Jonathan Barker > Chambers of Sara Lewis KC > Birmingham, England > Barrister Profile
St Philips Chambers Offices
St Philips Chambers
55 TEMPLE ROW
BIRMINGHAM
B2 5LS
England
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Jonathan Barker
Work Department
Crime & Regulatory
Position
Jonathan Barker is a criminal law specialist and an accomplished trial advocate. His practice covers all areas of criminal law, including regulatory crime. He is ranked by the latest edition of the Legal 500 as one of the Midlands’ leading barristers specialising in criminal law. Jonathan is a grade 4 prosecutor and has been appointed to the CPS Serious Crime Group panel at level 4, the highest level. He is also on the ‘Rape and Child Sexual Abuse List’ meaning that he can be instructed in cases involving sexual offences. While he accepts legal aid instructions, he has a flourishing private practice. He is direct access qualified.
Jonathan has been appointed to the ‘B’ list of Specialist Regulatory Advocates.
Jonathan is committed to defending those accused of criminal wrongdoing, whether it be an individual or corporate entity. Instructing solicitors often praise Jonathan’s commitment to his cases and his unwavering determination to secure the best possible result.
Jonathan prides himself in providing first-class trial advocacy. He is experienced in cross-examining experts and has provided training to witnesses who give expert evidence in criminal proceedings. He is also trained and experienced in cross-examining young and vulnerable witnesses. In a recent case, involving an allegation of rape, the trial judge described Jonathan’s cross-examination of a young complainant as a “model example”. Jonathan’s client was ultimately acquitted of rape and associated offences.
Jonathan’s cases are often paper heavy and usually the result of significant police operations. He is adept at coming to terms with such cases. He is said to have a ‘technical mind’ which ‘allows him to assimilate complex information quickly’.
The following is a non-exhaustive list of specific areas of practice:
- Fraud and Money Laundering;
- Homicide;
- Misconduct in a public office;
- Proceeds of Crime;
- Regulatory Offences (including Health and Safety offences);
- Road traffic Offences (including where death has resulted);
- Serious Organised Crime (e.g. drug conspiracies, firearms etc);
- Serious Violence (e.g. arson, robbery, s18, attempted murder);
- Sexual offences (including rape and offences against children and the vulnerable);
- Trading standards.
Career
Called 2006; Middle Temple.
‘B’ list of Specialist Regulatory Advocates.
Memberships
Midland Circuit; Criminal Bar Association.
Education
University College London (LLB).
Lawyer Rankings
Regional Bar > Midland Circuit > Business and regulatory crime (including health and safety)
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 1St Philips Chambers’ regulatory team has substantial expertise in handling both prosecution and defence work in cases related to environment agency, trading standards matters and health and safety cases, including catastrophic injury and gross negligence manslaughter. ‘An articulate and persuasive advocate’, Ben Mills is ‘able to argue difficult points of law and fact by distilling them to the real issues that need deciding in the case’. Jonathan Barker represented a Birmingham businessman accused of selling unregulated COVID-19 tests.
Regional Bar > Midland Circuit > Crime (general and fraud)
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 1Jonathan Barker –St Philips Chambers ‘Jonathan is a very hard-working and capable advocate. He obtains the trust of the lay client immediately through his thorough preparation and gentle manner. He is impeccable in court. He is genuinely respected by all at the bar and judiciary. His closing speeches are engaging and persuasive to a jury, and his cross-examination is on point.’
St Philips Chambers is ‘one of the best set in the West Midlands’, which ‘offers a high-quality service’ across the criminal law space. The team has significant expertise across a wide range of criminal matters, including drug conspiracies, fraud, murder, sexual offences and regulatory crime. Richard Atkins KC is highly adept at handling serious crime and murder matters – he prosecuted a woman for stabbing her mother to death. Jonathan Barker is regularly involved in multi-handed murder cases and currently represented a TikTok personality accused of being part of a group who murdered two men by forcing their cars off the A46 – the prosecution’s case is that the deceased were blackmailing the defendants. Jennifer Josephs successfully appealed a sentence for attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity (the “child” being an undercover police officer posing as one) – at issue was how to approach sentencing for a second similar offence when the law had changed between the first and second convictions. In September 2022, Andrew Smith KC, as was, was appointed as a circuit judge, and in July 2023 Marcus Harry and William Douglas-Jones joined from St Ives Chambers, and in October Rebecca Wade KC, Amy Jackson, Sara Wyeth and Callum Church followed.