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Standing Counsel |
Chambers has three members who appointed by the Attorney General as Standing Counsel to the Revenue Customs Prosecutions Office:
- Shane Collery
- Andrew Marshall, and
- David Walbank
Standing Counsel are appointed to carry out specialist advisory work and undertake prosecutions of the most serious and complex cases that are brought by Government Departments under the superintendence of the Attorney General.
Until the recent appointments of Noel Lucas as Queen’s Counsel and John Anderson as a Circuit Judge, Chambers boasted five of the ten Standing Counsel then appointed nationally. This was a product of many years of careful recruitment and the provision of excellent service.
These independent appointments to the rank of Standing Counsel – appointments made only after open competition to the whole of the junior Bar – emphasise the depth and experience within Chambers.
Each of the Standing Counsel is primarily engaged with the widest range of work for Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office [RCPO] but also work for other Government Departments such as BERR (formerly DTI), DWP and H&SE. All of the cases they undertake are demanding and complicated.
In addition, each is a Grade 4 CPS Advocate. Accordingly, they are sought by other agencies with work currently being undertaken for CPS Headquarters Serious Organised Crime Division, CPS Fraud Prosecution Service and the Serious Fraud Office.
This depth of experience provides a steady filter that benefits the rest of Chambers in the same way that the present Standing Counsel benefited from the experience of those more senior than them. This is a real, not a notional, benefit of the chambers system and one that 18 Red Lion Court has benefited from over the past 60 years and is well placed to continue to do so in the future.
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