The Director of Legal Services is the principal legal adviser to the Chief of the Air Staff and Air Force Board and is invited to attend the Air Force Board Standing Committee to provide a legal perspective.
Born and raised in London, Air Vice-Marshal Phelps attended Nottingham University where he read English and American Studies followed by a Masters in American Studies. At the completion of his Masters degree he went on to take the law conversion and Bar vocational courses before being called to the Bar by Lincolns Inn in 1994. He then spent 7 years at the independent Bar specialising in criminal law both prosecution and defence.
After three years as an Army Reservist Legal Officer, Air Vice-Marshal Phelps commissioned into the RAF in 2001 since which time he has served in a range of roles at HQPTC, RAF Legal Services Germany, RAF Coningsby, the Defence Concepts and Doctrine Centre, the Service Prosecuting Authority, and HQ Air Command. He has also undertaken two tours in NATO serving as Deputy Chief Legal Advisor and leading the Operational Legal Teams at HQJFC Brunssum and Naples. He deployed to Afghanistan as the dedicated lawyer to the Special Operations Command Element in 2009 and was the chief Legal Advisor to the Operational Commander of Operation Unified Protector, the NATO mission to protect civilian life in Libya in 2011, for which he was appointed OBE. He was promoted to Air Cdre in 2020 and Air Vice-Marshal in 2024.
Air Vice-Marshal Phelps is married to Sharon, a school Safe Team manager, and has three grown up daughters. In his spare time Air Vice-Marshal Phelps has a passion for military history,has written a number of articles covering such topics as the Responsibility to Protect and AI applications in Defence, and has continued to educate himself, gaining a Master’s degree in Defence Leadership in 2016.
