Hugh Davies OBE 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
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 > Police law (forces and constables)
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 2Hugh Davies OBE KC –Three Raymond Building ‘Hugh is a remarkable court presence. His advocacy and cross-examination skills demand full attention.’
Three Raymond Buildings, an ‘impressive set with a number of outstanding barristers and quality at every level,‘ has particular strength in the representation of police officers, with a long-standing relationship with the Police Federation and its preferred firms of solicitors. Hugh Davies OBE KC represented two central command officers, separately from Greater Manchester Police, in the Manchester Arena bombing inquiry. Turning to the set’s juniors, Kevin Baumber represented a Met officer who kept her place in the force after she, having been refused permission to do so by the force, appeared on the Nigerian version of Big Brother.
London Bar > Inquests and inquiries
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Three Raymond Buildings is ‘a great set with a number of hugely impressive KCs and juniors‘ with key strengths in coronial law, with many members of the set regularly appearing in cases for police forces and officers. Hugh Davies OBE KC draws on his expertise in police law to represent police authorities and officers in inquests; his recent caseload includes acting as lead counsel to West Yorkshire Police Inquest relating to the death of a suspected leader of an organized crime group who was found to have been lawfully killed by armed officers. In other major matters, Hugo Keith KC continues to act as lead counsel to the Covid-19 Public Inquiry. Within the junior pool, Kevin Baumber has an extensive practice in Article 2 inquests, and Ailsa Williamson is representing the officers who detained a man who died following cocaine use and police restraint in the inquest into his death.
London Bar > Crime
Three Raymond Buildings is widely regarded as ‘one of the top criminal sets known for the consistent quality within its ranks‘. The set is known for both prosecution and defence work, and in particular is known for acting for police officers facing criminal charges. Hugh Davies OBE KC prosecuted a former Nigerian senator of human trafficking offences after sending a young man from Lagos to London as a kidney donor for his daughter. Patrick Gibbs KC represented actor Kevin Spacey, who was acquitted on nine charges of sexual offences; he and Bo-Eun Jung represented a woman who was accused of murdering her ten-week-old baby; the defendant was acquitted of murder, and received a suspended sentence for infanticide.