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Extradition

Ben Cooper KC

Ben Cooper KC

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Doughty Street Chambers

‘The go-to set for this area’, Doughty Street Chambers has a track record of success in the most prominent extradition cases, with members integrating experience in domestic and international human rights law to lead on the most challenging and novel proceedings on the side of defendants. Edward Fitzgerald KC remains a leading figure on the extradition Bar, and in 2024 achieved major success acting for Julian Assange in obtaining permission from the High Court to appeal his extradition order, which eventually resulted in a plea deal and Assange’s return to Australia without serving a custodial sentence in the US. A silk ’steeped in experience in extradition law’, Ben Cooper KC achieved success in the Supreme Court in Merticariu vs Romania, a test case on the right to retrial under the Extradition Act 2003, where he led junior counsel Mary Westcott and the ‘incisive, brave and dedicated’ Malcolm Hawkes. Peter Caldwell KC took silk in 2o25, and his recent work includes obtaining bail for a person who faced charges of running a drug trafficking operation in India.
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Profile
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Profile

Position

Ben defends some of the most complex and difficult extradition and criminal cases at all levels resulting in numerous successes on human rights and humanitarian grounds.

Career

Ben acted for Gary McKinnon since his arrest in 2005 on a US extradition warrant all the way up to the House of Lords and European Court and for subsequent judicial reviews against the Secretary of State and DPP, finally securing his discharge on Article 3 grounds. He acts for Liberty defending a victim of serious domestic violence who is wanted in the US in relation to allegations of international child abduction. He represented Babar Ahmad and others accused of terrorism by the USA facing indefinite solitary confinement within federal Supermax prisons, ETA suspects, IRA suspects and terrorist allegations on the African continent.

Ben advises Governments on how to secure extradition agreements and local authorities on how to secure the return of fugitives. He defeated a German extradition request for IRA allegations before the High Court in Belfast. A number of his clients have obtained relief from the European Court preventing removal to the US on both Article 3 and Article 8 grounds.

Ben has successfully campaigned and lobbied Parliament for the introduction of the forum bar to extradition. He also received a landmark judgement from the Lord Chief Justice on the first extradition case to win on the new forum bar in the matter of Lauri Love (more information can be found here). He successfully defended Richard O’Dwyer against the US Government’s request for his extradition for Copyright offences securing the first Deferred Prosecution Agreement to be used in the extradition context which resulted in his successful High Court appeal and subsequent withdrawal of all criminal charges against him in the US.

Ben has defended a number of large scale Cybercrime hacking cases before the English Crown Courts including Ryan Cleary the lead defendant in the prosecutions of LulzSec/Anonymous.

Year of call: 1999

In November 2012, Ben was honoured by Liberty as Human Rights Lawyer of the Year. Ben has been highly recommended for many years in Chambers and Partners where he is top ranked as an extradition specialist and in The Legal 500 where he has been ranked top tier for his criminal law expertise.

Ben has successfully defended extradition cases taken on by Fair Trials International and is also a member of Fair Trials International’s Legal Experts Advisory Panel, a formal network of defence lawyers, criminal justice NGOs and academics from across Europe which highlights priorities for reform in order to assure fair trial rights across the EU.

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Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • 'Clerks are always very helpful.'
  • 'The chambers contains a number of skilled advocates which means good back up is always available. It is a well clerked and extremely efficiently run, busy set of chambers.'
  • 'Well renowned extradition set with counsel available across the whole spectrum. They will nearly always have someone to cater for an individual client’s needs'
  • 'Exceptional set, especially for extradition. Committed and passionate barristers, leading in this field.'
  • 'The go to set for this area, place human rights at the forefront of their ethos.'