Senior Counsel Group

Peter Doyle KC
Senior Counsel

The Trust’s first Chair, Peter took silk in 2002. He has appeared in three major public inquiries: Stephen Lawrence, Marchioness Disaster and Victoria Climbie. He has vast experience in mainstream serious crime and regulatory/disciplinary work.  Peter is the founding member of our Senior Counsel group.

Sir Brian Leveson
Senior Counsel

Sir Brian chaired the public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press, prompted by the News of the World phone hacking affair. He was the lead prosecution counsel in the trial of Rosemary West, who went on to be convicted for the murders of ten young women, including her own eldest daughter. On 1 October 2013, he was appointed President of the Queen’s Bench Division; he retired from the bench in 2019, and was the Treasurer of Middle Temple in 2020.

Max Hill KC
Senior Counsel

Max Hill KC served as Chair of the Kalisher Trust for five years. He was Head of Red Lion Chambers before becoming Director of Public Prosecutions in November 2019.

His Honour Brian Barker CBE KC
Senior Counsel

From February 2013 to January 2015, His Honour Brian Barker served as the Recorder of London, the most senior permanent judge in the Central Criminal Court. In May 2016, he was appointed to the dual role of Chair of the Northern Ireland Committee on Protection and Independent Reviewer of National Security Arrangements in Northern Ireland.  In December 2016 he became the first Judicial Panel Chairman of the British Horseracing Authority.

Mrs Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb
Senior Counsel

In 2015 Mrs. Justice Cheema-Grubb became the first Asian woman to be appointed a High Court Judge.  Whilst Senior Treasury Counsel at the Old Bailey she chaired an Advocacy Training Council working group that produced the report “Raising the Bar: The Handling of Vulnerable Witnesses, Victims and Defendants in Court”.

The Hon Mr Justice Nicholas Hillard
Senior Counsel

Mr Justice Hilliard is a former Recorder of London, the most senior permanent judge in the Central Criminal Court. He has worked with the Sheriffs’ and Recorder’s Fund, a prison charity, and is a Patron of the Ben Kinsella Trust which helps raise awareness of the effects of knife crime.  He was appointed to the High Court in 2019.

Joshua Rozenberg KC (hon)
Senior Counsel

Joshua is a legal commentator and journalist. He began his career in journalism in 1975 at the BBC, launching Law in Action on Radio 4 in 1984. At the BBC he worked as a producer, reporter and then legal correspondent. Between 2000 and 2008 he was the legal affairs editor for the Daily Telegraph. Now a freelance journalist, he writes regular columns for the Law Society Gazette and Legal Cheek. He holds a number of honorary doctorates in law.

The Rt Hon Lady Justice Sue Carr
Senior Counsel

Appointed a QBD High Court Judge in 2013, and to the Court of Appeal in 2020, Lady Justice Carr was chairman of the Professional Negligence Bar Association and of the BSB Conduct Committee. She was also Complaints Commissioner at the ICC in the Hague.

Kim Hollis KC
Senior Counsel

A former Chair of the Equality and Diversity Committee of the Bar Council of England and Wales, Kim was the Director of Public Prosecutions in the British Virgin Islands from 2016 until 2019.

Nick Purnell KC
Senior Counsel

Head of Cloth Fair Chambers, Nicholas’ career at the Bar spans four decades. He has covered every area of criminal and criminal-related law. He practices predominantly in commercial and business crime and in regulatory and professional disciplinary matters.

HH Stephen Kramer KC
Senior Counsel

Called to the Bar in 1970 His Honour Stephen Kramer KC  initially had a common law practice at 10 King’s Bench Walk before moving to 1 Hare Court where his practice was exclusively in crime. Appointed a QC in 1995 he became Head of Chambers at 1 (now 2) Hare Court in 1996 upon the untimely death of Michael Kalisher QC. A previous Chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, he became a Circuit Judge in 2003. In 2005 he was appointed a Senior Circuit Judge sitting at the Central Criminal Court until his retirement in July 2017.

HHJ Mark Lucraft KC, The Recorder of London
Senior Counsel

HHJ Mark Lucraft KC attended a comprehensive school in Wood Green, north London before going on to read law at the University of Kent; after call to the Bar he was in practice at the criminal bar, taking silk in 2006, until appointment to the Circuit Bench in 2012.   Practice at the Bar was mainly focused on serious and complex fraud – as a junior he was involved in a number of large complex fraud cases including R. v. Peter Clowes and others and R. v. Kevin Maxwell & others, and when in Silk serious and complex fraud cases included being instructed by the Office of Fair Trading to lead the first prosecutions under the Enterprise Act 2007 which involved price fixing allegations within the transatlantic air travel market and four key executives at British Airways (R. v. George& others),and on the case involving price fixing of specialist marine equipment (R. v. Whittle, Brammer & Allison).  

After appointment as a Circuit Judge in 2012, he sat initially at Norwich, then Cambridge, before being seconded to the Central Criminal Court (the Old Bailey) in 2015.  

Mark was the Chief Coroner of England & Wales from 1 October 2016 through to Christmas 2020, and was appointed the Recorder of London (the senior judge at the Old Bailey) with effect from 14 April 2020.   Since 2015 I have been a Diversity and Community Relations Judge and am very keen that we continue to ensure that diversity is addressed within the legal professions.

In September & October 2018, Mark presided over the Inquests held at the Old Bailey into the deaths arising out of the terror attack on Westminster Bridge on 22 March 2017 and in June to September 2019 presided over the Inquests held at the Old Bailey into the deaths arising out of the terror attack on London Bridge and in Borough Market on 3 June 2017.  He is due to conduct the Inquests arising out of the attack at Fishmongers’ Hall on 29 November 2019 in April 2021.

Alison Levitt KC
Senior Counsel

Alison Levitt KC returned to full-time advocacy practise after 5 years in the public service, followed by setting up a new department in a major law firm. From 2009-2014 Alison was the Principal Legal Advisor to the DPP and later was head-hunted by Mishcon de Reya to establish their White Collar Crime and Investigations department.

Dr Camilla Darling
Senior Counsel

Camilla is a Director in the Arts & Sciences Research Office at King’s College, London. She has a PhD in medieval courtly poetry, and has worked in both the public and private sectors before moving into Higher Education.  As a Trustee (2013 – 2016), she was a founding member of the educational outreach team, and devised and implemented the advocacy training programme; as Vice-Chair of the Trust from 2018 until 2023, she led the Trust through the pandemic, expanding every element of the Trust’s activities, from training to pupillage support, awards (internships and scholarships) and guidance for aspiring barristers.  

Sir Ralph Waller
Senior Counsel

Sir Ralph is currently the Director of the Farmington Institute and has recently stood down as Principal of Harris Manchester College, Oxford. Under his leadership the College grew from a small group of undergraduates to a thriving community of nearly three hundred students. Sir Ralph has been a Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford and was awarded a KBE in 2018 for services to education.  He was the Chairman of the Kalisher Trust from 2020 – 2023.