Location: Grays Court, 11 High Street, Harborne, Birmingham, B17 9NT
Tel: 0121 726 9999
Shawn entered the legal profession in 1979 as a trainee and progressed to manage a Crown Court Department for one of Birmingham’s most successful criminal law firms.
In 1986 he qualified as a solicitor and in 1989 became a freelance advocate prosecuting and defending criminal cases for the Crown Prosecution Service and solicitors in private practice respectively.
In April 1994 he became one of the country’s first ever solicitor advocates enabling him to enjoy the same rights of audience in criminal courts as barristers. As such he has served for several years as a member and officer of the National Working Committee of the Solicitors
Association of Higher Court Advocates (SAHCA) (www.sahca.org.uk). He was proud to be one of the Association’s founding members and was equally proud to serve as Honorary Treasurer and then Acting Chair in 2012 and Chair from 2013 to the end of my term of office in October 2015.
In July 1994 he was co-founder of what became Central Solicitors’ Chambers, the first Solicitor Advocate Chambers in the UK. This provided an ideal vehicle for freelance advocacy work and Chambers was engaged by prosecution agencies and private firms for advocacy work in all criminal courts.
In 1999 he joined a partnership, which became Rose, Williams & Partners based in Wolverhampton. The firm undertook all form of criminal law work and as one of the then Legal Services Commission’s Very High Cost Case (VHCC) Panel contract managers he led a team of VHCC advocates and litigators. Shawn is also approved to undertake VHCC work as an advocate. He provided support to the practice’s military law department and as the firm’s senior advocate regularly appeared throughout the country to lead (and junior) high profile VHCC and non-VHCC criminal cases in the Crown Court, Courts Martial and Court of Appeal (Criminal Division). A detailed list of high profile and notable cases is available on request.
Shawn has for many years been involved in the prosecution and defence of the widest range of offences coming within Road Traffic and Road Transport legislation and led an enthusiastic and successful team dedicated to providing the very highest quality representation in this specialist area.
Following a detailed competitive tendering process, he ensured that the firm was awarded a three-year contract to prosecute cases for the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (now the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency) for the Greater Midlands Area. Shawn is an avid supporter of the use of IT and an enthusiastic proponent of CaseMap®, TimeMap® and ExhibitView® software to assist in the effective management of large cases and cases for which visual presentation is essential. He have also assisted in the development of software to audit trail work done by litigators and advocates for VHCC cases.
He has worked digitally for many years and contributed as an invited consultant to the Review of Efficiency in Criminal Proceedings (established by Sir Brian Leveson, President of the Queen’s Bench Division) by advising the sub-group on IT and Listing chaired by Lord Justice Fulford.
He is proud to receive instructions from the Crown Prosecution Service on a regular basis and often deal with specialised and sensitive cases including those with a high degree of press interest. He is also instructed to prosecute drink/drive cases where specialist defence firms have been engaged.
Shawn continues to appear in all criminal courts (Magistrates’ Courts, Crown Court and Court of Appeal Criminal Division) undertaking work ranging from motoring cases to serious fraud and murder. In addition to his duties as a litigator and advocate he has been actively involved in promoting and running training seminars on a range of legal topics.
During his term of office with SAHCA he was involved with regular meetings, negotiations and general discussions with The Law Society, The Legal Services Board, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Criminal Bar Association, the General Council of the Bar, the Legal Services Commission (Legal Aid Agency), the Ministry of Justice, Local Law Societies, Educational Establishments, the Judiciary, foreign Law Societies and legal agencies and individual solicitors throughout England and Wales – on a vast range of topics affecting solicitor advocates. He also represented SAHCA on the Court of Appeal User Group Committee chaired by Lady Justice Hallett.
Notable (none case) milestones include:
• Establishing the first ever Solicitors’ Chambers which contained solicitor advocate
members.
• A founder member of SAHCA.
• Serving as a National Committee member and officer of SAHCA (Treasurer, Vice-Chair
and Chair)
• Obtaining a general criminal contract with the Legal Services Commission to defend
criminal cases for which remuneration is met out of public funds.
• Obtaining membership of the Legal Services Commission’s Specialist Fraud Panel. (Only
300 member firms in England and Wales).
• Introduction of pioneering Case Management Software for case analysis.
• Co-hosting an advocacy and judicial training seminar at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
• Presenting and/or hosting training seminars for the Law Society, SAHCA and industry
• Becoming the first defence solicitor advocate in the UK to deploy ExhibitView courtroom
presentation software during a large trial.
• Member of Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) User Group.
• Advisor to IT & Listing Sub-Group of The Review of Efficiency in Criminal Proceedings.
General & Regulatory Experience
Shawn has wide ranging experience within the general and regulatory fields as follows:
• Defending cases brought by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)
• Defending cases brought by the former Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)
• Defending cases brought by the Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS)
• Defending cases brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
• Defending cases brought by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP)
• Defending cases brought by Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)
• Prosecuting cases brought by CPS.
• Prosecuting cases brought by the former Department of Transport (DT)
• Prosecuting cases on behalf of Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) (now
DVSA)
• Prosecuting cases on behalf of the National Probation Service
Back to Our People