Region Area

Barristers

Szilvia Booker

Work Department

Foundry Chambers.

Position

YEAR OF CALL 2005

Prosecution and defence.

Career

Szilvia is a valuable member of the Criminal Bar Association fraternity, belonging to a handful of independent barristers who undertake the defence and prosecution of criminal cases in equal measures. She is regularly instructed in cases involving murder, organised crime, large-scale drugs, firearms and sexual offences. She is a level 4 specialist RASSO and serious organised crime panel prosecutor for the CPS, and has a reputation for handling serious cases with brainy humour, inspiring confidence in her clients and those who instruct her. A former Canadian police officer, her specialist global knowledge of covert and reactive police operations enables her to undertake cross-jurisdictional case involving JITs and international investigatory partners including NCA, FBI, RCMP, Eurojust and AFRIPOL. She has built a reputation for finding novel evidential bases for arguing settled legal points. Independent-minded and hard-working, she is a firm favourite with silks requiring a senior junior in large, complicated, and multi-defendant cases.

Szilvia has a wealth of experience in the deployment and challenging of expert forensic evidence including: digital and cell site analysis, facial recognition and identification evidence, psychiatry & pathology, architecture, and accountancy. She is a specialist Human Trafficking and Slavery prosecutor, and leading defence counsel in Modern Slavery Act offences, appearing in cases involving large-scale trafficking of sex workers, commercial and domestic slavery operations, and exploitation offences committed by organised criminal trafficking networks, including money laundering and corruption offences.

Szilvia has been appointed by the UNODC and the national prosecution authority of Kenya, as part of a team instructed by Shamini Jayanathan and led by Anu Mohindru K.C. to advise on the considerations and legal framework for controlled deliveries and the use of informants in East Africa, devising policy and legal protocols to trace the flow of illicit goods such as drugs, wildlife specimen, counterfeit products or falsified medical products, and enable successful prosecution of organised groups involved in such enterprises in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda for seniors members of the respective DPP, CID, and transnational crime police units.

Memberships

Appointments

Prosecution Advisor to UNODC on Controlled Deliveries CPS Serious Crime Group specialist panel Appointed to the CPS Advocate Panel at Level 4 Appointed as a CPS specialist rape prosecutor NCA and FCO Subject Matter Expert (SME) in Security & Justice Reform Former Attorney General’s List C Prosecuting Counsel

Memberships

Criminal Bar Association South Eastern Circuit CBA Judicial Liaison Committee

Education

University of Toronto 9T0 (Bachelor of Arts) University of East Anglia (PgDip Law) BPP Professional Education (Postgraduate BVC)

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