Patricia is an experienced disclosure counsel and has acted in a number of high-profile, long-running frauds instructed by the SFO, ORR and the police. She has also acted as LPP counsel for the SFO. She is particularly well-suited to complex and/or intricate, document heavy work. Patricia is accustomed to working effectively as part of a large team. Recent instructions include:

• R v W and Others (2016) Disclosure counsel instructed by the Office of Rail and Road in relation to a prosecution brought under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 arising from a death at work.
• R v A and Others (2016) SFO Disclosure counsel in a high-profile 6-handed £5m conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation in the provision of football training schemes.
• R v M and Others (Operation Hornet) (Feb 2015 – July 2016) Disclosure counsel instructed by Thames Valley Police in widely publicised 10-handed £250m fraudulent trading and corruption case involving employees of HBOS and members of the business community.
• R v G and L (2015) Represented one of two defendants (first on indictment) charged with numerous offences under the Consumer (Protection from Unfair Trading) Regulations 2008.

• R v B (2013 – 2018) Led junior in complex case of multiple murder, preparing submissions for the Criminal Cases Review Commission;
• R v O (2015) Appeal against sentence in case involving threats to kill (reported at [2015] EWCA Crim 2030);
• R v LMB (2015) Appeal against conviction in a case of domestic violence.

• (2014): Seconded to Kingsley Napley’s Regulatory Department preparing cases for the Health and Care Professions Council.

Jan 2017- Present

Patricia is a member of the core counsel team instructed by the Metropolitan Police responding to the Undercover Policing Inquiry. She was part of the counsel team involved in the anonymity exercise seeking Restriction Orders over the identities of former members of the Special Demonstration Squad. She is presently tasked to the team preparing for the first tranche of evidential hearings, which will deal with undercover work carried on between 1968 and 1982.

August 2019 – March 2020

Patricia was instructed as a member of the counsel team to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.

Patricia takes a particular interest in crime-related public law, especially where human rights issues are involved. She has written on the rights of women prisoners, and on Article 5 ECHR in the context of parole proceedings. In 2015, Patricia was involved in a case concerning the rights of minors being held on remand in prisons for convicted adult offenders in Trinidad and Tobago. She has also acted for the GLD in immigration cases raising issues under Article 6 and 8 ECHR.

Sample cases include:

• SS and BS v Att-Gen of Trinidad and Tobago and Others (2015) Instructed in case involving the detention of minors in adult prisons, raising issues under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
• R (I) v SSHD (2015) Instructed by the GLD in case involving application for settlement as Tier 1 General Migrant, raising issues under Art 8 ECHR;
• R (O) v SSHD (2015) Instructed by the GLD in case involving application for Indefinite Leave to Remain raising issues under Art 8 ECHR;
• R (H) v SSHD (2015) Instructed by GLD in case involving refusal to grant EEA residence card on the grounds of subsisting relationship.

Patricia’s practice has a significant human rights element, and she has regularly dealt with issues raised under Articles 3, 6 and 8 in the context of her public law, extradition and inquiry work. Patricia has also published in the field of European and International human rights law for a number of years. She has a particular interest in gender-based violence and has written a number of articles on the development of positive duties on states to protect victims of domestic and sexual abuse. In 2011, she delivered at a Strasbourg conference her paper on A, B and C v Ireland and abortion rights, which was later published. In 2006, her doctoral thesis was awarded the Oxford University Bapsybanoo Marchioness of Winchester prize for the most outstanding thesis in the area of International Relations with particular reference to human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Sample cases include:

• Latvia v R (2018) Acting for Judicial Authority in extradition case involving allegations of fraud, raising issues in relation to passage of time, fugitive status and Article 8 ECHR (see also ‘Extradition’ above).
• Undercover Policing Inquiry (2017-2018) – Instructed by the Metropolitan Police as part of the counsel team dealing with applications for anonymity for former members of the Special Demonstration Squad, and addressing issues raised under Article 2, 3 and 8 ECHR (see also ‘Inquiries’ above).
• SS and BS v Att-Gen of Trinidad and Tobago and Others (2015) – Instructed in case involving the detention of minors in adult prisons, raising issues under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Books

Arlidge, Eady and Smith on Contempt (Sweet and Maxwell, 5th edn, 2017) Editor-in-Chief.

Chapters in Edited Books

Redrafting abortion rights under the ECHR: A, B and C v. Ireland in E Brems (ed) Diversity and European Human Rights: Rewriting Judgments of the ECHR (Cambridge University Press, 2013).

Defining Rape under the European Convention on Human Rights: Torture, Consent and Equality in C McGlynn and V Munro (eds) Rethinking Rape Law: National, International and European Perspectives (Routledge 2010).

Articles

Sir Cliff v BBC: A new era for police investigations? UK Human Rights Blog, 19 July 2018 [Press Report [BBC]] and The Law Society Gazette 23/07/2018 [Press Report [Law Gazette]].

Should sex offence suspects be granted anonymity? New Law Journal (8th September 2017) 13-14.

Human Rights, Positive Obligations and Domestic Violence: Kalucza v Hungary in the European Court of Human Rights (2012) 1 (2) International Human Rights Law Review 339-348.

Developing Human Rights Principles in Cases of Gender-based Violence: Opus v Turkey in the European Court of Human Rights (2009) 9 Human Rights Law Review 657-667.

The Executive, the Parole Board and Article 5 ECHR: Progress within an “Unhappy State of Affairs”? (2008) 67 Cambridge Law Journal 230-233.

Applying Convention Jurisprudence to the Needs of Women Prisoners (2007) Public Law 198–208.

Positive Obligations, Criminal Procedure and Rape Cases [2007] 2 European Human Rights Law Review 158-171.

Patricia taught and lectured extensively in the fields of private law, criminal law and human rights for some years. She has also been invited to address conferences in the field of gender-based violence (see ‘Human Rights’ above). Specifically, she has taught and lectured in the following areas:

• International (including the work of the IACHR and ACHPR) and European Human Rights Law;
• Minority Rights in International Law;
• Criminal Law;
• Public Law;
• Criminal Evidence;
• Criminal Justice and Penology;
• Contract Law;
• Trusts

Whilst in academia, Patricia developed and honed the skill of breaking down complex ideas into simple formulations, a skill she continues to employ to great effect in her practice.