Although Sailesh specialises in regulatory law, his recent high-profile cases include: terrorism (British soldier charged with disseminating State secrets to enemies); murder (county lines drugs feud); people-trafficking (part of a drugs conspiracy); stalking (involving a well-known political figure); malicious communications (a senior navy officer who allegedly made a bomb hoax call to a nuclear submarine site).

Sailesh Mehta has prosecuted for, and advised fire services for 25 years. He also represents and advises corporations and their directors. The cases below are examples of some of the wide ranging work in which he has been instructed:

• Triple-fatality in a hospice: this was a high-profile and hard-fought case in which the defence challenged almost every important part of the Prosecution case. The Court of Appeal rejected the hospice’s case. It required sensitive handling and robust management.
• Fatality after fire in attic in “outhouse” of the defendant’s home: this was a “cutting edge” case in that it was arguable that no offence contrary to the Fire Safety Order had been committed as the fire was in a converted shed in the garden of the defendant’s family home.
• Double fatality after fire in hotel in which the Prosecution had lost vital exhibits including a fire alarm that had failed to alert residents
• Inadequate fire risk assessment by company specialising in risk assessments – this is currently in the Crown Court and is seen within the industry to be of great importance
• Prosecution of night-club, an entertainment company and the manager, which packed in students during a live performance to twice the capacity
• Prosecution of a major landlord of HMOs whose premises were uniformly unsafe – fire on two properties
• Advice on a test purchase exercise as part of a national campaign to stop sale of petrol to children

He is often invited to lecture lawyers who specialise in fire law and has been the main speaker at their annual events:

• A series of Webinars on aspects of fire law exclusively for fire service personnel. The first of this series was attended by over 500 fire service officers. The aim is to help achieve a uniformity of knowledge and practice and to ensure offences are fully investigated and prosecuted;
• Speaker at the 100th Annual Conference of the IFE. Addressed the subject of expert evidence in fire cases, including pitfalls for the expert;
• Numerous articles on aspects of fire law and regulatory law in the legal press: Sailesh has written a series of articles on expert evidence for fire officers.

Sailesh has been a regular commentator in the media about aspect of the Grenfell Inquiry – he has recently appeared in the BBC podcasts on Grenfell, and was in a Channel 4 Grenfell Anniversary documentary.

Lauren understands Fire Law is not simply “Health and Safety Law”; she is familiar with the complexities of the Order and advises in relation to the Responsible Person under Article 3, as well as those who may be liable as Fire Safety Professionals, such as Fire Risk Assessors, under Article 5. Lauren has worked closely with fire experts at both the investigation and court stage of proceedings.

Lauren is a key member of the Fire Law Team at Red Lion Chambers delivering Webinars as part of the RLC Webinar series. Lauren is also specially qualified to represent those facing interviews and provides discrete representation to companies and individuals as required.

He has appeared in cases involving fatal accidents and fire safety offences involving high-rise residential premises, hotels, other commercial premises, and cases giving rise to complex legal issues such as the identification of the ‘responsible person’.