QEB Hollis Whiteman is a leading set of

barristers' chambers In law, a barrister's chambers or barristers' chambers are the rooms used by a barrister or a group of barristers. The singular refers to the use by a sole practitioner whereas the plural refers to a group of barristers who, while acting as sol ...

specialising in

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in C ...

financial Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of f ...

, and

regulatory law Regulatory law refers to secondary legislation, including regulations, promulgated by an executive branch agency under a delegation from a legislature. It contrasts with statutory law promulgated by the legislative branch, and common law or case l ...

, located in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

. Established in the 1980s, it employs 70 barristers, including 21

King's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

, four Treasury Counsel and one Standing Counsel to the RCPO. The current Heads of Chambers are Selva Ramasamy KC and Adrian Darbishire KC and the Chief Clerk is Chris Emmings.

History

The set was established in June 1982 by Daniel Hollis QC (1925–2016). It was named after their former premises at Queen Elizabeth Building in the

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

which it left in 2010, moving to the

Practice areas

The set's practice areas include: *

Regulatory Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. ...

Corporate crime In criminology, corporate crime refers to crimes committed either by a corporation (i.e., a business entity having a separate legal personality from the natural persons that manage its activities), or by individuals acting on behalf of a corp ...

and

Financial crime Financial crime is crime committed against property, involving the unlawful conversion of the ownership of property (belonging to one person) to one's own personal use and benefit. Financial crimes may involve fraud ( cheque fraud, credit card fra ...

Fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compen ...

Crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in C ...

and Private Prosecution *

Public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

Health and Safety Occupational safety and health (OSH), also commonly referred to as occupational health and safety (OHS), occupational health, or occupational safety, is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the safety, health, and welfare of people at wo ...

* Confiscation, Restraint and Cash Forfeiture *

Sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

Media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...

and

Entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousa ...

The chambers are considered "the go-to place" for criminal defence as well as for prosecution.

Notable members

Members of chambers have prosecuted and defended in many widely publicised criminal cases. * Mark Ellison KC defended

Hogan Lovells Hogan Lovells is an American-British law firm co-headquartered in London and Washington, DC. The firm was formed in 2010 by the merger of the American law firm Hogan & Hartson and the British law firm Lovells. It employs about 2,400 lawyers ...

solicitor Chris Grierson when he was accused of £1.27 million expenses fraud, as well as prosecuting on behalf of FCA in £7.4m gains insider dealing case. He also undertook a review of undercover policing in connection to

Stephen Lawrence Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

murder for the Home Office. * Edward Brown KC advised the

SFO San Francisco International Airport is an international airport in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County, south of Downtown San Francisco. It has flights to points throughout North America and is a major gateway to Europe, the Middle E ...

and leads for the prosecution in the Barclays-Qatar fundraising prosecution, as well as prosecuting Kevin Hutchinson-Foster in connection with

Mark Duggan Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Finn ...

murder. * Adrian Darbishire KC successfully defended Ryan Reich who was prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office for manipulating the London

LIBOR The London Inter-Bank Offered Rate is an interest-rate average calculated from estimates submitted by the leading banks in London. Each bank estimates what it would be charged were it to borrow from other banks. The resulting average rate is u ...

during the Libor scandal. * Zoe Johnson KC is a former Senior Treasury Counsel and the founding member of the Bar Disability Panel. * Peter Kyte KC is a

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal tria ...

who also sits as a recorder at Southwark Crown Court. * William Boyce KC is a Crown Court Recorder and former Senior Treasury Counsel. * Eleanor Laws KC is a Recorder and has been described as the "go-to Silk" for sexual offences. * Tom Kark KC is a Crown Court Recorder and former standing counsel to Customs and Excise. He has been appointed to Chair the Muckamore Abbey Hospital Public Inquiry in Northern Ireland (2022). He was a leading Counsel to the Francis Inquiry that examined the causes of the failings in care at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust between 2005 and 2009. and conducted a review of the fit and proper person test for the Minister for Health published in 2019. He also sits as a legal assessor in the Osteopathic Council. * Sean Larkin KC successfully prosecuted alleged

Daesh An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic ter ...

sympathiser in a terrorism case which could have long lasting implications on the definition of terrorism and the impact of public international law on domestic legislation.

Notable honorary members

Honorary members include Mr Justice David Calvet-Smith, former

Director of Public Prosecutions The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is the office or official charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several criminal jurisdictions around the world. The title is used mainly in jurisdictions that are or have been members o ...

and former Chair of the

Parole Board for England and Wales The Parole Board for England and Wales () was established in 1968 under the Criminal Justice Act 1967. It became an independent executive non-departmental public body (NDPB) on 1 July 1996 under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. The ...

Former notable members

Former members include Daniel Hollis QC, the founding member of the set, and judge Ian Paton QC, criminal

who prosecuted in major criminal trials as well as sitting as a

Recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

Southwark Crown Court The Crown Court at Southwark, commonly but inaccurately called Southwark Crown Court, is one of two locations of the Crown Court in the London SE1 postcode area, along with the Crown Court at Inner London. Opened in 1983, the brick building is ...

. Heather Norton practised at the chambers for 23 years, until 2012 when she was appointed a Circuit Judge sitting at Canterbury Crown Court.

Rankings and honours

* In 2016, ''Chambers and Partners'' named QEB Hollis Whiteman "Crime Set of The Year". * In 2017, ''Who's Who Legal'' listed QEB Hollis Whiteman as one of their “leading sets” for crime. * In 2018, ''Legal 500'' named QEB Hollis Whiteman as “Crime Set of the Year”.

References

External links

Website of QEB Hollis Whiteman

Lucy Kennedy of QEB Hollis Whiteman interviewed about regulatory law

Dailymotion: QEB Hollis Whiteman move to the City of London

QEB Hollis Whiteman member Tom Kark QC discusses the Francis Inquiry at a Royal Pharmaceutical Society event
{{City of London Barristers' chambers in the United Kingdom 1983 establishments in the United Kingdom Law firms based in London Law firms of England Trial lawyers Public defenders Criminal defense organizations Law firms established in 1983 Government lawyers