Ella Jefferson

Practice Areas

Consultant, Criminal Law.

Ella has an outstanding record representing clients throughout the criminal justice process and has built a very strong reputation as a criminal defence practitioner since qualifying in September 2017.

Ella’s diverse practice includes general crime, serious sexual offences, terrorism cases, youth crime and complex fraud and white-collar work, including insider dealing and bribery. In addition to her usual criminal practice, she also has experience in Inquest Law and International Law.

Across these practice areas, Ella has represented a broad spectrum of individuals; ranging from a Chief Executive accused of a multi-million-pound fraud, political dissidents and climate change activists to youths and alleged gang members and celebrities involved in violent, drug-related and sexual offences. She has acted for corporations as well as individuals in criminal and quasi-civil matters such as breach of court orders, reporting restrictions and Tree Preservation Orders. Ella has particular interest representing vulnerable women in the criminal justice system and has represented women investigated and prosecuted for offences ranging from child neglect to terrorism.

General Crime and representing high profile individuals

Ella’s diverse general crime practice includes matters ranging in seriousness from historic sexual offences, violent offences (assault, ABH, GBH, manslaughter and murder), drug offences and terrorism offences all the way through to driving offences including speeding, excess alcohol and dangerous driving.

She is often instructed in respect of criminal allegations faced by high profile individuals in the entertainment sector and is therefore well versed in managing the related reputational issues that can arise at the pre-charge, charge and latterly the court reporting stages of proceedings.

Youth Crime

Ella’s youth crime practice has a strong focus on avoiding criminal prosecutions by diverting young people away from the Courts. She has a long-standing record of persuading the CPS not to charge suspects or to drop charges already brought. She also has extensive experience successfully negotiating out of court disposals including community resolutions, youth cautions and fixed penalty notices. Linked to her youth crime practice, Ella acts for students in University Misconduct proceedings, where their misconduct also constitutes criminal offending. She acts for individuals accused of a range of offending including “revenge porn”, sexual offences where the accused and accuser are both young people, image based “sexting” offences, drugs offences and violent offences.

Ella has also acted for young members of activist groups including Black Lives Matter, Fridays for Future and Extinction Rebellion, earning her a reputation as the “name to note” for Protest Work (Legal500) and for which she was recognised in “the Times 200 Best Law Firms” guide in 2019. Her knowledge is kept constantly up to date through engagement with various youth justice organisations and she is a legal content contributor with the Youth Justice Legal Centre.

Ella has a particular interest in the use of criminal behavioural orders in censoring creative works within the music industry (see “Defending Digga D: Criminal Behaviour Orders, Rehabilitation and Cultural Censorship”.)

Business Crime and Fraud

Ella is experienced in a range of business crime matters including complex and serious fraud, insider dealing, bribery and corruption and money laundering. She acts in several high-profile matters and has experience defending private prosecutions. She represents individuals in multi-jurisdictional SFO investigations and FCA investigations. Ella’s clients have included a Chief Executive accused of a multi-million-pound fraud, a financial controller accused of multi-million-pound theft, retail managers and company directors. She has a particular interest in cryptoassets and artificial intelligence (AI) and the interface between crime and the tech industry.

International Human Rights Law

Ella works closely with Tayab Ali, Partner in the Political, Diplomatic and International Law Team. Alongside other human rights specialists Ella has drafted complaints to UN agencies including to Special Rapporteurs and the UN Human Rights Committee. She has acted for Syrian returnees and their family members on repatriation cases working closely with NGOs, human rights organisations, politicians and journalists. She has a particular interest in Middle East and North Africa region, and works on human rights complaints pertaining to jurisdictions including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, Syria and Iraq.

Career

Ella joined Bindmans as a paralegal in 2015, and qualified in 2017. She took on her consultancy role with the firm in 2023.

Ella’s cases include

General and White-Collar Crime

R v S

Ella acted for a vulnerable woman accused of smuggling drugs and phones into prisons. The police investigation resulted in no charges being brought against the woman

R v L

Ella acted for a former gang member accused of conspiracy to commit murder. The defence involved the exposure of a sophisticated drug dealing operation across some of London’s most high security prisons. The defendant was acquitted

R v Webb

Ella acted for Queen Guitarist Brian May’s chauffeur in a historic sexual offence allegation. The defendant was acquitted. See more here

R v A

Ella acted for a former CEO of an Insurance company accused of Conspiracy to Defraud in one of the country’s largest ever private prosecutions

R v T

Ella acted for a young professional accused alongside six others of conspiring to defraud Transport for London. The defendant was acquitted

Protest law

In 2020, Ella was recommended by Legal 500 as the ‘name to note for protest work’ and is one of the department’s protest specialists. She has represented a number of clients associated with high profile groups, including Extinction Rebellion – for which Ella was recognised in The Times Best Law Firms guide – Black Lives Matter, Stop Killing London and the Youth movement Fridays for Future

In another significant and high profile case, Ella represented Moosa Mohammed, a Bahraini protestor who was almost killed during an interaction with staff on the roof of the Bahrain Embassy in London. Read more here

International law

Ella works closely with Bindmans’ Partner Tayab Ali, on the firm’s international law practice. Their work includes:

Complaint to the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) regarding Sri Lanka’s forced cremation policy

Ella and Tayab represented the Muslim Council of Britain in a complaint to the UNHRC regarding a discriminatory policy of forced cremations adopted as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic

Saudi Arabia Fact Finding Panel (FFP)

Ella and Tayab were two of the lawyers assisting a panel of cross-party British Members of Parliament who investigated and reported on the disappearance of two senior members of the Saudi Arabian Royal Family. The Report, published in December 2020, touched upon the disappearances of the Royals as well as the wider human rights abuses in the region

Complaint to the UN Special Rapporteur

Ella sent a complaint to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Protection of Freedom of Opinion and Expression regarding the censorship of Palestinian journalists

EU-Egypt trade representations

Ella and Tayab act for the Egyptian National Action Group (ENAG); a group of exiled former Egyptian parliamentarians, in connection with EU-Egypt trade negotiations.

Professional Memberships

Justice Alliance; Solicitors Regulation Authority; LCCSA; Amnesty International; Young Fraud Lawyers Association.

Personal

Spoken Languages

English (Mother tongue)

Kurdish Sorani (Intermediate)

Swedish (Beginner)