Set Profile > Chambers of P Mendelle QC, G Carter-Stephenson QC & J Dein QC > London , London

Proceeds of Crime Act and asset forfeiture Tier 1

Proceeds of Crime Act and asset forfeiture Tier 1

Crime Tier 1

'An excellent set with high-calibre barristers', 25 Bedford Row is a defence-only set that handles, alongside privately funded work, some of the most difficult publicly funded work, often including multi-defendant violent crime cases. Tyrone Smith QC represented a teenage drug dealer who, having been arrested and found with a 30cm knife four days before, stabbed a youth worker who asked him to stop selling drugs outside his home; the defendant was found not guilty of murder and convicted of wounding with intent. Turning to criminal appeals, Jeremy Dein QC represented far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon in a successful appeal against his initial committal to prison for contempt of court in May 2018 for interfering with sexual offence trials subject to reporting restrictions in Canterbury and Leeds. Among the juniors, Melanie Simpson represented a Hungarian woman who, along with her special constable husband, was convicted of trafficking women to a brothel they ran in an apartment block in Chelsea.

Fraud: crime Tier 1

'Excellent set' 25 Bedford Row houses a team of 'robust defence practitioners'. The group has been handling, among other areas, high-profile VAT frauds, boiler room scams, and carbon credit cases. Recent highlights include George Carter-Stephenson QC acting in the Operation Treacle £10m fraud case, concerning the resale of tickets for gigs and events.

Proceeds of Crime Act and asset forfeiture Tier 1

Proceeds of Crime Act and asset forfeiture Tier 1

Environment Tier 2

Business and regulatory crime (including global investigations) Tier 3

25 Bedford Row's members have been kept busy handling a range of financial crime cases; for example, new silk Nicola Howard QC acted in a bribery case concerning inducements to obtain contacts via a public official in Korea. She is appearing in a case spanning over 20 jurisdictions, including Moscow, London, Paris, Hong Kong, Madrid, and Amsterdam, concerning alleged defrauding of $180m from a Russian banking group via fraudulent trades in emerging markets warrants.

International crime and extradition Tier 3

At 25 Bedford Row, 'hugely talented advocate' Sam Blom-Cooper is instructed by the UN Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT), as co-counsel, to represent Augustin Ngirabatware (the former Minister of Planning in Rwanda) in an appeal concerning the client's convictions for involvement in the 1994 Rwandan genocide; the defendant was originally sentenced to 35 years' imprisonment by the Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 2012, which was reduced in 2014 to 30 years by the MICT Appeals Chamber.

Civil liberties and human rights (including actions against the police) Tier 3

Proceeds of Crime Act and asset forfeiture Tier 3

Professional disciplinary and regulatory law Tier 3

Proceeds of Crime Act and asset forfeiture Tier 3

Professional disciplinary and regulatory law Tier 4

Civil liberties and human rights (including actions against the police) Tier 4

Civil liberties and human rights (including actions against the police) Tier 4

Set overviews: England and Wales

The ‘reliable’ and ‘well-run’ 25 Bedford Row has ‘all the advantages of a bigger, traditional set’ with ‘a good number of robust defence practitioners, well versed in POCA, at all levels of call’ and is an ‘excellent, top-notch choice for white collar work’. ‘The client care and service provided to lay clients and instructing solicitors exceeds expectations.’ Chambers has been strengthened following Nicola Howard and Simon Pentol taking silk in 2019, and Mark Stevens and Lisa Wilson-Taylor, formerly of 2 King's Bench Walk and Furnival Chambers respectively, joining chambers. Director of clerking Guy Williams ‘offers a great service’ and leads the ‘extremely responsive’ clerks’ room which is ‘always on hand to help and are sensible in their choice of counsel’. Deputy director of clerking Emma Makepeace is ‘a standout clerk’ who is ‘personable, honest, gets to know the solicitor and, therefore, has a unique ability to match the solicitor with the appropriate barrister for a particular case’. Senior practice clerk Alfie Lee ‘constantly raises the standard of clerking’; ‘he is contactable 24/7 and nothing is too much trouble. He is able to find sensible representation for a client regardless of the short notice of instructions or the location of court’. Offices in: London