Raj Chada > Hodge Jones & Allen > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Hodge Jones & Allen
180 NORTH GOWER STREET
LONDON
NW1 2NB
England

Work Department

Crime, Financial Crime & Regulatory

Position

Raj is the Head of the Criminal Defence, Financial Crime and Regulatory Department. He is one of the country’s leading criminal lawyers with expertise in serious and complex crime, public order and financial crime.

He is the winner of the Criminal Lawyer of Year Award in 2012, (LALY), awarded by the Legal Aid Practitioners Group. As a Higher Rights Advocate, he has been shortlisted on 3 occasions as “Advocate of the Year” by the Law Society Excellence Awards, being commended in 2017. He has been shortlisted as “Criminal Lawyer of the Year” by the Society of Asian Lawyers in 2017 and 2018.

He has a significant niche expertise in bribery/corruption, having represented several executives and is the author of the Bribery Handbook. He acted in the “Stansted 15” trial which was labelled by the New Statesman magazine as “the most important political trial of our times”. He is one of a handful of specialist human rights specialists who can take on cases with political dimensions, he is s a regular commentator for BBC, Channel 4, Sky News, the Guardian and the Time Newspapers.

Career

Admitted as Solicitor 1998; Gordon Doctors Walton 1998-99;
Hodge Jones & Allen 1999 to present; Partner 2002; Member 2010

Languages

Basic Punjabi

Memberships

  • LCCSA (The London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association)
  • SAHCA (Society of Higher Rights Advocates (committee member))
  • Liberty
  • Amnesty International

Education

Rainey Endowed Grammar School, Magherfaelt, Co Derry, Northern Ireland; Jesus College, Cambridge University (BA Hons Law); College of Law (Chester).

Leisure

Football

Lawyer Rankings

London > Crime, fraud and licensing > Fraud: white-collar crime (advice to individuals)

The highly regarded Ruth Harris leads the financial crime and regulatory team at Hodge Jones & Allen, which works closely with the firm’s other departments to provide ‘expert proactive assistance’ across all stages of financial crime proceedings. Kiran Mehta, described as a ‘great strategist‘, represents individuals and corporates in pre-charge issues, investigations works, and at the trial stage. Raj Chada, who leads the firm’s larger crime, financial crime, and regulatory department, represents high-profile individuals accused of fraud. Harris, Mehta, and Chada are ably assisted by Francesca Cociani, who handles HMRC investigation.

London > Crime, fraud and licensing > Crime: general

(Leading partners)

Raj ChadaHodge Jones & Allen

The crime, financial crime, and regulatory team at Hodge Jones & Allen are particularly well acclaimed for their work regarding protesters, young defendants, and financial crime. Raj Chada leads the practice. The ‘top-notch’ Chada is greatly experienced in protester law; he also leads other complex matters, notably a manslaughter by gross negligence case, involving two police investigations, an inquest, hospital internal investigation, and criminal proceedings, which has required instruction from pathologist, nursing, and sleeping experts. Laura O’Brien, ‘a tremendously hard worker’, specialises in representing young and vulnerable defendants, while Caroline Liggins is regularly instructed to defend both children and adults on serious allegations, including murder, sexual and drug offences. Kerry Spence is an expert in murder and multiple defendant cases, whereas Mike Schwarz currently works on protester and financial fraud matters.