Hugh Davies OBE KC KC > Chambers of James Lewis KC & Hugo Keith KC > London, England > Barrister Profile
Three Raymond Buildings Offices
Three Raymond Buildings
3 RAYMOND BUILDINGS, GRAY'S INN
LONDON
WC1R 5BH
England
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Hugh Davies OBE KC KC
Position
Hugh Davies KC has achieved national recognition in the practice areas of crime; professional discipline; inquests and public inquiries; and police related misconduct and regulatory proceedings.
In recent history he has led major reviews into institutional safeguarding failures, and is engaged in related multi-agency national initiatives including into the regulation of international aid workers.
SFO cases include the defence of the most senior US-based Barclays trader accused of manipulating the $Libor rate.
He has extensive experience of prosecuting and defending serious crime of all types, including leading multi-handed prosecutions involving serious organised crime investigated by national policing agencies. He has been at the forefront of criminal proceedings involving cybercrime. He regularly prosecutes homicide offences at the Central Criminal Court.
In relation to professional misconduct, the nature and extent of his work as to the actions and accountability of police forces and police officers, including defending charges of manslaughter, corruption, attempts to pervert the course of justice, and misconduct in public office, is reflected in the comments made by national directories. He has extensive experience advising and representing police officers at public inquiries; inquests; during IPCC investigations; internal disciplinary proceedings; and associated judicial review proceedings, and is co-author of the leading OUP practitioner textbook Police Misconduct, Complaints, and Public Regulation.
Other professional misconduct work includes proceedings against medical practitioners arising from alleged clinical negligence. This reflects extensive experience of mastering subject matter relating to pathology, clinical norms and causation from the criminal and coronial jurisdictions.
He was instructed as Counsel to the Inquest into the death of Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian former KGB officer allegedly poisoned by polonium 210 in London in 2006.
In 2011 he was awarded an OBE for services to children and young people reflecting his role as voluntary legal adviser to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). In 2013 he was lead author of an ACPO commissioned multi-specialist report that resulted in the Government enacting legislative reform of the sexual civil prevention order regime in the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014.
He advises institutions as to safeguarding responsibilities and performance and has led major independent reviews into practices within individual organisations and following specific incidents (for example, into the conduct of William Vahey at Southbank International School, and the governance and management of RNIB following statutory intervention at RNIB Pears Centre in 2018). He is a member of Government-led multi-agency national groups directed at regulation of institutional safeguarding in the UK, and (separately) the development of an international aid worker registration/passport scheme following the London 2018 international conference.
Career
Called 1990, Lincoln’s Inn. Silk 2013. CBA working party into the role of Treasury Counsel (2001); CBA working party re Home Office consultation ‘Modernising police powers to meet community needs’ (2004); legal advisor to the Children’s Charities Coalition for Internet Safety (CHIS) (2005-). Chair of ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) inter-agency legal advisory panel on internet and international crimes against children (2008-); member of the ACPO Combating Child Abuse on the Internet (CCAI) committee and travelling sex offenders working group (2007-); head of the Bar Human Rights Committee Child Rights Unit (2009-). In 2012, Hugh Davies was awarded an OBE for services to children and young people, in his capacity as adviser to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP).
Memberships
Criminal Bar Association; Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers.
Education
Reading School; Pembroke College, Oxford (1988 BA Hons Jurisprudence; Domus Scholar).
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Inquests and inquiries
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Hugh Davies OBE KC – Three Raymond Buildings ‘A devilishly good cross-examiner and a true fighter who puts fear into his opponents.’
‘Jam packed with talented, caring barristers‘, Three Raymond Buildings is ‘a truly first class set’ with a wide range of inquests and inquiry experience. Hugo Keith KC continues to act as lead counsel to the Covid-19 inquiry, with 2024 Silk Saba Naqshbandi KC acting for the largest warranty provider and building control inspector nationally, NHBC, in the Grenfell Tower inquiry. Patrick Gibbs KC is a go-to for inquests involving the actions and omissions of state agents, exemplified by his work as leading advocate for the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation in the inquest into the death of Alexander Litvinenko. Hugh Davies OBE KC specialises in representing members of the police family, including representing a police firearms officer in the inquest into the death of Sean Fitzgerald during a pre-planned operation. Sarah Le Fevre is instructed to represent the National Police Chiefs Council in the Covid-19 inquiry, while Bo-Eun Jung was instructed for the inquiry in modules 1 and 2 of the same.
London Bar > Police law (forces and constables)
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 2Hugh Davies OBE KC –Three Raymond Building ‘One of the top police law silks.’
Three Raymond Buildings has ‘incredible strength in the area of police law’, with members well versed in a broad range of matters from major inquests and public inquiries, to advising and representing forces and chief constables on significant policing failures. Hugh Davies OBE KC was instructed to intervene on behalf of the Police Federation of England and Wales in Watson v PSNI, with the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland ruling that PSNI officers cannot be disciplined over alleged misbehaviour prior to joining the force. Alisdair Williamson KC represented a police officer in the high-profile gross misconduct hearing arising from the stopping of athletes Bianca Williams and Ricardo dos Santos in their car.
London Bar > Crime
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 4Hugh Davies KC – Three Raymond Buildings ‘Hugh is an industrious and talented prosecutor of murder cases.’
Three Raymond Buildings, with ‘excellent strength in depth‘, is regarded by many as ‘one of the finest sets in the country’ for general crime work. Patrick Gibbs KC routinely handles high-profile cases – he defended actor Kevin Spacey, who was acquitted on charges of historic sexual offences against four men during a period spanning from 2001 to 2013. He is also leading Patrick Hill in the defence of a firearms officer charged with the murder of Chris Kaba, a drill musician who had previously served a sentence in a young offenders institution for firearms offences, during a police pursuit. Hugh Davies KC regularly prosecutes in homicide trials at the Old Bailey – he led in the re-trial of a former primary school teacher who ultimately admitted to stabbing her husband to death and burying his body in the garden of their Northampton home. In the clerks’ room, Emma Makepeace joined the set from 25 Bedford Row.