Tim is listed as a Leading Silk in five practice areas by Chambers & Partners (2010): administrative and public law; crime; civil liberties; fraud (criminal) and police law. His practice embraces pre-litigation advice, trial and appellate work and he is valued as an advocate with specialist knowledge of the civil, regulatory and criminal law aspects of complex investigations who can provide strategic advice from the earliest stage through to trial and, if necessary, to appeal. He is currently instructed in two major FSA investigations involving allegations of market abuse and insider dealing.
He has appeared in more than 35 appeals to the House of Lords/Supreme Court (6 in the past year) as well as in numerous appeals to the Court of Appeal in both public and criminal law cases, particularly those which raise novel and important human rights issues. He also has extensive experience in miscarriage of justice appeals arising from references by the Criminal Cases Review Commission. He is valued for his team working ability, his approachability, his ability to absorb a mass of complex information, his skills in cross examination and his ability to present difficult arguments to jurors and Judges alike in plain, clear language. He has extensive experience of cases involving an international, cross border dimension and has appeared in the courts of Hong Kong and the Cayman Islands in both civil and criminal cases. He is an Advisory Editor of Blackstone's Criminal Practice 2010 (OUP, 2010) and the editor/author of numerous publications including Asset Recovery: Criminal Confiscation and Civil Recovery (OUP, 2009), Prison Law, 4th edition (OUP, 2008) and Blackstone's Guide to the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (OUP, 2005).
Recent cases include A,K,M v. HM Treasury, the first appeal to be heard before the Supreme Court in October 2009 and which concerned the legality of enacting anti-terrorist asset freezing regimes by Order in Council pursuant to the UN Act 1946; R (Thompson and anr) v. Home Secretary, in which the Supreme Court held that the requirement of lifelong registration on the Sex Offender’s Registry was unlawful; AF, AN and AE v. Home Secretary, in which the House of Lords quashed terrorist control orders on the basis that they were incompatible with the requirement of fair disclosure under article 6 ECHR; R v. Horncastle and Blackmore in which the House of Lords considered the compatibility of the hearsay provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 with Article 6 in the context of sole/decisive evidence; R (Lee and Wells) v. Secretary of State for Justice, in which the House of Lords considered whether prisoners serving an indeterminate sentence for public protection were being unlawfully detained as a result of the systemic failure to provide them with offending behaviour courses. His specialist practice in confiscation/money laundering law has seen him appear in three major cases before the House of Lords and Court of Appeal in the past year (R v. Briggs-Price, R v. Paulet and R v. Casal/Symeou) and he recently acted for one of three defendants charged with laundering the proceeds of massive fraud/corruption allegedly committed by former Governor of Delta State, Nigeria, James Ibori.