Rankings Released for the Legal 500 UK Bar 2024 Edition
33 Chancery Lane and its barristers feature in POCA & Asset Forfeiture, Business & Regulatory Crime (including Global Investigations), Fraud Crime, Fraud Civil and Crime. Congratulations to all of those ranked:
33 Chancery Lane, with an established reputation as a heavyweight financial crime set, is increasingly recognised for the complex fraud expertise of its members, crossing over with the set's track record in confiscation work. Narita Bahra KC is widely praised for her excellent advocacy, ‘on par with any barrister in the country’, while Amanda Pinto KC, acting for the SFO, has recently secured the conviction of two defendants charged with fraudulently operating a Brazilian teak investment scheme, which involved a global Forex investment fraud, complex trust structures, insolvency proceedings, and money laundering issues - both defendants were convicted and sentenced to eleven years.
Leading Silks
Narita Bahra KC – 33 Chancery Lane Ranked: Tier 1 - 'Narita is a fearless advocate with real court presence. When she is on her feet she commands attention and respect and in conference she instils confidence in her clients.'
Amanda Pinto KC – 33 Chancery Lane ‘Amanda is superb. She builds good relationships with clients and her advocacy exudes gravitas and authority.’
Mark Rainsford KC – 33 Chancery Lane 'Mark is tactically very strong and is also great with clients.'
Alistair Webster KC –33 Chancery Lane ‘Alistair picks things up exceptionally quickly, both mentally and in terms of response times. He is a fantastic advocate on his feet, well-prepared, eloquent and has a lovely manner with both clients and judges.’
Graham Brodie KC – 33 Chancery Lane ‘Graham has an incredible legal and strategic intellect. He is also commercial and team-oriented. In short, he is superb.’
Andrew Mitchell KC – 33 Chancery Lane
Leading Juniors
Christopher Convey – 33 Chancery Lane ‘Christopher is responsive, knowledgeable and intelligent. He is particularly good with clients and collaborating in a team. He is also a persuasive and charming advocate.’
Testimonials
‘The clerks’ room, led by Martin Adams, is one of the best around. The clerks provide an excellent bespoke service and are incredibly responsive and collaborative – an absolute pleasure to work with.’
‘Martin Adams is very personable and is always there to help.’
‘Martin Adams and Chris Chiles are a pleasure to deal with.’
‘Niche and top of their game in high-end white collar crime.’
’33 Chancery Lane will always be the best POCA set in the country. It is now expanding into complex fraud work.’
‘A fantastic set with incredibly bright and hardworking barristers.’
LONDON BAR > BUSINESS AND REGULATORY CRIME (INCLUDING GLOBAL INVESTIGATIONS)
33 Chancery Lane acts for the prosecution and defendants as well as affected parties on all kinds of business crime and regulatory cases and fields ‘excellent set of barristers who are true experts in financial crime‘. For example, Amanda Pinto KC acts for individuals in heavyweight SFO cases, as does Mark Rainsford KC , who also prosecutes in significant cases. Faisal Osman is a key junior in the set.
Leading Silks
Mark Rainsford KC –33 Chancery Lane Ranked: Tier 1 - ‘A leader in this field - great with clients and tactics.’
Graham Brodie KC –33 Chancery Lane ‘Strategically brilliant, easy to work with and extremely persuasive in front of the court.’
Amanda Pinto KC –33 Chancery Lane ‘She is one of the leading silks in corporate crime, is a brilliant team leader and can sensitively and skilfully identify the key issues and solutions in any corporate investigation.’
Leading Juniors
John Carl Townsend – 33 Chancery Lane ‘A rare breed of barrister who understands financial crime as well as complex commercial litigation issues. His written work is beyond reproach and his advocacy is strong, forceful and on point. A brilliant tactician. ‘
Faisal Osman – 33 Chancery Lane
Testimonials
‘Martin Adams runs chambers excellently. He has a very commercial outlook and is a pleasure to deal with, even in difficult circumstances of cases. He is very well-supported by the hard-working Chris Chiles and Oliver Carroll.’
‘Excellent. Martin Adams is a pleasure to work with, he has an extraordinary knowledge of the legal work being done by the barristers that he clerks.’
‘Martin Adams is an excellent clerk who appreciates the technical and complex nature of the work undertaken by his barristers.’
‘I have always found the clerks room to be very efficient, professional and courteous.’
‘Very good and helpful clerks.’
‘They are a good set for fraud and regulatory issues, particularly where there is a cross-over with civil issues.’
‘An excellent set of barristers who are true experts in financial crime.’
’33 Chancery Lane will always be the best POCA set in the country. And they are now expanding their branches into complex fraud work.’
LONDON BAR > PROCEEDS OF CRIME (POCA) AND ASSET FORFEITURE
TIER 1
33 Chancery Lane has particular strengths in restraint and confiscation cases and is ‘unsurpassed in quality for POCA related work‘. The set has recently been involved in numerous anti-money laundering matters, such as R v Baldwin, where Fiona Jackson acted on behalf of the Financial Conduct Authority in a rare confiscation order under s.27 of POCA in which the defendant was convicted in absence and remains at large. Catherine Collins also advised the Financial Conduct Authority in litigation concerning Operation Tiverton, a financial investigation regarding an individual’s unauthorised trading activity and associated money laundering. In matters relating to fraud, Martin Evans KC was instructed for confiscation proceedings following the conviction in R v Asplin, Kearns & Jones, a private prosecution by an insurance company against former directors who had conducted fraud for over a decade, while Kennedy Talbot KC acted for the trustees of a pension fund in the liquidation to pay an £8m confiscation order in the same matter. Mark Rainsford KC managed to restrain £48m of personal assets held by the defendants for the Crown Prosecution Service in the scope of Operation Salmon, an HMRC investigation into a fraud involving myriads of mini-umbrella companies.
Leading Silks
Martin Evans KC –33 Chancery Lane ‘Martin is exceptional. A joy to work with, he has sound judgement and offers real expertise in POCA matters.‘
Ranked: Tier 1
Kennedy Talbot KC –33 Chancery Lane ‘Kennedy is incredibly user friendly. He is a joy to work with, and has great instincts for doing exactly the right thing in complex proceeds of crime cases.‘
Ranked: Tier 1
Andrew Mitchell KC –33 Chancery Lane
Ranked: Tier 1
Graham Brodie KC –33 Chancery Lane ‘Strategically brilliant, easy to work with and extremely persuasive in front of the court.'
Ranked: Tier 2
Mark Rainsford KC –33 Chancery Lane ‘A confident advocate with an excellent manner in court. Gets to the root of a case quickly.‘
Ranked: Tier 2
Leading Juniors
Ian Smith –33 Chancery Lane ‘He always provides excellent service, is on top of the case, and knows this area of law.‘
Ranked: Tier 1
Barry Stancombe –33 Chancery Lane ‘Excellent technical knowledge combined with being very user-friendly. A pleasure to work with.‘
Ranked: Tier 1
Christopher Convey –33 Chancery Lane
Ranked: Tier 1
Fiona Jackson –33 Chancery Lane ‘She is meticulous, forensic in her approach and can be tough when she needs to be.‘
Ranked: Tier 1
Catherine Collins –33 Chancery Lane ‘Straight-talking, thoughtful, diligent: a dependable team player and an absolute pleasure to deal with.‘
Ranked: Tier 2
John Carl Townsend –33 Chancery Lane ‘Superb technical knowledge of all POCA related issues and litigation. Nothing is too much trouble for him - a great work ethic and an outstandingly clever lawyer.‘
Ranked: Tier 2
Faisal Osman –33 Chancery Lane ‘Very user friendly and technically strong.‘
Ranked: Tier 2
Penelope Small –33 Chancery Lane ‘Penny has a no-nonsense approach. She provides robust advice in person and in writing, which instils tremendous assurance and confidence. She is quite simply a POCA powerhouse.‘
Ranked: Tier 2
Testimonials
‘Martin Adams is a very knowledgeable clerk who knows the capabilities of his excellent team of barristers inside out.’
‘Martin Adams is a very personable person and always there to help.’
‘The go to set for POCA and asset recovery work.’
’33 Chancery Lane has a great pool of talent in this area. No other set can provide the breadth and depth of Counsel that have such expertise in POCA and asset forfeiture.’
‘The leading set for POCA related litigation work.’
’33 Chancery Lane will always be the best POCA set in the country. they are now expanding their branches into complex fraud work.’
‘Leading set in the area and involved in most of the big cases.’
‘I have always found the clerks room to be very efficient, professional and courteous.’
Leading Silks
Graham Brodie KC –33 Chancery Lane ‘Graham is an extremely effective advocate. His willingness to go the extra mile for those instructing him, and his ability to deliver in the courtroom, put him one step ahead of his peers.’
Leading Juniors
Ian Smith –33 Chancery Lane ‘Ian's attention to detail is second to none, and he insists on each case being investigated to an extremely high standard, meaning that cases are very well put together and no stone is unturned. His advocacy is also excellent.’
Faisal Osman –33 Chancery Lane ‘Faisal is impressively smart and incredibly responsive, but his greatest asset is possibly his quick wit, which is always welcome and utterly invaluable during long and hard-fought cases.’
Narita Bahra KC – 33 Chancery Lane 'Narita is one of the most sought after silks in the country. She is respected and admired by the judiciary and her colleagues. Very few can absorb and then deliver with formidable vigour complex legal arguments before the most senior members of the judiciary like she does. She is a trailblazer and is in a class of her own.'