Crown Court
 The most serious cases are still resolved at the Crown Court. Nowadays, indictable only cases head straight for the Crown Court within ten days of charging. The right to jury trial means that even much less serious matters can still be heard before a judge and jury. Only 6% of all prosecutions are heard at the Crown Court, but complicated issues and huge amounts of evidence can mean that some cases take literally years to conclude.
It is still true to say that juries acquit in approximately 40% more trials than magistrates.
However good the Crown Court team at any firm, the most outstanding service still comes from those who can guarantee their client the best advocates. There is no escaping the fact that the more regularly you brief someone, the more likely they are to make themselves available for your clients. At the same time, there is no point briefing someone you happen to have seen on the telly for next week’s ABH trial in Leicester if they are tucked into a 18-handed murder trial at the Old Bailey.
We are prepared to search far and wide for quality representation for all our clients. As well as strong links with local Nottingham chambers, we regularly call on counsel from London, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Leicester, Birmingham, Liverpool and Newcastle.
The newly kitted out Crown Court Department has excellent conference facilities, good technological support and a board room for larger scale meetings. Where necessary we are happy to transport clients for conferences with out of town chambers.
Carefully supervised by experienced partners, the Department is headed up by Mandy Hall. 'Maverick' Mandy has years of experience in dealing with the most serious cases. She is organised, sympathetic, astute and tactically aware. Loved and feared by clients and counsel alike, Mandy is just one of the very best Crown Court bosses around.
Mandy’s second in command is Nick (Tabs) Tongue, who you might catch out on the weekend cunningly disguised as "DJ Dash". Enthusiastic and quick to learn, Nick has had remarkable results when he has gone looking for evidence that no-one else has been able to turn up. Nick just loves to beat the best. He has had remarkable success in some high profile drug, firearms, indecency and computer crime prosecutions.
Helen Brough deals with all aspects of serious criminal work. In recent times she has majored in managing cases committed from the youth court. She is happy to liaise between clients parents, social workers and counsel, to provide a strong united approach.
David Randall gained over 17 years experience with Nottingham magistrates court. He now specialises in complex multi handed cases and takes a robust approach to apparently insolvable conundrums.
Rebbeca Meadows has gained far reaching experience in all aspects of criminal law. She has developed a reputation for her success in computer crime and sexual offences.
Claire Brown is a high volume criminal specialist regularly dealing with high profile cases both in and out of Nottingham. She remains calm under extreme pressure and is endlessly reliable.
Philosophical Fliss Campbell specialises in complex cases with a high page count. She works tirelessly to make sure that even impossible deadlines are met and won't hesitate to p ush the envelope.
Claire Lowry was specifically recruited to work alongside in house counsel Jimmy Beck. Her expertise is in comparing and cross referencing complicated statements, documentary and digital exhibits as well as scheduling and analysing surveillance records and logs.
Corrine Waterworth, Jenny Folkett, Hollie Martin, make up the rest of a highly qualified team. As well as having years of experience between them they are all studying with a view to legal stardom in their own right.
Aaron Watson-Weinberg was our first, full time, white collar crime recruit. With a history of post graduate study, Aaron has show himself to be capable of marshalling digital and documentary evidence and orchestrating a number of remarkable Business Crime victories.
IN-HOUSE COUNSEL
Unusually, for a provincial firm we are able to boast services of experienced in-house counsel. In April 2002, we were honoured to be joined by Jimmy Beck who had previously been a member of the chambers of Richard Ferguson Q.C. at 2 Tudor Street. As well as being involved in the 2 largest fraud cases to be tried in the English Courts, Jimmy has many years experience of leading and being led in the most serious of cases. Having Jimmy working with us on a day to day basis means that we're able to tap into an on-site main spring of legal know how and tactical dexterity.
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