Richard Smith KC > Chambers of Anna Vigars KC > Bristol, England > Barrister Profile
Guildhall Chambers Offices
Guildhall Chambers
23 BROAD STREET
BRISTOL
BS1 2HG
England
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Richard Smith KC
Work Department
Crime; sports law.
Position
Richard is a criminal and sports law barrister, with over 30 years’ experience at the Bar and some 20 years described as a “Leading Silk”. He has been described in the independent Chambers UK Guide as a barrister who “achieves incredible results from seemingly impossible situations” and as being “refreshingly unstuffy, proactive and a high-quality lawyer.” “An outstanding criminal barrister who is held in the highest regards by peers and clients alike”. Those who have instructed Richard note that “his client care and courtroom skills are exemplary; he prepares very thoroughly and is very responsive.”
Career
Called 1986;
Memberships
CBA.
Middle Temple; recorder 2000; QC 2001; appointed to panel of chairman of the Sports Dispute Resolution Panel; appointed as Appeal Board Chairman and Specialist Member of the FA Judicial Panel.
Education
King’s College, London (1985 LLB).
Lawyer Rankings
Regional Bar > Western Circuit > Sport
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Richard Smith KC – Guildhall Chambers ‘Richard’s vast experience and deep knowledge of sports, especially rugby, combined with his fine judgement makes him a leading sports law silk in England and Wales.’
With ‘an unrivalled spread of sports work‘ Guildhall Chambers is a leading set both on the Western Circuit and nationally. Christopher Quinlan KC chaired the FA disciplinary tribunal after Cristiano Ronaldo knocked a mobile phone from the hands of a teenage spectator, as well as continuing to oversee the British Gymnastics independent complaints process, concerning allegations by a number of gymnasts of mistreatment, sexual abuse, physical abuse, bullying, harassment, and discrimination. Richard Smith KC and Samuel Jones are both notable for their rugby work, Jones having represented a number of Bath Rugby and Bristol Bears players.
Regional Bar > Western Circuit > Crime (general and fraud)
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Richard Smith KC – Guildhall Chambers ‘Richard is a master of court craft. He is naturally and understatedly commanding and authoritative. He is a master of making the most difficult ideas sound straightforward and is strategically faultless.’
Guildhall Chambers ‘has an unrivalled team of excellent criminal barristers‘. Richard Smith KC, ‘a formidable trial advocate‘, is well-known for handling murder cases and recently prosecuted a man who was convicted of murdering his ex-partner in the 1990s by setting her on fire; she died of her injuries more than two decades later, after the defendant had already served fifteen years of a life sentence for GBH. With a ‘beautiful advocacy style‘ Andrew Langdon KC regularly defends and prosecutes in homicide and gang-related cases, among others. Christopher Quinlan KC, ‘with impeccable judgement and a formidable grasp of the law‘ and Anna Vigars KC, whose ‘courtroom work is carried out with great skill and precision‘, also both have broad experience in serious crimes cases, as well as in cases with several complicating factors, both evidential and medical. Ray Tully KC ‘understands every nuance of a case‘ and recently acted for the defence in the case of a man who killed a stranger with a claw-hammer at a bus stop in Plymouth. Chloe Griggs, ‘a star in the making‘, was recently involved in a murder trial involving a defence of diminished responsibility founded on evidence of long-term coercive control and domestic abuse.