Shortlisted nominees

Angharad Price is an employed barrister who works for the UK Government Legal Department (GLD). She was called to the bar at Middle Temple on 22 July 2004. Angharad has been a public sector lawyer since 2010, previously working in local government, at Welsh Government, the Equality and Human Rights Commission and Independent Monitoring Authority for Citizens’ Right Agreements. She currently works in the Growth, Integration and Grants team in Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Legal Advisers and is based at GLD’s Bristol Office. Her main work is providing legal advice on EU funding (which is gradually coming to an end), UK Shared Prosperity Fund, Long Term Plan for Towns fund, and all types of housing grants funding.

Aside from work, she lives near Cardiff with husband and their 7-year-old twins. Despite battling severe asthma and long covid, she loves running and taking part in races. She is a member of the Bar Council’s Legal Services Committee and the Wales and Chester Circuit’s diversity and inclusion committee.

Jonathan was Called to the Bar in 2000 and was in chambers in London both prosecuting and defending. In 2006 he joined the CPS predominantly prosecuting cases involving serious violence, firearms and drugs conspiracies. In 2012 he became the Liaison Crown Advocate for Snaresbrook Crown Court with operational responsibility for all CPS cases there (the largest court in the country).

Jonathan expanded his interest in legal training and in 2020 he became the Director of Pupil Training. The CPS legal trainee scheme has won multiple awards and is now the single largest pupillage provider, offering 46 pupillages last year.

Sirah has been called to the Bar in England & Wales, St Lucia and St Vincent & the Grenadines. She currently works for the FCDO as the US/UK Criminal Justice Adviser to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean. Sirah is a former prosecutor and defence barrister, she has been involved in several notable cases covering terrorism, homicide, drug trafficking, sexual offences, cybercrime and money laundering. In her present role, she has been instrumental in bringing the Caribbean justice systems into compliance with international standards. Achievements include the creation of Sentencing Guidelines, drafting legislation, the first Criminal Justice Board, creation of remote courts, the first extradition from the UK into the Eastern Caribbean, the first asset sharing agreement between the UK and Barbados and mentoring of cases leading to the recovery of millions of pounds in asset recovery.

Emma is the Co-Director of APPEAL, a charity and law practice dedicated to challenging wrongful convictions and promoting a fairer justice system. Emma’s work involves bringing miscarriage of justice cases to the Court of Appeal and the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

Prior to joining APPEAL, Emma worked for over 15 years as a criminal defence barrister. Previously practising at One Pump Court Chambers, before moving in-house to work in a specialist firm of criminal defence lawyers, Emma developed an expertise in representing women and vulnerable young adults.

Emma is committee member of the Criminal Appeals Lawyers Association and the Bar Council’s Pro Bono and Social Responsibility Committee and the Employed Barristers’ Committee.

Emma is an Honorary Legal Fellow of the University of East London.

Fiona Butler, called to the bar in 1999, has single-handedly pioneered one of the most successfully recognised in-house barrister teams at Browne Jacobson LLP. A vision two decades in the making Fiona continues to train and direct a team of 30 plus barristers; a first of its kind to be recognised as an approved pupillage training provider by the BSB in 2010.

An Inquest specialist with notable cases such as the recent Nottingham attacks; the Killamarsh murders and the 2007 Pilkington tragedy, which sparked national debate on disability-related hate crime, Fiona has been a champion of social mobility across her career and sits as an Assistant Coroner in three jurisdictions.

Thomas is a Barrister at Edwin Coe LLP with particular experience in high value fraud cases, finance disputes, and company law. Thomas has pioneered within the firm the important role that employed barristers play in providing services to clients (he recently led on a £1.3b claim in the Comm Court and appeared at CMCs) and champions their participation with COMBAR and Advocate. In 2023, he volunteered over 100 hours for the pro-bono charity and was nominated for this year’s awards as a result. As an employed barrister, those instructions are taken at personal time cost, which he is all too happy to commit to assist extremely vulnerable individuals.

Chris is director of commercial, rights, and business affairs for BBC News, leading the team providing operational legal and rights advice to over 6,000 journalists around the world. Chris navigates BBC News through complex legal and regulatory issues in more than seventy countries, helping ensure the BBC remains the world’s most trusted news organisation.

An employed barrister for his entire career, Chris has worked for a range of broadcasters and production companies, including the producers of the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.

Chris also sits on Lincoln’s Inn’s EDI Committee, and co-chairs its Social Mobility sub-committee.

David is a Senior Legal Counsel and Manager in the Bank of England’s Legal Directorate, working to support the prudential regulation of banks, insurers, mutuals and investment firms.

He has worked with teams of barristers and solicitors on banking prudential policy projects, drafting rules and advising policymakers. He also advises on supervisory decision-making. His work covers technical aspects of banking capital and liquidity legislation as well as the UK regulatory framework for financial services and relevant public law.

David previously worked at the Office of Parliamentary Counsel where he helped to draft government legislation and was privileged to learn from working with experienced specialist legislative drafters. 

Lorinda has over 30 years’ experience in the Financial Services Sector.  She has worked for such major financial institutions as NatWest, BNP Paribas, HBOS and Barclays specialising in securitisation and debt capital markets. Lorinda has worked on many high-profile and groundbreaking transactions such as the first securitisation deal done under the first Italian Securitisation Law in the late 1990s. She is currently Associate General Counsel and MD at Bank of America where she manages the Legal Team which supports the Cash Equities business. In addition, she is currently Treasurer of the Bar Council and has held that role since 2021.

The team was established to nationally co-ordinate cases arising from Op Venetic, a ground-breaking secure communications operation with 2500+ defendants. They have strategic and operational oversight of legal, factual and disclosure challenges, co-ordinating across CPS, Prosecution Counsel, international partners, and law enforcement. To date this has led to 1600+ convictions, resistance to multiple legal challenges across the UK, including successfully defending numerous Judicial Reviews, Preparatory Hearings and Appeals.

The whole team has demonstrated outstanding commitment to the independent and effective prosecution of crime. Each member has performed consistently with skill, dedication and efficiency delivering excellence in exceptionally difficult circumstances.

Fieldfisher's Commercial Crime team has had an exceptional year, successfully representing ENRC to the conclusion of a historic 10-year SFO investigation. It excels in conducting internal investigations for multinational corporates and advises on ethics and compliance procedures. The team boasts three barristers – Quinton Newcomb, William Glover, and Shiv Haria-Shah - and was described by The Legal 500 as “…a strong team filled with experienced and innovative thinking lawyers” and "heavy hitters from a diverse range of backgrounds;’ in the Global Investigations Review 100 as "internationally recognised specialists;" and also featured in that publication's '40 under 40' leading lawyers review.

Government Legal Department’s (GLD) Windsor Framework Team advises the Cabinet Office Windsor Framework Task Force on all legal aspects of the Windsor Framework.

The Windsor Framework is a post-Brexit legal agreement between the European Union and the UK that adjusts the operation of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

GLD’s Windsor Framework Team provides legal support to negotiations with the European Commission relating to the Windsor Framework; coordinates the legal work across government regarding its implementation; prepares related legislation; manages all related aspects of claims against the Government in UK courts and advises on any international disputes in the context of the Windsor Framework. 

Cdr Mark Blackwell joined the Royal Navy as a Logistics Officer in 2006. His first seagoing assignment immediately followed training, joining HMS IRON DUKE as the Deputy Logistics Officer, deploying to the South Atlantic and Caribbean. He returned to sea as the Logistics Officer of HMS NORTHUMBERLAND in 2019, operating in the North Atlantic and Northern Europe.

Selected for the Naval Legal Service in 2011 he has completed roles in the Royal Navy’s Regional Legal Offices providing disciplinary and administrative advice to Commands, as a prosecutor at the Service Prosecution Authority, as the legal advisor to Service Complaint Decision Bodies within the Royal Navy, and recently a 9-month deployment to the United Kingdom Maritime Component Command (UKMCC) in Bahrain.

This last role was as the legal advisor for both UKMCC and the Combined Maritime Force (CMF), the world’s largest multinational maritime partnership. Within CMF he led a team a legal advisors, at various times, from the UK, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, France, Canada, Norway and Brazil.

He is now based in Navy Command Headquarters in Portsmouth and serves as the lead and specialist employment law advisor for the Royal Navy.

Maj Fox-Leonard joined ALS in 2013. He has worked in divisional headquarters, advising the Chain of Command on a range of disciplinary and administrative matters; prosecuted criminal and service offences in the Court Martial at the Service Prosecuting Authority; and provided operational legal advice in the UK, Afghanistan and most recently Iraq. Career highlights include overseas deployments in operational environments, as well as advising senior leaders within the Army on a variety of complex and sensitive matters.