Benjamin Whittingham > New Park Court Chambers > Leeds, England > Barrister Profile

Benjamin Whittingham

Work Department

Crime, Civil, Family

Position

Benjamin Whittingham accepts instructions across all aspects of common law.

Ben completed pupillage under the supervision of Adam Birkby in September 2020.

Before joining chambers, Ben read modern languages at the University of Edinburgh. He converted to law with a GDL, achieving a distinction and several prizes for exam performance in tort, land law, and EU law.

Ben is also a qualified mediator with success in both national and international student mediation and negotiation competitions.

Crime

He undertakes prosecution and defence work in both the Magistrates’ and the Crown Court. His more notable recent cases have involved serious offences, including death by careless driving which involved a successful defence of automatism, rape and sexual assault, industrial scale cannabis cultivation and supply, and assisting an offender after a drive-by shooting.​

​He recently enjoyed success in the Court of Appeal, achieving a one-third reduction in the custodial term.

​He also acts in private prosecutions covering environmental offences or offences of animal cruelty.

Regulatory

Ben completed a programme of weekly advisory work for the Care Quality Commission which considered the merits of potential reasonable excuse defences for breach of s33 Health and Social Care Act 2008. The thoroughness of his preparation was praised by his instructing solicitor at the CQC, who also commended his clear, consistently sound advice.

Ben has an established practice in professional disciplinary work. He regularly drafts statements of case, advises on case preparation, and presents for Social Work England in both interim and substantive hearings. His work has involved such issues as the admission of evidence given out of the jurisdiction, adverse inferences, hearsay and bad character.

Tribunals have commended his focused and fair submissions.

He is especially keen to develop his practice in this area, making full use of the skills he has developed in criminal work from the lower courts to the Court of Appeal.

Family

Ben’s family practice is growing. He adopts the same forensic approach to case preparation as he does in his criminal practice.

He conducts all manner of private family work, including in child arrangement applications and applications for injunctive relief. Instructing solicitors note the trust he inspires in those he represents. He particularly welcomes early involvement in cases and is more than happy to advise on case preparation in advance of final hearings. He is committed to effective and timely communication with lay and professional clients.

He has also accepted instructions in matrimonial finance work.

Civil

Ben’s practice is a mixture of purely advisory and court-based work. He accepts instructions from insurers in RTAs.

He has advised about liability under the OLA regimes in respect of users of private access roads, liability for public authorities from third party use of land, and contractual disputes.

He has also been instructed to advise a local authority about excessive user, injunctive relief and private rights of way generally.

Memberships

CPS Level 2 Prosecutor