Caroline McGurk > Park Square Barristers > Middlesbrough, England > Barrister Profile

Caroline McGurk

Work Department

Crime

Position

Caroline brings to the Bar 18 years’ prosecutorial experience that encompasses the life of a criminal case; from advising the police at the pre-charge stage to prosecuting effective jury trials.  She has prosecuted the full range of criminal offences from speeding to murder, attempted murder, manslaughter and rape.

Caroline qualified as a solicitor in 2003, following the completion of a training contract with the Magistrates’ Courts Service.  She joined the Crown Prosecution Service later that year and spent the first eight years of her prosecutorial career in magistrates’ courts units as a full-time advocate and reviewing lawyer before joining the Crown Court Unit as a Crown Advocate in 2012.  She spent one year as a full time Crown Advocate, prosecuting cases at grade two, before the Unit was re-structured.  She spent the next two years dealing with volume Crown Court case preparation.

In 2015, she reverted to the role of Senior Crown Prosecutor during another re-structure and joined the Allocated Trials Unit.  It was at this point that she began dealing with major investigations, such as murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, drugs related operations and high value frauds.  Caroline’s tenure in the Allocated Trials Unit was dominated by two particular cases in which murder and manslaughter were alleged.  Her handling of those cases, which proceeded to trial despite disclosure issues, led her to her appointment as the Disclosure Lead for the Unit.

She then joined the Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Unit in 2018, where she dealt with numerous rape allegations, including non-recent matters.  Caroline left the Crown Prosecution Service in 2021, at which point she was seconded to an Allocated Trials Unit in the east of England, where she had conduct of of over 130 Crown Court cases.

Career

Year of call:

2021 (Solicitor 2003)

2001-2003 – Trainee Court Clerk, Magistrates’ Court Service

2003 – Court Clerk, Magistrates’ Court Service

2003-2005 – Crown Prosecutor, Crown Prosecution Service

2005-2012 – Senior Crown Prosecutor, Crown Prosecution Service

2008 – Higher Court Advocate

2012-2015 – Crown Advocate, Crown Prosecution Service

2015-2021 – Senior Crown Prosecutor, Crown Prosecution Service

2021 – Called to the Bar by the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple

2021 – Tenant at Park Square Barristers

Education

1996-1999 – University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, LLB(Hons)Law

1999-2000 – College of Law, York, Legal Practice Course