Year of Call - 2006

Full Profile

Francis has a busy practice defending all areas of general and serious crime.

He was called to the Bar in 2006 and cross-qualified as a Solicitor Advocate in 2016.  He has several years of criminal defence experience, covering violence, drugs, fraud, public order, sexual offences and domestic violence, vulnerable witnesses and youths. Francis trained with a sexual offences specialist practice and was part of the defence team at several notorious prosecutions, including “Operation Pallial”, a series of linked prosecutions concerning North Wales care homes. He also has experience of historic sexual abuse cases.

Francis has regularly appeared at Magistrates Courts and Crown Courts throughout the jurisdiction, dealing with first appearances, case management, bail applications and all sentencing matters, all interlocutory applications, including abuse of process, bad character, disclosure disputes, etc; and, at the Magistrates Court and Youth Court, very many trials covering all topics, over a number of years, with a good deal of success.

Before a career change to law, Francis worked in public and regulatory affairs in London and Brussels, for businesses and organisations.

Francis is a persuasive and determined advocate. He is a people person, with strong case analysis skills and much life experience. Francis relishes speaking for a whole range of people – so as to get their case over, to other people. Francis’s aim is that the client feels fully heard  – and so that they obtain acquittal and satisfaction.

Qualifications

• BA (Hons) Politics and Modern History, University of Manchester
• Graduate Diploma in Law, MMU
• Bar Vocational Course (Very Competent) MMU
• LLM, Costs, MMU
• Legal Practice Course, College of Law
• Solicitor-Advocate, College of Law
• Magistrates Court, Duty Accredited, Cardiff University
• Post Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice

Memberships

• The Honourable Society of Middle Temple
• Criminal Bar Association