Director of Legal Services - Andrew Dobson

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Responsible for the area of Legal Advice to the Chief Officers and Staff, representing the Chief Constable in Courts and Tribunals and defending Civil Claims.

Andrew Dobson was born in Guisborough and lived most of his life in the Cleveland area. He was educated in Cleveland at Prior Pursglove College before obtaining an Honours Degree in Law at Newcastle University. He then successfully completed the Legal Practice Course at the College of Law in York.

After completing his studies, he took a year out to go travelling. Andrew started his legal career in 1994 by completing his two year training contract in Cumbria. Upon qualifying as a solicitor, he joined Cleveland Police Legal Services in 1996 as an Assistant Legal Adviser. He established an ‘in-house’ civil claims section within the Legal Services Department dealing with all of the civil claims (both public and employer liability) brought against the Force. He was involved in a number of high profile Court of Appeal cases including, McGrogan – v – Chief Constable of Cleveland, Watson – v – Chief Constable of Cleveland, Thomas and another – v – Chief Constable of Cleveland and Clark - v – Chief Constable of Cleveland. He spent 7 years at Cleveland Police holding different roles, the last of which was Senior Legal Adviser.

Andrew Dobson was appointed Director of Legal Services in September 2003. He is responsible for the Legal Services Directorate. He is married and lives in North Yorkshire.