Jonathan Barnard KC > Cloth Fair Chambers > London, England > Barrister Profile

Jonathan Barnard KC

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Position

Jonathan is a highly respected leading advocate in the fields of crime and fraud, operating “at the highest end of the market”. Singled out as an “elegant”, “charismatic” advocate and “excellent strategist”, he wins praise for his “supreme” judgement and “superb analytical skills”. Jonathan is routinely instructed to represent professional and corporate clients in high-profile, financial and heavyweight criminal matters both at trial and for strategic advice at the investigation stage. “A class act”, he is noted for being “incredibly intelligent”, “extremely industrious” and “really great to work with”.

Jonathan represented Victor Dahdaleh, the “power broker” acquitted on all counts re corruption of the Prime Minister of Bahrain [2014] 1 W.L.R. 1857. He also secured the acquittal of Eddy Shah, the former media magnate, on all historical rape charges.

Career

More recently, Jonathan appeared in:

• ENRC Corp Ltd v Dechert LLP (co-defending with the SFO): re multi-million pound civil claim [2021] 7 WLUK 680;
• SFO v Barclays ( Defendant no.1): acquitted of all charges re multi-billion pound capital raise in 2008 (2020 winner – Most Important Court Case 2020, GIR) [2019] 6 WLUK 873; [2020] Lloyd’s Rep. R.C. 331;
• SFO v Tesco (Defendant no.1): acquitted of all charges re alleged fraud of over £300m [2019] 1WLUK 176;
• SFO v Alstom: acquitted of all charges re overseas corruption [2016] Q.B. 763;
• R v Robinson (Defendant no.1): acquitted of all fraud charges before the Supreme Court of Gibraltar. Leading Authority on stay [2015] Gib LR 216 and prosecutorial misconduct [2015] Gib LR 410;
• R v Sivaraman: High Court upheld stay (with costs) of high profile private prosecution of gynaecologist [2015] 12 WLUK 619;
• R v Evans: successfully resisted the SFO’s High Court application for a voluntary bill of indictment against CEO [2015] 1 W.L.R. 3526, [2015] 1 W.L.R. 3595, [1025] Lloyd’s Rep, F.C. 496;

and advised:

• Property tycoon Raymond Kwok, the only defendant to be acquitted in Hong Kong’s largest ever graft trial;
• The last editor of The News Of the World in his long running contempt proceedings before Parliament;
• A former high-ranking official at the Bank of England in relation to the SFO probe into LIBOR fixing.

Jonathan’s current instructions include:

• Advising Rio Tinto Plc in SFO investigation;
• Representing the former director of a hedge fund charged with defrauding the Libyan sovereign wealth fund;
• Representing a former partner of a major law firm charged with fraud.

Memberships

Called to the Bar – 1997
QC 2020 | KC – 2022