Profiles

<p><strong>Job title: Silk and head of the criminal team at 36 Bedford Row</strong> </p><p><em>36 Bedford Row is a leading set of chambers with members practicing in six specialist areas of serious and complex crime, family law, employment law, civil litigation, public law and consumer law. </em> </p><p><strong>Many congratulations on attaining silk this year. What do you hope the future holds for a silk at the Criminal Bar?</strong><br />Success. I wouldn’t have applied for silk if I did not think that I could make it pay. If you’re good, well organised and prepared to put yourself about then there is still work out there to be had. As he handed me my Letters Patent last Wednesday, I asked the Lord Chancellor whether there would still be any publicly funded work for me to do after my appointment. He said that there would be and I intend to take him at his word. Given the further cuts to fees proposed in the most recent consultation paper, I wonder whether I should have actually asked the Lord Chancellor whether there would be any financially viable publicly funded work available for me to do in silk? </p>

<p><strong>Job title: Silk, 11 Stone Buildings</strong> </p> <p><em>11SB is a leading commercial/chancery set with multi-disciplinary expertise. Areas in which 11SB specialises include civil fraud, financial services and banking, insolvency, company and professional negligence. </em> </p> <p><strong>What do you credit your success to?<br /></strong>You might find this odd, but the answer to your question is: training with Vidal Sassoon. I was unruly, undisciplined and disorganised at school and left after my ‘O’ levels. I fell into training to be a hairdresser with Vidal Sassoon and I just loved it. </p>

<p><strong>Job title: Barrister, DeKoven Chambers</strong> </p> <p><em>DeKoven Chambers specialises in commercial disputes arising out of complex international transactions.  </em> </p> <p><strong>What have been some of the highlights of your career?<br /></strong>Several matters that I was instructed on in the ‘90s (acting for the liquidators of BBCI, acting for the administrators of KWELM, acting for Equitas and the Society of Lloyd’s of London, and acting for the administrators of Barings) were very important to my career at Shearman & Sterling and in creating expertise in cross border insolvency. </p>

<p><strong>Job title: Silk, Doughty Street Chambers</strong> </p> <p><em>Doughty Street Chambers is a human rights and civil liberties practice with a national and international profile in criminal, civil, administrative, public and international law. </em> </p> <p><strong>You represented Tony Nicklinson – who suffered ‘locked-in’ syndrome - in his landmark case challenging the law on assisted dying. How did you become involved in that case?</strong><br />Tony’s case is a progression of the work I have done throughout my career around autonomy and choice.  I have a public law and human rights practice which emphasises, among others, the rights of persons with disabilities. Autonomy links the right to make end of life decisions with, for example, the right of disabled persons to live independently in the community, and both are features of my practice. I represented Debbie Purdy in her successful appeal to the House of Lords which resulted in the DPP issuing his guidelines on prosecution in assisted suicide cases. The solicitor in Debbie Purdy’s case, Saimo Chahal, and I have worked together for many years so it was a natural fit for us to do so again for Tony and his family, who are carrying on the case now Tony has died. </p>

Job title<br />Silk, Littleton Chambers<br /><br />Littleton’s 52 barristers specialise in employment law and commercial litigation with additional expertise in commercial fraud, banking litigation, disciplinary and regulatory law, professional negligence, sports law and mediation.<br /><br /><strong>What do you credit your success to?</strong><br /><br />Undoubtedly it would be having an extremely supportive family, a husband who understands the demands and pressures of the Bar and hard work. I have found that working with and against other barristers has been invaluable in understanding what works well and what perhaps doesn’t.