Helen Butcher > Garden Court Chambers > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Lawyer Rankings

London Bar > Crime

‘A very good set, with a good compliment of silks and juniors’, Garden Court Chambers is ‘strong in complex crime cases and has a strong mix of barristers at different levels of experience and expertise’. With a strong reputation for publicly funded defence work, alongside challenging murder and sex offence cases, chambers has had members involved in a range of politically charged matters, with terrorism and criminal appeals among other areas of expertise. It also remains ‘the go-to set when it comes to representing vulnerable defendants‘. Stephen Kamlish QC secured a stay for an abuse of process after a drug trial collapsed – the prosecution argued that an hour and a half surveillance tape was missing and must have been incriminating, but was throughout in their possession and innocuous. James Scobie QC represented Siddique Kamara, a drill musician under the name “Incognito” and member of the Moscow17 group, who was acquitted of the murder of a member of the Zone 2 group. Criminal appeals are an area of expertise: Clare Wade QC represented Sally Challen, whose 2011 conviction for murdering her husband with over 20 blows of a hammer was overturned following fresh evidence demonstrating coercive control – a guilty plea to manslaughter on that basis was accepted, and the sentence imposed was covered by time served. Dexter Dias QC, Tom Wainwright, Owen Greenhall, and Jacob Bindman represented various members of the “Stansted 15”, a group of activists who were convicted of an aviation security offence, but all avoided immediate custody, for breaking into Stansted airport and chaining themselves to a Boeing 767 to halt a deportation charter flight. Bill Evans returned to the independent Bar in September 2018, joining the set from LP Evans Solicitors and Advocates, and Helen Butcher joined the month before from One Pump Court.