Lisa Bald > Chambers of Sally O’Neill and Michael Holland KC > London, England > Barrister Profile

Lisa Bald

lbald@furnivallaw.co.uk View profile

Work Department

General Crime; Fraud, Serious Sexual OFfences

Position

Lisa’s practice covers the full spectrum of serious crime – allegations of murder, using the dark web to import firearms and drugs, possession of firearms with intent to endanger life, county line class A drug operations, conspiracy to commit s18 (GBH with intent), rape and child abuse.

She is instructed to lead, as junior alone and as led junior. In her first leading brief, her defendant was acquitted of all charges in an 8 handed multi incident conspiracy – her client was accused of providing a firearm in a gang related drive by shooting.

Lisa is known for her meticulous preparation, tenacity in court & confident and compassionate manner with clients. In recent years this style has led to an expertise in cases involving young defendants and witnesses, or those who have mental health difficulties, are on the autistic spectrum or have learning disabilities.

In such a case, Lisa persuaded a sentencing Judge to go “off guideline” and impose a non custodial sentence for a youth who had repeatedly stabbed the victim in the face. The prosecution were unsuccessful in their appeal of the sentencing decision – Attorney General’s Reference [2018] EWCA Crim 973.

The quality of her written and oral advocacy is recognised by the Registrar of the Court of Appeal who has instructed her to conduct appeals for unrepresented defendants. In such a case – R v Jamal Poku [2019] EWCA Crim 1209, the Court of Appeal commended her “attractively developed” submissions re the boundaries of greater harm for a s18.

Career

Prior to becoming a barrister, Lisa worked as a paralegal at Corker Binning Solicitors where she gained a wealth of experience in complex multi-handed fraud cases, extradition matters and general crime.

Lisa completed an internship with the charity Amicus in 2009-2010 where she worked as a mitigation investigator for the Office of Capital Defense, Jackson, Mississippi. During her time in America, Lisa was given her own caseload and was tasked with investigating the lives of her clients who were facing the death penalty. Lisa was involved in 4 cases during her time at OCD; none of her clients received the death penalty.

Lisa was asked to train police officers participating in the Metropolitan Police Drug Expert training course in October 2016. This involved rigorous cross-examination attacking the foundation of the officer’s expertise, their objectivity and their accuracy. Detective Superintendent Brendan Gilmour of the Specialist Crimes & Operation Unit praised Lisa’s performance, stating that many of the participants had rated her exercise as the “best court exercise they had ever undertaken”.

Lisa also works as part of the night lawyer team for a well-known tabloid newspaper. This involves checking tomorrow’s edition for libel, privacy and contempt of court concerns.

Memberships

Amicus

Education

Law degree 2.1 LLB Kings College London, BVC BPP London