St John's Buildings
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Ella Fornsworth
- Phone0114 273 8951
- Email[email protected]
- Social
- Profilestjohnsbuildings.com
Work Department
Crime
Position
Ella is frequently instructed on cases in the Crown Court. She has both prosecuted and defended Crown Court trials, as well as appearing regularly in committals for sentence, PTPHs, bail applications and sentences. She also often acts on behalf of the Probation Service, including having been entrusted to advise the Probation Service in relation to their policy on the extension of unpaid work requirements.
Ella has a wide scope of experience prosecuting and defending in the magistrates’ court. When prosecuting, she has secured convictions in a range of cases, from domestic violence prosecutions to acquisitive crime and driving matters.
Ella has represented several defendants in successfully advancing exceptional hardship or special reasons arguments to avoid driving disqualification following motoring offences.
Career
Ella is a specialist criminal advocate with experience both prosecuting and defending in the Crown Court and in the Magistrates’ Court.
She has been praised for the quality and efficacy of both her oral and written advocacy by members of the judiciary, and described as calm and confident, both in court and when speaking with clients.
Ella is a CPS Grade 2 Prosecutor. She has completed the vulnerable witness advocacy course.
Ella also works with the charity Schools Consent Project, giving talks to students in schools and football academies about the law on sex and consent. She recently gave workshops for the U18 and U21 players at Sunderland AFC Academy of Light.
Memberships
Education
Ella studied French with English Literature at King’s College London, graduating with a First Class Honours degree. As part of that degree, she completed a year abroad in France teaching English in a French high school.
She then went on to secure a ‘Distinction’ on the GDL law conversion course and a ‘Very Competent’ on the Bar Course.
During her legal studies, Ella completed an internship with the death penalty charity Amicus ALJ UK, assisting with discovery and analysis of large volumes of evidence in relation to death penalty cases in the US alongside assisting in a study monitoring the implementation of the death penalty in the judicial districts of Florida. She also volunteered supporting complainants of crime at Victim Support UK and assisted with notetaking for self-represented doctors in the Medical Practitioners’ Tribunal Service.