PracticeMichael is a renowned criminal defence advocate, and practises in most areas of Crown Court and Appellate Court crime. He has appeared in trials for murder, fraud, armed robbery, kidnapping, blackmail and most other areas of serious crime. He has a special interest in cases involving drugs, public order and the mistreatment of racial minorities, and those concerning animal rights and environmental protest. Although Michael does not believe in pressuring clients into pleading guilty, he will give strong advice where appropriate. His experience is that clients respond well to having their situation explained to them clearly and simply, and then being allowed to decide their position for themselves. He believes passionately that clients are entitled to have every aspect of the case against them tested to the full, and not to be convicted unless every aspect can be proved. Michael is happy to travel to any part of England and Wales. Notable CasesRecently, Michael represented the daughter of an Iranian minister who appropriated over £500,000 worth of antiques and jewellery from auction houses and upmarket shops in Paris. Michael represented a bank employee who diverted hundreds of thousands of pounds out of "private wealth" accounts, including the account of the Chairman of Lloyds Bank. Michael represented a young man who helped burn down the family taxi-firm, (the main arsonist being killed in the fire), to claim on the insurance. In 2010, he was instructed in a case where a woman had been sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment for drug-trafficking. Despite two counsel previously advising that there were no arguable grounds of appeal against conviction, Michael secured the quashing of the conviction and won an unanimous jury acquittal at the retrial. This is the level of tenacity that he brings to every case which he works on. Professional MembershipsMichael is a member of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA). He has belonged to the Haldane Society and Liberty since pupillage. He is a member of Amnesty International, on the Urgent Action panel. BackgroundMichael comes from Somerset. After reading law at Oxford, where he was President of the Oxford Union, he enjoyed an inspirational pupillage as Michael Mansfield's first pupil. He was one of the six founders of Chambers (7 Stone Buildings as it was then) in 1974 and the first Head of Chambers. He was a volunteer at North Kensington and Islington Law Centres for many years. Other ActivitiesMichael is a passionate traveller who is particularly interested in the countries and peoples of Central Asia. He is actively involved in several societies that foster the endangered culture of Tibet and help refugees from the Chinese gulag. In a break from the Bar in the late 1980s he spent three years living in Greece and travelling round the world. Profile updated July 2011
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