6KBW College Hill

Head of Chambers: Duncan Atkinson KC

Senior Clerk: Richard Summerscales

Clerks: Mark Essex (Deputy Senior Clerk), Lizzie Labrum (First Junior Clerk), Joseph Scanlan (Clerk), Kazia Myrie (Clerk) & Darcy Stockwell (Clerk).

THE CHAMBERS 6KBW College Hill holds a pre-eminent position in criminal and public law and has been at the forefront of the expansion of the criminal law into related areas of civil law. 6KBW is renowned for cases concerning financial crime, public law, extradition, proceeds of crime, asset forfeiture, inquests and public inquires. Members frequently appear in the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights in cases involving some of the most important and high-profile issues.

WORK UNDERTAKEN

Crime: 6KBW College Hill is universally acknowledged as one of the leading sets in the field. Historically, 6KBW College Hill’s work has included: the trial of the killers of Stephen Lawrence and the ensuing review which led to the undercover policing inquiry, the 21/7 and airline bomb plots, the ‘phone hacking’ trials, Marine A, Rolf Harris, advisory work arising from the Hillsborough inquest, John Worboys and Carl Beech.

Corporate & Financial Crime: 6KBW College Hill has unrivalled experience in the field of corporate and financial crime. We consistently appear in the largest and most high-profile cases, which receive both national and international coverage.

Our defence work spans representing and advising household name companies and their officers. As well as representing companies and individuals, we are also instructed by the Financial Conduct Authority, the Health and Safety Executive, and the Serious Fraud Office in serious and complex matters. Our members are instructed to give strategic advice throughout all stages of corporate investigation and/or prosecution, including assisting with internal investigations, advising on self-reporting to the Serious Fraud Office and other agencies, representing companies involved in deferred prosecution agreements, and providing advocacy in the Crown Court and the appellate courts. We are particularly well-placed to advise on novel and complex legal issues arising in the corporate criminal context. In addition to advising on a significant number of high-profile corporate crime investigations and prosecutions, such as the Serious Fraud Office’s investigations into GSK, British American Tobacco and Barclays, members of chambers have been instructed on many of the deferred prosecution agreements reached with the Serious Fraud Office to date, high-profile ‘block- buster’ investigations include: Rolls-Royce, Barclays, GSK, Tesco, Alstom, Libor, Euribor, Soma Oil, Unaoil, ENRC, McKenzie v SFO, Tata Steel, Quindell Plc, G4S and Airbus.

Administrative & Public Law: 6KBW has a strong public law presence and leads the field in cases concerning national security; policing; prisons and prosecutorial decisions. Recent cases include: Ibrahim, Mohammed, Omar & Abdurahman v UK (ECtHR: Article 6 challenge by the 21/7 bombers), Beghal v DPP (Supreme Court: challenge to police terrorism powers), Stott v Justice Secretary (Supreme Court: challenge to extended determinate sentences), S1 and Ors v Home Secretary (Court of Appeal: leading case on ECtHR extraterritoriality in nationality deprivation decisions), KBR v SFO (High Court: concerning the territorial scope of the SFO’s powers, pending appeal to the Supreme Court) and R (Soma Oil) v SFO (High Court: challenging prosecutorial decision making).

Extradition: 6KBW College Hill has particular expertise in extradition cases involving EU law issues and cases involving human rights challenges in Part 2 jurisdictions, including the Russian Federation, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, the United States, New Zealand, Turkey, India, Russia and Georgia. Members of chambers have provided expert evidence on UK extradition law in foreign legal proceedings and have given evidence before Parliamentary Select Committees.

David Perry KC was appointed by the Home Secretary to conduct a comprehensive review of the United Kingdom’s Extradition Arrangements. Barristers at 6KBW College Hill regularly publish articles on extradition in the Criminal Law Review and have written extensively about extradition, including by contributing to, and editing, a number of leading practitioner texts on extradition and domestic and international criminal law:

International: 6KBW College Hill’s members have regularly represented governments, corporates and individuals from around the world. We have acted in cases in the Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Hong Kong and Northern Ireland, as well as the ECHR and International Court of Justice.

Our members of chambers are frequently instructed in appeals to the Privy Council, acting for both respondents and appellants.

Inquests & Public Inquiries: 6KBW College Hill is recognised as a leading set for inquests and public inquiries. Our members have a long-standing reputation in this field and have represented a wide range of clients that include professional individuals, families, local authorities, companies, and government departments. We have been involved in the most serious, complex, and nationally and internationally reported cases including Jean Charles de Menezes, Mark Saunders, Potters Bar Derailment, Mark Duggan, Annie-Marrie Element, Ellison Review, Deepcut Barracks, Brecon Inquest, Alexander Perepilichnyy Inquest, 7/7 London Bombings, London Bridge, Manchester Arena Inquiry, Litvinenki Inquest & Inquiry, Grenfell Inquiry, Tunisia Inquest, Al-Sweady Inquiry, Undercover Police Inquiry, Westminster Bridge, Infected Bloody Inquiry, Dawn Sturgess & Covid Inquiry.

POCA & Asset Forfeiture: 6KBW College Hill is recognised as one of the very best chambers in the fields of money laundering and asset forfeiture.

In the last decade, members of chambers have appeared in many of the leading Supreme Court cases concerning the proceeds of crime, including Waya [2012] UKSC 51, Eastenders Cash and Carry [2014] UKSC 34, Ahmad & Fields [2014] UKSC 36, Guraj [2016] UKSC 65 and Gibson [2018] UKSC 2. Members of chambers advise and act in cases that involve domestic and international asset recovery, particularly where the sums involved are substantial.

Members of chambers have recently acted where requests for assistance have come from Denmark, Egypt, Finland, Italy and Kuwait. Chambers has a particular specialism advising companies with respect to their terrorist financing and money laundering compliance obligations, as well as their regulatory obligations more generally, often in connection with inquiries and investigations undertaken by the Financial Conduct Authority.