Richard Atkins KC > 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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Richard Atkins KC
Work Department
St Philips Crime and St Philips Regulatory
Position
Richard practises in crime and regulatory offences. He specialises in murder (including gangland, sado-masochistic and matrimonial killings); manslaughter; terrorism; seriious fraud (Revenue, VAT, international and boiler room); serious sex offences; HSE; and consumer law cases. Defends and prosecutes. Regularly appears in the Court of Appeal: Lewis [2013] EWCA Crim 776 (jury irregularities); X [2013] EWCA Crim 818 (leading case on “commercial practice” and “transactional decisions” definitions in the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008); Masih [2015] EWCA Crim 477 (overturned murder convction); D & P, 2016 (overturned Private Security Industry Act convictions when not instructed at first instance); Bajaj [2020] EWCA Crim 1111 (defeated prosecution of £1 million POCA application). An approachable and engaging advocate. He is well known for his ability to assimilate a large amount of facts. Private, publicly funded and public access work accepted.
Career
Called 1989, Gray’s Inn; Queen’s Counsel 2011. Head of St Philips Chambers (2020-); Chair of the Bar Council (2019); Vice-Chair of the Bar Council (2018); Leader of the Midland Circuit (2014-2017); Bencher of Gray’s Inn (2014); Fee-paid Judge of the First-tier Tribunal (Mental Health) (2014); Recorder of the Crown Court (2005).
Memberships
Criminal Bar Association; Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers; Association of Health and Safety Lawyers; Midland Circuit.
Education
King Henry VIII School, Coventry; St Catherine’s College, Oxford University (MA, Oxon); Council of Legal Education Inns of Court School of Law (Bar School).
Lawyer Rankings
Regional Bar > Midland Circuit > Business and regulatory crime (including health and safety)
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Regional Bar > Midland Circuit > Crime (general and fraud)
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Richard Atkins KC –St Philips Chambers ‘Richard is a strong jury advocate who can powerfully argue whilst being able to speak in common sense. He is an impressive figure in the court.’
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.