2 Bedford Row

Practice Areas:

• General Crime
• Road Traffic
• Civil Proceedings (including Seizure, Forfeiture, Confiscation and Restraint)
• Regulatory

Tom joined chambers in 2011, following the successful completion of pupillage. He regularly appears in the Magistrates' Court, Youth Court and Crown Court, predominantly defending. He has a specific interest in representing young defendants, including the different way youths are sentenced.

Tom has drafted a number of advices and grounds of appeal on complex areas of criminal and regulatory law, including cases being appealed to the Court of Appeal and Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Tom has also prosecuted for the Crown Prosecution Service, the National Probation Service, the United Kingdom Border Agency and HM Revenue & Customs.

Before joining chambers, Tom worked as an in-house advocate for a national firm of solicitors, conducting hearings in the County Court.  Accordingly, he has a good grasp of civil procedure and the overlap this has with criminal and regulatory litigation.

Example Cases:

• R v KP - ABH trial in the Youth Court, resulting in a successful submission of 'no case to answer' where positive ID procedures were contaminated by Facebook.
• R v AS - Successful defence in a burglary trial, which involved the exclusion of a full confession interview after a voir dire, requiring cross-examination of the custody sergeant and a psychiatric nurse called by the prosecution.
• S v TFL - Defending London Underground in a case under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
• R v LC - Acquittal after a submission of 'no case to answer', arising out of a legal dispute over a duplicitous count where the defendant did not attend his trial.
• R v S & Others - Prosecuted a four-handed, three-day Youth Court trial. This case involved late issues of disclosure, the admissibility of evidence, resisting a submission of 'no case to answer' and dealing with Human Rights issues surrounding an absent defendant, where the co-defendants were present.

Scholarships:

• Inner Temple Exhibition Scholarship
• Inner Temple Streuben Benefactor's Scholarship Award
• Inner Temple Duke of Edinburgh's Scholarship Award

Awards:

• Bristol Law School Prize (First in Order of Merit on Bar Vocational Course)
• Western Circuit Advocacy Prize (Best Advocate on Bar Vocational Course)
• University Mooting Champion
• Inner Temple Lawson Moot - Runner-up
• Inner Temple Pupils' Advocacy Competition - Runner-up
• Bristol Law School Civil Advocacy Competition - Winner