9BR Chambers
Lawyers
Simon Ralph
- Phone020 7489 2727
- Email[email protected]
- Profilewww.9brchambers.co.uk
Position
Simon is an established practitioner and former military legal advisor with unique experience in a range of tribunals and jurisdictions.
He has prosecuted and defended serious crime in the Crown Court and Court Martial, acted in a number of quasi-criminal cases, and advised at the highest levels on matters of public international and international humanitarian law. He has established a reputation as an astute and tenacious advocate, and a robust and client-focused advisor. He currently accepts instructions in crime, military law, international law, and inquiries & inquests. He also undertakes work on behalf of government departments as a member of the Attorney General’s B Panel of Counsel.
Background and experience
As a criminal practitioner, Simon has acted for the defence as junior alone across the spectrum of offences, successfully representing individuals on charges as diverse as drugs importation, multi-handed fraud, and rape. As a led junior he has defended the most serious allegations, including murder. For the first seven years of his practice Simon acted only for the defence, and was regularly sought after in cases requiring skilled and sensitive cross-examination, such as RASSO trials and trials involving vulnerable witnesses. He is particularly adept at cross-examining experts, whether in relation to forensic science, cell-site data, or accountancy. In one case the Court of Appeal praised Simon’s ’obviously effective’ cross-examination of an expert, describing him as ‘a credit to himself and his profession’.
He is a CPS Grade 4 prosecutor and routinely prosecutes at that level, with a particular emphasis on fraud and complex money laundering trials. As a prosecutor in the Court Martial he focussed on fraud, serious violence and RASSO work. His cases included major firearms offences attracting mandatory five year sentences, routine prosecution of s.18 GBHs, offences committed on operations, and offences under RIPA. He understands the needs of the three services, as well as the particular requirements of service personnel. He has undertaken RASSO and vulnerable witness training.
Simon takes a keen interest in ‘quasi-criminal’ cases, and in the past has appeared in committal for contempt proceedings in the High Court, represented a business and its owner in a large scale prosecution for breach of planning law (where he successfully argued abuse of process over two days), and represented an acquitted defendant in a civil claim against the police for malicious prosecution.
He also has a particular interest in cases involving the military, national security, or terrorism. Following his time at the defence Bar he joined the British Army as a legal advisor, promoting to Major shortly before re-entering private practice. In addition to prosecuting in the Court Martial he advised the chain of command and Whitehall on counter-terror and state-focussed operations in the UK and overseas. His primary expertise relates to international humanitarian law and the treatment of detainees, but extends to general public international law (e.g. prohibited interventions), international criminal law/war crimes, cybercrime, human rights, RIPA and IPA, and the extra-territorial application of the ECHR. He is comfortable working in hostile environments and liaising with UK government departments, allied forces, and local overseas security forces.
His work in the Army has encompassed the sorts of issues routinely litigated in public inquiries and high profile inquests, and his combination of insight, experience, and ability as an advocate, makes him ideally placed to act and advise in these most sensitive of cases.
Simon is qualified to accept instructions directly from members of the public in appropriate cases and has done so successfully for many years. He brings to his direct access practice the additional benefit of being qualified to litigate on behalf of his clients. In criminal cases he accepts instructions on both a private and publicly funded basis.
In addition to his routine practice Simon also sits as a Deputy District Judge (Magistrates’ Court).