Member of the Criminal Bar Association.
Diane Chanteau practises primarily in criminal law both prosecuting and defending in the Magistrates', Crown and High Courts. She specialises in grave youth crime and technical challenges to evidential breath-testing machines, in which she is instructed by the Crown.
She has appeared before Mental Health Tribunals, Employment Tribunals, including the Employment Appeal Tribunal, and the Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeal Authority. She has also undertaken licensing and immigration cases.
Before being called to the Bar, Diane was a Fleet Street reporter and editor for many years covering news stories world-wide. She also broadcast on radio and television internationally - including the World Service in French; she is bilingual. She remains a news junkie and undertakes libel reading.
Diane enjoys her involvement as a trainer and judge with the annual National Mock Trials Competition organised by the Citizenship Foundation and Magistrates' Association, where schoolchildren prepare and present a criminal trail at court. She also participates in training exercises at the B. P. P. Law School.
She
prepared the successful appeal in R. v. Roncoli [1998] Crim. L. R.
584 C. A. (judge's interventions during trial), and
appeared in Kemsley v. D. P. P. [2004] EWHC Crim. 2838, Fearnley
v. D. P. P. [2005] All E. R. (D) 80 (Jun.) and Wood and McGillicuddy
v. D. P. P. [2005] EWHC 2986 (Divisional Court) (all Intoximeter challenges).
Her many passions include: good friends, good food, good wine and the sea. About the only things she can't stand are country music, meanness and waiting around for workmen to arrive.
