2 Dr Johnson’s Buildings

Joe has built a busy Crown Court practice and focuses increasingly on defending. His regular instructions for trial include allegations of serious offences against the person, major drugs conspiracies, weapons/firearms cases and sexual violence.

Biography

Called to the Bar in 2018

Joe is a specialist criminal barrister with experience belying his year of call. He joined chambers as a pupil in 2017 and became a tenant in October 2018. In the last five-plus years on his feet, Joe has built a busy Crown Court practice and focuses increasingly on defending. His regular instructions for trial include allegations of serious offences against the person, major drugs conspiracies, weapons/firearms cases and sexual violence. Joe is now often instructed opposite counsel at Grade-4 on the CPS list or Treasury Counsel. He has successfully defended clients alone against two counsel, and has a strong track record of securing acquittals in difficult trials. Some examples in 2023 are:

Without a leader for D1 in multi-handed kidnap/torture trial in which all defendants were arrested at the scene of alleged false imprisonment, with the complainant present. Forensics established that he had been doused in accelerant and badly burned, he also had very severely lacerated fingers. Pliers/clippers were found at the scene with blood on them. Joe’s client took incriminating videos of himself but was acquitted of all counts after a five-week trial; Multiple stabbing of a prison guard in self-defence with a makeshift “shiv”. Joe’s client was found not guilty of all counts at trial and then received time served on a plea to having the improvised weapon. This resulted in his immediate release; A former professional and international footballer of good character acquitted of all counts in a case of assaulting his estranged wife by penetration. The prosecution alleged a fit of jealousy having found her in bed with another man; A young Albanian alone in a car which contained a large quantity of high purity cocaine and cash. ANPR/cell site showed that he drove the car to various stops around London before heading down to Kent. He was acquitted of all counts; One of only two defendants in an eight-handed drugs conspiracy to be acquitted at trial; A man accused of inflicting GBH on his former partner by means of infecting her with a sexually transmitted disease, acquitted at half-time.

Earlier instructions as trial-counsel include:

Representing D1 in a multi-hundred kilo drugs and firearms conspiracy (Encro case. Pleaded guilty and successfully argued significant role as opposed to leading) Representing a retired church minister on trial for historic child sexual abuse dating to the 1970s A young man accused of a series of knife-point robberies on his own door step D1 in s18 (accused of using a machete to attack a suspected police informant).

Joe also has experience as prosecution counsel in serious trials such as:

Aggravated burglary S18 Knife-point robbery

Outside trial advocacy, Joe has a strong grasp of POCA proceedings and has, for instance, successfully resisted an application under s22 on submissions at the Central Criminal Court. He has also been to the Court of Appeal and won on appeal against sentence after argument about the structure of concurrent/consecutive sentences.

In chambers, Joe is a registered Pupil Supervisor and runs the in-house advocacy training programme for chambers’ pupils. He sits on the CMC and Pupillage Committee.

Joe took first-class honours in History at SOAS before completing an MSc, focusing on Middle Eastern history and Arabic language, at Edinburgh. He then moved to Manchester for his Law conversion course and finally London for the Bar exams, which he passed in 2017 with a final classification of “Very Competent”.