David Bentley KC is joint head of crime at Doughty Street Chambers. He has a wide ranging defence practice encompassing both trial and appellate work. He is co-author of the DNA chapter in the latest edition of Rook and Ward on Sexual Offences (Sweet and Maxwell: 6th edn 2021).
While the fact of a match can rarely be questioned, the new battleground is over how and when DNA got deposited at a crime scene. David Bentley QC and Dr Georgina Meakin analyse the fast-developing role of DNA in criminal prosecutions and challenges therein
The Chair of the Bar reports back
By Kem Kemal, CEO, Henry Dannell
By BSK Financial Planning
Mário Barroso, Head of R&D and Method Development at AlphaBiolabs
Susie Griffin on the admin that keeps barristers from billable work
Clement Cowley, Partner at The Penny Group, explains how global events can influence the performance of pensions and ISAs, and why taking a long-term approach to investing is often the most effective strategy
Kick off your career at the Bar Council’s Pupillage Fair this October – it’s one of the most valuable opportunities for aspiring barristers, says Amelia Clegg
Join us on Saturday 21 November 2026 at Leeds Beckett University and see for yourself why the North continues to be an exceptional place to build a career at the Bar
The golden age of advocacy? David Langwallner pays homage to the filmic if contentious barrister Sir Edward Carson and some of his contemporaries
Henry Fingerhut outlines what the Bar Standards Board AI guidance means for early career barristers
Not yet, says Jacob Turner. Regulation, unlike the technology itself, is a domain the legal profession can still control
