At 2TG our people are hard-working, forward-thinking and approachable. We believe our supportive culture is one of our greatest strengths.
With the set comprising around 60 barristers, we know each other well and work effectively together. We often operate in large teams with clients. Our practice management team is modern and commercial, matching barrister experience thoughtfully to clients’ requirements.
At 2TG our barristers are expert in a broad range of complementary practice areas and we enjoy repeat instructions from a variety of loyal clients.
Practised advocates from the start, all our Silks and the vast majority of our Junior barristers are recognised as leaders in their chosen fields. Many of us are at the forefront of shaping the law in our specialist areas and we pride ourselves in having excellent industry knowledge.
At 2TG our barristers have excellent experience acting across a range of industry sectors and we are able to offer advice in an informed and commercial context.
Our combination of practice area excellence and industry expertise means we possess real insight into the commercial realities facing our clients operating in these areas. Secondment plays an important part of our commitment to developing our skills and understanding.
2TG is home to award-winning accredited mediators, arbitrators, adjudicators and experts with considerable experience of alternative dispute resolution.
Our barristers are also skilled as advocates in different alternative dispute resolution procedures and work strategically with clients to understand their commercial objectives, and then to resolve litigation as cost-effectively and expeditiously as possible.
Work with an international dimension forms a significant part of many barristers’ work at 2TG.
We appear in international courts and arbitral tribunals all over the world, frequently acting on complex multi-jurisdictional disputes. We are particularly well-known for managing cross border litigation on matters of jurisdiction and applicable law and appear regularly in the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.
At 2TG, in addition to our professional advice, we are recognised for our excellent contribution to education and development. We provide regular high-quality training.
Our reputation among the legal profession and other clients for our first-rate webinars and in-person conferences is very important to us. We also contribute frequently at industry events and as editors of leading texts and authors on topics of legal interest.
Gareth Shires has a busy and wide-ranging practice dealing with commercial and civil litigation across a variety of sectors. He regularly appears in the High Court both as a led junior and as sole counsel.
With a particular reputation for managing large group claims, he is described as a “genuine specialist” in group litigation by Chambers and Partners. He handles all manner of disputes, including consumer, environmental, data privacy and product liability actions. Gareth particularly enjoys working closely with instructing solicitors on the wide range of issues arising out of group litigation work, whether legal, tactical or procedural.
Recent high-profile instructions include the VW NOx Emissions Litigation, the British Airways Data Event Litigation, and group litigation against Ticketmaster and Equifax. He is currently instructed in the Mercedes NOx Emissions Litigation and litigation against another 13 car manufacturers including Ford, Peugeot-Citroen, and Nissan/Renault (collectively managed as the ‘Pan-NOx’ litigation), as well as in product liability litigation including the Essure Medical Products Litigation and litigation against the manufacturers of trans-vaginal mesh.
Complementing his medical product liability experience, Gareth also maintains a clinical negligence practice and represents both Claimants and Defendants. He has a particular interest in gynaecological, urinary and bowel injuries, including misdiagnosis, late diagnosis (including of cancer) and negligent surgery claims.
He also maintains a small unitary commercial practice, dealing predominantly with contractual and data protection issues.
Gareth has significant clinical negligence experience in serious injury cases and acts mainly for claimants.
He is keen to be involved with cases at an early stage and is happy to advise informally and meet with lay clients. He understands the need to ensure that expert evidence is properly handled from the beginning of a case and can provide assistance with the instruction and selection of appropriate experts.
Gareth has experience in a wide range of areas and is confident dealing with complex causation issues, including the difficult area of consent.
Gareth has developed a particular interest in claims involving gynaecological injuries, urinary and bowel injuries including misdiagnosis, late diagnosis (including of cancer) and negligent surgery claims and is sensitive to the impact such injuries have, both physically and psychologically.
Gareth has significant experience of group litigation work relating to defect medical products, particularly gynaecological. He is currently instructed by multiple claimants bringing claims against Johnson & Johnson and other manufacturers for injuries caused by transvaginal mesh (‘TVM’) devices and has recently obtained a Group Litigation Order on behalf of almost 200 women to pursue claims relating to the Essure contraceptive device manufactured by Bayer (Karen Louise Tonge and anor v Bayer Public Limited Company and anor [2023] EWHC 1792 (KB)).
Gareth’s commercial practice has a particular focus on consumer protection and environmental issues, including those involving European and competition law. He is experienced in handling jurisdictional issues and claims involving foreign law.
He also has a particular interest and expertise in conspiracy, fraud, and consumer contract issues, as well as in telecommunications. He has been retained as counsel for a major telecommunications company for over a decade and has conducted litigation on their behalf across the country.
Gareth was a member of the claimant counsel team in the Volkswagen NOx Emissions Litigation, instructing on behalf of almost 90,000 claimants, until that case settled in mid-2022. He is now instructed by the claimants in the Mercedes NOx Emissions Litigation and is also instructed in claims against 13 other vehicle manufacturers, including Ford, Peugeot-Citroen, and Nissan/Renault.
Gareth has been instructed in most of the large group actions involved mass data breaches in recent years, including claims against Equifax, Ticketmaster, British Airways, the Police Federation of England and Wales, and proposed claims against easyJet and Arnold Clark.
He has significant experience of UK GDPR and DPA issues including dealing with complex data breaches, compensation issues (mainly in multi-party litigation, but also high value individual claims) and data rectification. He has advised on issues arising from companies using data-driven business models and has provided advice to businesses on questions of data retention and interpretation of the exemptions, particularly as they impact on medical and other public bodies.
Many of the cases Gareth has been instructed in involve cross-border issues including data sharing; the territorial scope of the GDPR; issues arising from Brexit; and jurisdiction.
Gareth has wide-ranging expertise in all manner of group litigation disputes, and has handled commercial, consumer, environmental, data protection and product liability actions all subject either to formal Group Litigation Orders or some other form of collective case management.
He has been ranked as a leading Junior in the Group Litigation category of Chambers and Partners since its inception three years ago.
Examples of his recent and ongoing cases include:
Gareth is instructed, mainly by claimants, in complex commercial and consumer product liability disputes.
He has significant experience of group litigation work in this sphere, especially relating to defective medical products, particularly gynaecological. He is currently instructed by multiple claimants in the JJML POP Products Litigation and the JJML SUI Products Litigation, bringing claims against Johnson & Johnson and other manufacturers for injuries caused by transvaginal mesh devices and has recently obtained a Group Litigation Order on behalf of almost 200 women to pursue claims relating to the Essure contraceptive device manufactured by Bayer.
He is also a leading Junior in the Dieselgate litigation, acting for hundreds of thousands of Claimants in diesel emissions claims. He was instructed in both the initial claims brought against Volkswagen and in the second wave of litigation against Mercedes, Ford, Nissan/Renault and 10 other leading motor manufacturers.
My contact details:
ICO Reg No: Z1513133
Address: 2 Temple Gardens, London, EC4Y 9AY
Email: clerks@2tg.co.uk
Phone: +44 (0)20 7822 1200
The type of personal information I collect
To enable me to provide you with legal advice and representation in courts, tribunals, arbitrations and mediations, I currently collect and process the following personal information:
Personal identifiers, contacts and characteristics (for example, name, date of birth and contact details), bank and financial details, your background and circumstance and education.
Other personal data relevant to, or included in instructions to provide legal services, including data specific to the instructions in question and data included in documents provided to me as part of instructions or otherwise.
Such information may include personal information relating to family members, associates, agents, employees, shareholders or beneficial owners. By providing such personal information to me, you automatically confirm that you are authorised to do so. It is not reasonably practicable for me to provide the information set out in this Privacy Notice to those individuals. Accordingly, where appropriate, you are responsible for providing this information to any such individuals.
Where necessary, I may also need to process Special Category data about you including
How I get the personal information and why I have it
Most of the personal information that I process is provided to me directly by you or via the professional you have instructed such as a solicitor or consultant or other professional adviser who instructs me on your behalf to provide legal services.
I use the information that you have given me in order to
I may share this information with
Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the lawful basis I rely on for processing this information is
How I store your personal information
Your information is securely stored in Chambers or at my home. I use reasonable technical and organisational security measures such as password protection and encryption of computer generated data and keeping paper data secure to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost or destroyed, or used or accessed in an unauthorised way.
In this connection, Chambers, as data processor, acting on my behalf, will only process your personal data on my instructions and is subject to a duty of confidentiality.
The data will be held in line with any regulatory obligations and generally be kept for 6 years but may be 12 years, or longer where, for example, the case includes information relating to a minor, from the date of completion of instructions. At this point any further retention will be reviewed and the data will be marked for deletion or marked for retention for a further period.
All data will be securely deleted or securely shredded after this time without reference to you. I will store some of your information which I need to carry out conflict checks for the rest of my career. However, this is likely to be limited only to your name and contact details and the name of the case. It will not include any information that is “sensitive information” for GDPR purposes.
Your data protection rights
Under data protection law, you have rights including:
Transfer of your information outside the European Economic Area (EEA)
This privacy notice is of general application and as such it is not possible to state whether it will be necessary to transfer your information out of the EEA. If I do transfer your personal data I will use safeguards to ensure the data is fully protected as required by the UK Data Protection Regulations.
Changes to my Privacy Policy
From time to time, I may need to make chances to my privacy policy. If so, the changes will appear on my entry on the 2TG website.
Marketing
As above, I may share your personal data with Chambers who may in turn use that data to notify you by email, or post about an invitation to seminars and similar events. You may opt out of receiving any such marketing communications at any time by using the “unsubscribe” link in any emails. In relation to how Chambers uses such data, please see Chambers’ privacy policy. Other than sharing personal data with Chambers as described above, I will not share your information with any other third party for marketing purposes.
How to complain
If you have any concerns about my use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to me or to my Senior Clerk, Lee Tyler at 2 Temple Gardens, London, EC4Y 9AY or clerks@2tg.co.uk. You can also complain to the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have used your data.
The ICO’s address:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 123 1113
ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk
© Briefed Ltd 2021. All Rights Reserved.
“Gareth works fantastically hard and he is very clever and user-friendly. He provides really good insight on group actions.” “He is the guru on emissions and has done a huge amount to bring those cases forward. Nobody is better informed than he is on emissions.” “Gareth is just brilliant. He is involved in more pieces of group litigation than any other barrister I know.”
Chambers UK 2025
“Gareth is very practical and quickly gets to the nub of the issue. He is incredibly knowledgeable and experienced in personal injury/medical claims and also group action work. He is a good advocate and skilled drafter.”
Legal 500 2025
“He is the go-to person on the Dieselgate claims.”
Chambers UK 2024
“Gareth is a genuine specialist in group actions.”
Chambers UK 2023