Olivia McGonigle > Chambers of David Berkley KC > Winchester, England > Barrister Profile

Olivia McGonigle

Work Department

Crime; Public and Regulatory; Education.

Position

Olivia has a busy practice in the Magistrates’ Court and Crown Court. Olivia is a Level 1 Prosecutor on the CPS Advocate Panel General Crime List. She also undertakes work in regulatory and public law matters.

Recent criminal work includes:

• Drugs: Possession with intent to supply Class A drugs; Possession of Class A drugs; Cultivation of Class B drugs; Possession of Class B drugs
• Offences against the person: S.18 GBH; S.20 GBH: ABH; Assault
• Public order offences: Harassment; Stalking; Affray
• Breaches of court orders: Sexual harm prevention orders; Domestic violence protection orders; Restraining orders; Suspended sentence orders
• Motoring offences: Speeding; Drunk in charge; Driving with excess alcohol; Drug driving; Failure to provide a specimen; Driving whilst disqualified; Careless driving; Dangerous driving causing serious injury

Olivia completed her pupillage with 3PB and was supervised by Gemma White, Thomas Evans and David Richards. She was one of the 2021 “Butterfield Pupils”. This is a scheme of the Western Circuit to part-finance publicly funded pupillages in the South and South West of England. She was awarded the Ann Goddard Scholarship for pupils undertaking pupillage in publicly-funded work.

Prior to pupillage, Olivia worked as a paralegal at the Electoral Commission and volunteered at various charities. This included working for a capital defence office in New Orleans, focusing solely on death penalty cases. Olivia has undertaken a range of pro bono work, working on innocence projects and with IPSEA, a charity dedicated to providing legal advice for children with additional needs. Olivia has also volunteered at the Free Representation Unit where she represented clients in social security tribunals and obtained favourable outcomes.

Olivia is also available to assist law firms and prosecuting authorities on talks and training courses. She was a recent speaker at 3PB’s Criminal Law Update seminar in July 2022.

Outside busy work demands, Olivia enjoys swimming and running.

Crime

Olivia McGonigle is a criminal law barrister whose recent cases include:

Offences against the person

R v R (2022) Magistrates’ Court – assault: two-day assault and failure to provide trial with a vulnerable client

R v M (2022) Youth Court – assault: no evidence offered after cross-examination of the complainant

R v J (2022) Crown Court – s.18 GBH: covering the final two days of a trial. This involved dealing with a legal issue regarding jury verdicts for a youth

R v D (2022) Crown Court – ABH: represented a client who had attacked a stranger with a knife, causing lacerations to the face

R v C (2022) Crown Court – ABH: prosecuted in sentencing hearing for serious ABH (kick to girlfriend’s face)

R v P (2022) Crown Court – s.20 GBH: successfully argued for a suspended sentence for a youth in a case where one punch resulted in hospitalisation. This case was covered in the media including the Bournemouth Echo

Public order offences

R v M (2022) Magistrates’ Court – harassment: acquittal

R v A (2022) Magistrates’ Court – affray: a non-finding restraining order was accepted and no evidence offered

R v A (2022) Magistrates’ Court – racially aggravated s.4A offence: persuaded the Crown to offer no evidence to the racially aggravated s.4A charge, and a conditional discharge was imposed for the basic offence

R v Y (2022) Magistrates’ Court – aggravated s.4 POA offence: a rare bind over order secured, so no criminal conviction received

R v G (2022) Magistrates’ Court – threats to kill: plea to s.4 POA accepted, and no evidence offered for the threats to kill offence

R v C (2022) Magistrates’ Court – stalking: prosecution accepted a favourable basis of plea limiting the time period and behaviour

R v R (2022) Crown Court – stalking: prosecuted the sentencing hearing in the Crown Court at Southampton with an interpreter

Motoring offences

R v M (2022) Magistrates’ Court – driving with excess alcohol, failure to provide, no insurance, failure to surrender: client was sentenced to a community order for a number of offences as a result of the mitigation that was advanced

R v A (2022) Magistrates’ Court – totting offence: successful exceptional hardship argument based on health concerns and attending hospital appointments

R v P (2022) Magistrates’ Court – careless driving: no evidence offered

R v A (2022) Magistrates’ Court – speeding: interim disqualification from driving suspended pending appeal

R v C (2022) Magistrates’ Court – careless driving: client avoided disqualification despite unfortunately causing significant injuries to a cyclist when driving without glasses

R v P (2022) Magistrates’ Court – totting offence: successful exceptional hardship argument based on client’s job and the impact disqualification would have on his family

R v F (2022) Magistrates’ Court – totting offence: successful exceptional hardship argument based on likelihood of losing client’s job

R v C (2022) Crown Court – speeding: successful appeal against sentence to the extent the disqualification period was shortened for a professional taxi driver

R v D (2022) Magistrates’ Court – successful exceptional hardship argument, reducing disqualification period

R v B (2022) Magistrates’ Court – dangerous driving: the magistrates’ court retained jurisdiction and a community order was imposed

Dishonesty offences

R v A (2022) Magistrates’ Court – fraud: client acquitted on s.172 charge and sentenced to a conditional discharge for fraud

R v N (2022) Magistrates’ Court – theft: theft trial focusing on the intention to permanently deprive with a vulnerable client. Sentenced to a fine

R v C (2022) Magistrates’ Court – theft from employer: acquitted

Other criminal cases

R v D (2022) Magistrates’ Court – football offence: successfully opposed the imposition of a football banning order, and the client was sentenced to a fine

R v A (2022) Magistrates’ Court – sexual assault: two-day sexual assault trial with multiple vulnerable witnesses

R v P (2022) Youth Court – possession with intent to supply (main offence): took instructions on PWITS offence from a vulnerable youth and achieved a conditional discharge for the breach of a referral order

R v B (2022) Crown Court – breach of court order: successful appeal against sentence in the Crown Court, resulting in a suspended sentence despite the client having 19 breaches of orders

R v B (2022) Crown Court – breach of court order: cross examination of an expert from the USA regarding alcohol level monitoring.

Public and Regulatory

Olivia McGonigle has already undertaken work in several areas including education, firearms regulation, health and safety and business rates cases. Olivia is keen to continue to develop her experience in these areas.

Recent cases include:

LA v T (2022) – advising Council on Tobacco Regulations

Regulator v P (2022) – representations for a client to deal with allegations in writing rather than through interview

LA v M (2022) – junior counsel on EHCP judicial review case that settled

LA v C (2022) – business rates case, dropped when shown evidence

P v Police (2022) Crown Court – firearms appeal

Education

Olivia McGonigle has experience in education cases acting on behalf of both individuals and local authorities. Olivia has undertaken a variety of cases at both First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) and Magistrates’ Court and is keen to further build her practice in this area.

Recent education cases include:

JA (DR) v ELA First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) – Successful B, F & I appeal, with the Tribunal naming the school despite the LA’s opposition.

JA (SA) v ELA First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability)

LS (BS) v SoS First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability)

DCC v AK Magistrates’ Court

DCC v KP Magistrates’ Court

DCC v GL Magistrates’ Court

DCC v KD (V) Magistrates’ Court

DCC v AS Magistrates’ Court

 

Career

Year of Call: 2021

Memberships

• Gray’s Inn
• Level 1 – CPS Advocate Panel – General Crime

Education

• Bar Training Course – Distinction (BPP London)
• Graduate Diploma in Law – Distinction (BPP London)
• BA Hons History and Political Science (University of Birmingham)