatic and always considers the prospects of success, taking on board the views of others to ensure that an appropriate solution is found. 

With extensive experience of internal qualitative auditing of legal casework, Sean understands risk management and is able to identify and suggest ways to mitigate risk in the future. 

He also has wider litigation experience and has managed several judicial reviews and High Court appeals. 

For over a decade, Sean worked for the General Medical Council, where he managed and prosecuted a significant caseload of high-profile, multi-factorial regulatory investigations while working to demanding published service standards. 

Here, he gained significant decision-making experience as he was appointed to be an Assistant Registrar, with delegated authority to make publishable decisions with reasoning. He also helped run internal legal case surgeries to advise non-legal colleagues on ad hoc legal issues. 

Before joining the GMC, Sean worked as a Solicitor at an international commercial law firm. Prior to that, he worked at a leading provider of legal and claims solutions, where he qualified as a Solicitor.

A keen road cyclist and marathon runner, Sean joined us in February 2024 and is based in our Manchester office.