Crime
Members of 55 Temple Chambers regularly both prosecute and defend, and collectively have experience of all levels of criminal courts, including the Magistrates' courts, the Crown Court, the Divisional Court and the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division).
We have experience in all kinds of criminal cases, from road traffic offences in the Magistrates' Court to fraud and serious sexual and violent offences in the Crown Court, and members from a broad range of seniority to be able to deal with such matters. We also usually have at least one pupil, who can accept noting briefs.
Prosecuting, we regularly receive work from London and South-Eastern branches of the Crown Prosecution Service in both the Magistrates' and Crown Courts; defending, we regularly receive defence briefs at all levels, and are L. S. C. Quality Mark accredited for publicly funded work.
Some members of chambers are leading specialists in the field of prosecuting drink-drive cases in which the defence challenge the reliability of the breath-testing equipment, which involves considerable forensic expertise, specialist, in-depth knowledge of the law of disclosure in criminal proceedings, and experience of conducting cases before the Divisional Court. Other members have particular experience in both prosecuting and defending criminal offences relating to immigration (such as document forgery and overstaying), where we are able to combine our experience in crime with our extensive knowledge and understanding of immigration law. A number of members of chambers also have particular interest and expertise in youth cases, and have considerable experience in dealing with the specialist aspects of such cases, such as video-link and video recorded evidence, and youth-specific sentences.
In addition, some members of chambers have expertise in dealing with civil cases involving allegations of criminal conduct, and, similarly, our combined expertise enables us to deal particularly effectively with criminal cases that involve questions of civil law (for example, questions of property ownership in theft cases).
Notable criminal cases in which members of chambers have so far been involved include: