Timothy Dutton CBE KC, one of the most respected figures at the London Bar, has died aged 68, a decade after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease.

A former Bar Council chair and former head of his set Fountain Court Chambers, Dutton was a towering presence in professional regulation and discipline, administrative and public law, and a servant to his profession, both for the Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers and for the South Eastern Circuit.

Dutton retired in January after a 45-year career at the Bar of England and Wales. He was called in 1979 by Middle Temple and took silk in 1998.

His legal practice encompassed judicial review, public inquiries and regulatory challenges involving the Solicitors Regulation Authority, Bar Standards Board, Financial Conduct Authority and Financial Reporting Council, as well as serious professional discipline cases.

Dutton was sought out by City lawyers and regulators alike because of his vast experience in a wide range of professional disciplinary, regulatory, administrative and public law cases with a career that was as deep as it was broad.

He was a specialist in advising on statutory powers, both in a purely advisory role with litigation considerations and in actual proceedings for the SRA, where he was part of an exclusive group of silks known for their expertise and excellence.

He was also a recorder from 2000 to 2017 and chaired high-profile inquiries, including a 2009 investigation into Sport England’s funding practices.

Educated at Repton School and Keble College, Oxford, he maintained close ties with his former college, where he developed a foundational course in advocacy training, perceiving a need to improve the practice of the art.

In response, he founded the Advanced International Advocacy Course at Keble in 1994, which he directed for a decade. Now named in his honour, the course remains a cornerstone of advocacy training, teaching thousands of practising lawyers the fundamentals of advocacy and ethics.

The South Eastern Circuit praised his tenure from 2004 to 2006, describing him as “an extraordinary leader, regarded as one of the most outstanding the circuit has ever known”, and uniting barristers across the Home Counties and London in warm appreciation, including former juniors, whom he particularly supported.

Dutton’s leadership extended beyond the courtroom. He served as chair of the Bar in 2008, a time of significant institutional change. Barbara Mills KC, current chair of the Bar Council, said: “He was the perfect person to steer the Bar through that change.”

Fountain Court Chambers praised him as “the outstanding barrister of his generation in professional regulation and discipline”.

He was one of the set’s transformative figures, succeeding Michael Brindle in 2008 and passing the baton to Bankim Thanki KC, with whom he formed a formidable triumvirate alongside senior clerk, Alex Taylor.

The clerks’ room, led by Taylor and then deputy senior clerk, Paul Martenstyn, universally appreciated Dutton, a respect that was mutually returned.

The set added that Dutton was “a tireless champion of the legal profession, his diverse contributions to maintaining the independence, standards and strength of the Bar”.

Dutton, it said, was “a man of uncompromising principle”, saying he “brought an extraordinary warmth, humanity and understanding to his dealings with people”.

It added: “Solicitors and clients sought him out because he was an advocate of the first order who had seen everything before. His juniors loved working with him since he never allowed the work, however demanding, to interfere with being a decent human being. To his opponents in court, he was formidable yet unfailingly courteous and fair.”

Dutton’s humanitarian efforts extended to co-founding the Burma Justice Committee with his wife, barrister Sappho Dias, to support the rule of law in Myanmar. In 2015, he was appointed CBE for services to the UK legal system.

Despite his diagnosis in 2014, Dutton continued to practise at the highest level for another decade. His set recalled: “His cheerfulness and optimism in the face of adversity were infectious; time spent talking to Tim could reduce a seemingly intractable problem to manageable proportions. His wisdom, courage and reassuring voice never faltered.”

A former colleague, James McClelland KC of Brick Court Chambers, called him “one of the Bar’s most decent, courageous and compassionate practitioners”. 

Fergal Cathie of Clyde & Co said: “He changed the landscape in professional discipline and will be greatly missed.”

Philippa Hill of Grant Thornton added: “He was a living demonstration that you can be devastatingly effective as a barrister as well as unfailingly courteous, fair-minded, deeply principled and kind.”

Dutton is survived by his wife, Sappho Dias, and their daughter, Pia.