Riel Karmy-Jones KC' principal area of practice, and both prosecutes and defends. As a leading silk she is best known for her work in the murky world of organised crime.
She has a high-profile practice which includes Murder & Manslaughter, Serious Organised Crime, Sexual Offences, and Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking, particularly cases involving vulnerable witnesses and defendants.
Riel also has regulatory experience and has in recent years been instructed in high-profile cases where regulatory law intersects with criminal offences, principally in sexual and historic allegations (SRA, NMC, UKA).
Between 2017-2019 she was Senior Counsel to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse leading the investigation into the Roman Catholic Church, and specifically dealing with the hearings and reports on the English Benedictine Congregation.
Riel was shortlisted for Crime Silk of the Year in Legal 500’s UK awards 2019, and listed in the Hot 100, by the Lawyer Magazine in 2020.
She is a contributing editor to a number of legal texts, including Archbold – Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice; Rook and Ward Sexual Offences: Law and Practise; Young, Corker and Summers on Abuse of Process In Criminal Proceedings; and Human Rights in Criminal Law.
Year of call: 1995
Inn: Lincolns and Inn
Year made KC: 2015
Chair of the East Anglian Bar Mess
Publications:
Archbold – Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice, 2017 to present, contributing editor
Rook and Ward: Sexual Offences Law and Practise, 2016 to present, contributing editor
Abuse of Process In Criminal Proceedings, 2022, contributing editor
Human Rights in Criminal Law, Bloomsbury, 2022
IICSA Reports in respect of Child Sexual Abuse at Ampleforth, Downside, and Ealing Abbeys and their associated schools, 2018-2019, contributing editor
Articles:
‘Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery – “a very particular set of skills”’, Archbold News, June 2022
‘“Virginity Testing”, Hymen Surgery and Misogyny: What Should the Law Do?’, Counsel Magazine, July 2021
‘Case in Depth Review of DDP v M and what weight should be given to the decisions of the Single Competent Authority in Criminal trials’, Archbold News, May 2021
‘The Impact of Covid-19 on Victims of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery’, Lawyer Magazine, July 2020
Commentary on R v Joseph [2017] EWCA Crim 36 (dealing with the availability of the defence provided by s.45 of the MSA to victims of human trafficking), Criminal Law Review, March 2017
Joint Interview with Peter Carter KC on Modern Slavery Act 2015, Lexis Nexis, May 2015
Lectures / Training:
‘Stages in the Life of a Public Inquiry’, RLC Webinar, July 2021
Speaker on ‘Vulnerable Witnesses in the context of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery investigations’, The Cambridge Centre for Applied Research in Human Trafficking, June 2019
Speaker on the ‘Handling of Vulnerable Witnesses and English Criminal Procedure’, symposium with the Norwegian Law Commission at Oxford University, with Prof Laura Hoyano of RLC, March 2016
Lecture and seminar on ‘Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking’, Amnesty International, February & April 2016
‘The Modern Slavery Act’, CBA Winter Conference, December 2015
Talk to the National Strategic Modern Slavery Meeting organised by Shaun Sawyer, Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police and National Policing Modern Slavery Lead, June 2015
Talk to the Czeck/British Conference in Prague, organised by the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic assisted by the British embassy in Prague, March 2015
Called to give evidence before the Joint Parliamentary Committee in respect of the Modern Slavery Bill, Jan 2015
‘Modern Slavery, The Burden on the Victim and the Role of the Criminal Justice System’, Conference on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative, June 2014
‘Human Trafficking’, Anti-Slavery International Conference, Jan 2014
‘Human Trafficking seminar’, West Midland Circuit, speaking with Peter Carter KC, November 2013
Speaking on the case of R v Anthony Harrison,: use of Juju in Trafficking out of Nigeria, Trafficking Law and Policy Forum, June 2012
CBA
South Eastern Circuit
Patron of PAN Intercultural Arts (working with the victims of human trafficking)
Lincoln’s Inn
Inner Temple
Tempo School, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada University of Alberta, Canada; Drama Studio, London; University College London University [UCL]; BA [1985], LLB Hons [1994]