Adam is frequently instructed to defend in cases involving allegations of serious sexual offending involving both adults and children. He has a wealth of experience in offences of rape, sexual assault, inciting children to engage in sexual activity, grooming, brothel-keeping, possession and distribution of indecent images, gross indecency and many other like offences.

Adam has conducted multiple ground rules hearings (GRHs), s.41 applications involving cross-examination on a complainant’s sexual history; bad character applications, video-link cross-examinations and successfully argued ‘abuse of process’ applications.

He is experienced at handling vulnerable witnesses and trains other advocates in how to perform such sensitive cross-examination successfully (Rook Working Group).

• R v JC (2017) Privately instructed to represent a professional man accused of serious sexual offending with his own daughter.
• R v AB (2016) Adam was lead Counsel for the defendant (a Maoist cult leader) who was accused of a campaign of rape, slavery, violence, torture, false imprisonment and child cruelty. The allegations spanned 30 years and covered 13 separate crime scenes; involved multiple complainants (including the defendant’s own daughter) and tens of thousands of pages of material. The case was said to be the most complicated case of its type ever to come before the UK Courts and attracted worldwide press interest with reporting in every continent on the globe.
• R v LB (2015) Privately instructed to defend a defendant indicted with multiple counts of serious sexual abuse against his step-daughter; abuse that allegedly lasted for a decade when the complainant was aged between 5-15.
• R v VH (2015) Privately instructed to represent a priest accused of serious sexual offending during his time in the clergy. The case involved multiple complainants.
• R v AD (2015) The defendant was accused of an historical rape, the evidence of which emerged during the currency of a separate rape trial. This is an example of a case where the case was stopped after Adam successfully argued that to continue was an ‘abuse of process’.

Adam specialises in privately instructed cases involving allegations of violence and is exceptionally experienced (and successful) in defending these cases.

• R v DD (2017) The defendant was alleged to have concealed the body of a murder victim in his garden. Initially arrested for conspiracy to murder; tried for concealment of the body and ultimately acquitted.
• R v SP (2016) The defendant was alleged to be a serial killer. The prosecution case was that the defendant drugged and then killed four young men in Barking. The case received national publicity and was subsequently broadcast as a BBC television documentary.
• R v AJ (2016) The defendant was a professional man of good character accused of racially aggravated violence and threats to rape. He was the head of global trading at a bank and any conviction would have cost him millions of pounds in lost stock-options and would have affected his FCA status. The defendant was acquitted of all charges after trial.
• R v DW (2015) The defendant was the president of a well-known motorcycle club and was accused of conspiracy to murder, attempted murder and s18 GBH in a case of gangland violence. The defendant was acquitted after trial.
• R v MB (2015) The defendant was accused of conspiracy to murder. The victim was shot with a sawn-off shotgun, at point-blank range, in a planned assassination. Channel 4 made a documentary of the case. The defendant was acquitted after trial.

For the past 20 years or so, Adam has defended in a number of high profile cases involving drugs supply networks, gun running, people smuggling and other forms of organised crime.

• R v SK (2017) International gun-smuggling plot involving multiple defendants and an executed plan to import guns (including machine guns) into the country and then distribute to criminal networks across the north of England.
• R v VA (2015) The defendant was the head of an organised criminal network accused of importing cocaine into the UK in a highly sophisticated operation. The method of entry involving infiltrating, and then exploiting, secure aviation protocols. Value of drugs imported was estimated to be many millions of pounds.
• R v AK (2015) The case involved the unlawful laundering of £380m of Chinese currency; money alleged to have derived from multiple forms of specified organised crime.
• R v IT (2014) The defendant was a Hungarian national accused of multiple conspiracies to control prostitution and traffic women into the UK for sexual exploitation. There were over 60 complainants. It was alleged that the defendant controlled the whole organised criminal network.
• R v AK (2014) Represented the main defendant charged with multiple conspiracies to commit armed robberies, kidnaps, and hostage-taking (Operation Sewell).

Adam has extensive experience in defending all types of fraud and ancillary offences. From large-scale identity fraud; mortgage fraud; company fraud, bank fraud and market abuse through to fraud involving a single defendant and a single transaction, Adam is able to assimilate, marshal and distil the information into a workable and comprehensible format. Adam defended in the News International phone hacking case and is comfortable dealing with exceptionally voluminous cases.

• R v GH (2016) International conspiracy to steal and launder money from bank accounts using counterfeit documents, multiple companies and bank employees.
• R v KC (2015) The case involved a £20m fraud on the shareholders of a business and the subsequent attempts to conceal and/or burn the associated paperwork. Acquitted after trial.
• R v AK (2015) The case involved the unlawful laundering of £380m of Chinese currency.
• R v VA (2015) The prosecution under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 for the defendant to have to pay over £1m. Adam successfully reduced this amount to < 1/10th.

Adam specialises in the privately instructed defence of all road traffic matters. Any case that involves a fatality requires an extra sensitivity and delicate case management for which Adam is consistently praised.

• R v RH (2018) Fatal road traffic collision. The defendant was acquitted after trial.
• R v IT (2018) Fatal road traffic collision. The defendant was acquitted after trial.
• R v AS (2018) Fatal road traffic collision. The defendant was acquitted after trial.
• R v TA (2018) Fatal road traffic collision. The defendant was acquitted after trial.
• R v KF (2017) Fatal road traffic collision. The defendant was acquitted after trial.
• R v JW (2016) Fatal road traffic collision. The defendant was a professional man of good character accused of causing death by careless driving. Acquitted after trial.
• R v PN (2016) Fatal road traffic collision. The defendant was acquitted after trial.
• R v NK (2016) The defendant was involved in an accident that left the complainant with serious, life-altering injuries. Adam was instructed to conduct the appeal after the defendant had already been convicted. Adam successfully conducted the appeal and secured an acquitted on all charges.