Danielle Manson

Contact Danielle: daniellemanson@matrixlaw.co.uk | +44 (0)20 7404 3447

Contact Danielle's Practice Team (Team T): TeamT@matrixlaw.co.uk

Danielle joined Matrix in January 2024.

She practises primarily in serious crime, protest law, and inquests and inquiries. She has particular expertise in representing children and young people and is renowned for her empathy, sensitivity and understanding as well as being technically and strategically astute.

Criminal Defence

Danielle has a wealth of experience across the general crime spectrum. She has appeared as a led junior and as a single advocate in cases of murder, attempted murder, rape, serious violence, fraud, the sale and supply of drugs and firearms offences, as well as appearing in both the High Court and Court of Appeal.

• R v TP (2025): Defence Counsel for 17-year old charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice in relation to a murder investigation (ongoing)
• R v JT (2024): Defence Counsel in conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to endanger life case, where the target is said to have been British rapper Digga D (ongoing)
• R v OCC (2024): Defence Counsel for 19-year-old charged with murdering a passenger on a bus on Oxford Street (ongoing)
• R v AP (2024): Defence Counsel for 18-year-old charged with attempted murder after disembowelling another teenager during a knife fight (ongoing)
• R v AG (2023): Defence Counsel for a Palestine Action activist charged with possessing items intending to cause criminal damage in relation to a planned protest at a factory that produces component parts for drones used by the Israeli army
• R v DSP (2023): Defence Counsel for 19-year-old charged alongside 12 others with the murder of an Albanian national who was stabbed during a raid on a cannabis factory
• R v ON (2023): Defence Counsel for 17-year-old charged with 25 counts of sexual assault on 7 school friends when aged 14 and 15. Further to successfully applying for the issue of allocation to be revisited once the defendant had turned 18 (and him electing trial by jury), the Crown offered no evidence and the case was dismissed
• R v KB (2022): Defence Counsel for mother of 3 indicted with an £800,000 conspiracy to commit fraud (prosecuted by the RSPCA) in relation to the sale and supply of puppies
• R v RWL (2022): Operation Blue Fulgent was an investigation into the murder of a pensioner who was shot with a crossbow. During the murder investigation, the police uncovered evidence implicating the defendant in £250,000 worth of frauds against the deceased as well as hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of frauds against other elderly individuals. During the trial and further to a terminatory ruling of the trial judge, Danielle appeared in the Court of Appeal in relation to the procedural requirements associated with an appeal pursuant to section 58 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003
• R v RR (2022): Represented 16-year-old who admitted sexual intercourse with his 12-year-old sister, which resulted in pregnancy. Crown applied for a Sexual Harm Prevention Order on conviction which was successfully opposed
• R v EL (2022): Successfully opposed application for a Sexual Harm Prevention Order on behalf of a 16 year old with autism on the basis that the mandatory minimum duration of the order would render its imposition disproportionate
• Danielle has also undertaken disclosure work on behalf of the Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority in relation to TSB’s response to the Sabadell acquisition and launch of the Proteo platform that resulted in their 2018 “system meltdown” and was instructed on behalf of the CFO of Patisserie Valerie in relation to an ongoing SFO investigation into the financial affairs of the company.

Youth Justice and Child Rights

Danielle is committed to providing high quality, accessible representation to children within the criminal justice system. She has a wealth of experience in both the Youth and Crown Court, defending children who are charged with offences across the general crime spectrum and those subject to applications for ancillary orders such as Sexual Harm Prevention Orders and Criminal Behaviour Orders.

Danielle previously sat on JUSTICE’s racial disparity in the Youth Justice system working party and was a contributing author to the Youth Justice Legal Centre’s legal updates. She was also called upon to provide oral evidence to the Joint Committee on Human Rights in relation to the children’s rights implications of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.

Protest Law

Danielle is experienced in representing individuals charged with criminal offences arising out of protests including but not limited to the Extinction Rebellion uprisings, the Stop the Arms Fair campaign and the Black Lives Matter movement. She is committed to upholding convention rights and holding the state and police to account.

Danielle was a founding committee member of Black Protest Legal Support (‘BPLS’) which was formed following the death of George Floyd and was responsible for training over 100 barristers and solicitors as Legal Observers. Danielle also featured in a piece for British Vogue which outlined legal rights whilst protesting.

Inquests and Inquiries

Danielle acts for core participants involved in public inquiries concerning a range of issues. She is currently instructed on behalf of Disabled Peoples Organisations in the Covid-19 Inquiry (led by Danny Friedman KC) and has previously worked on both the Undercover Policing Inquiry and the Independent Inquiry relating to Afghanistan.

Danielle also accepts instructions in inquests and recently acted on behalf of the bereaved family in the inquest touching the death of Joe Pooley, which was featured in the Netflix documentary ‘When Missing Turns to Murder’.

Education and Background

Danielle holds an LLB (Hons) from the University of Sheffield and completed her BPTC at the University of Law, Bloomsbury.

Prior to undertaking the vocational stage of training, Danielle worked at law reform charity JUSTICE as their criminal justice policy intern where her research contributed to JUSTICE’s intervention in the Supreme Court case of R (on the application of Hallam) and R (on the application of Nealon) v Secretary of State for Justice [2019] UKSC 2 in relation to the statutory provisions governing eligibility for compensation for miscarriages of justice.

Whilst studying law at university, Danielle also managed the Innocence Project, working on a range of criminal appeals and applications to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (‘CCRC’). In recognition of her commitment to the project, she was nominated for the Chancellor’s Medal upon graduation and was invited to sit on the CCRC’s Stakeholder Forum as an established practitioner.

Danielle is a Bar Council Social Mobility Advocate and a Trustee of the Kalisher Trust, which strives to diversify the Criminal Bar by assisting applicants from non-traditional backgrounds who have exceptional promise but modest means. She also spent some of 2023 working as a Sexual Violence Lawyer for the Centre for Women’s Justice, advising survivors accessing the Women and Girls Network Survivors Gateway about their legal rights further to requests from the police for access to their digital data and/or third-party material as part of an Operation Soteria pilot scheme.

Awards and Nominations

Women and Diversity in Law Awards: Woman of the Year: Finalist (2024)

Women and Diversity in Law Awards: Advocate of the Year: Finalist (2024)

Women and Diversity in Law Awards: DE&I Champion of the Year: Finalist (2024)

Chambers UK Bar Awards: Diversity and Inclusion Future Leader: Finalist (2023)

Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards: Legal Aid Newcomer: Finalist (2023)

Pegasus Scholarship Recipient: The American Inns of Court: Washington DC (2023)

Bursary Award for Excellence in Advocacy Recipient: The Criminal Bar Association (2018)

Lord Denning Scholar: The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn (2012)