QEB Hollis Whiteman

QEB Hollis Whiteman is regarded both nationally and internationally as a leading set of high-quality Advocates and Advisers in the fields of Corporate and Financial Crime, Serious & General Crime, Private Prosecutions, Regulatory & Professional Discipline and Public Law. Based in the City of London, Chambers boasts a membership of over 70 barristers, many of whom are renowned as Experts in their fields and are regularly instructed in leading Cases.

The set: Chambers is known for its wide-ranging skills and experience and Clients are reassured that it remains the number one choice in its respective fields. With its roots in General Crime, QEB Hollis Whiteman made a strategic decision to actively expand its practice into the areas of Business Crime, Professional Regulatory work and Public Law. In 2010, Chambers moved to its present base in the City from where its Members appear in, and advise on, complex, often high-profile Cases in all its areas of work. The provision of a top-class service to instructing Solicitors and Clients is at the core of its business strategy and is reflected in the approach that is taken to work, across the board. Members and Clerks are flexible and innovative, professional, approachable and highly efficient, ensuring that Chambers continues to develop in a rapidly changing and competitive marketplace.

Excellence is achieved through Chambers’ rigorous recruitment and training regime and its unremitting approach to top-quality advocacy at all levels, offering both breadth and depth of expertise and experience. Taking four Pupils each year, Members of Chambers provide in-depth advocacy training for the Pupils each week during the first six months of pupillage.

Our advocacy, broad yet focused skill set, experience and genuine expertise coupled with our approachability, set us apart. Our Barristers and Clerking team, together, offer a professional and flexible service with a focus on building long-term relationships.

Types of work undertaken
Corporate and financial crime: Chambers brings high levels of expertise and experience of UK and international jurisdictions to its provision of advice and representation in all areas of financial crime and fraud. Members continue to appear in groundbreaking trials including LIBOR and FOREX fixing and money laundering cases, and as a result of experience in both the ‘criminal’ and ’corporate’ fraud worlds members are adept at managing complex investigations and providing specialist advisory services to clients both generally and in connection with specific investigations. They both prosecute and defend for a wide variety of clients including the SFO; FCA; HMRC; CPS and police forces as well as for leading city and international law firms and their clients.

Regulation and professional discipline: Members maintain chambers’ enviable reputation for excellence in regulatory matters. Acting for all major healthcare regulators, the SRA and other professional regulators, chambers has also built a substantial body of experience in defending regulatory cases. The skills and knowledge gained from crime and fraud serve to further enhance the regulatory and disciplinary practice and distinguish QEB Hollis Whiteman from its competitors.

Serious and general crime: Chambers is proud of its long-standing reputation as one of the finest criminal chambers in the country in both general and corporate crime. Strong experience and expertise is offered at all levels. Members continue to prosecute and defend in many of the most significant and high-profile criminal trials both in London and in other courts across the country.

Private prosecutions: Chambers has a team of members that have applied their prosecution skills and experience to provide corporate clients with an effective method of protecting their intellectual property, and have built a substantial portfolio of ‘household name’ clients in the media, sporting and entertainment industries. Members also prosecute privately (and defend) in the wider sphere: in 2014 members of chambers prosecuted what is believed to be the biggest ever ($19.5m) criminal fraud case brought by a private individual in the UK.

Public law: Members undertake a substantial amount of public law work, appearing in public inquiries (including the IICSA, Pitchford and Jersey Care Inquiries); inquests (eg Afghanistan ‘friendly fire’ incident and Lynx helicopter crash) as well as business-related human rights work.

Members also practice in health and safety (eg M5 fireworks case and inquest); consumer law and trading standards.