Greg Foxsmith
Solicitor (admitted 1995) / Consultant
| Higher Rights Advocate |  Direct email |
 Contact Form |
A recent nominee for Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year, Greg has practised exclusively in criminal law for over 15 years.
His case load reflects the full spectrum of criminal litigation, with an emphasis on serious crime, and in particular offences relating to homicide, public order, sex offences and drugs. He also has expertise in cases involving football violence. He has an acknowledged specialism in harassment cases, especially stalking, and also internet crime (including Operation Ore cases).
Greg is a campaigner for prison law reform, and participates in a mentoring programme, helping ex-offenders stay out of trouble on their release. Part of this work was featured in BBC2 documentary, “Make Me Honest”. Greg also lectures in criminal law and supervises police station accreditation training. Greg has been a legal advisor to television programmes, and appeared (as himself!) in TV documentaries about jury trials in rape cases, “Consent” (Channel 4 broadcast 2007) and “The Verdict” (BBC2 broadcast 2007). Other television appearances related to his work include appearances on LWT, LNTV, Panorama, news at 6, news at 10 – even Richard & Judy! He has also contributed to broadcast radio including Radio 2, (Jeremy Vine show), Radio 5 Live, BBC World Service, and is a regular contributor to Radio 4’s “Law in Action”.
Greg was recently featured as “Lawyer in the News” in the Law Society’s Gazette following his defence of the Lib Dem councillor Shirley Brown in Bristol (see below).
Greg regularly attends the Police Station and is an accomplished Advocate in the magistrates’ and Crown courts who represents his clients at all stages of the criminal process, including trial. His case load is referral based, and he has recently undertaken cases in such diverse areas as Ipswich, Preston, York, Bournemouth and Manchester. He is a member of the LCCSA, and contributor to the Legal Action Group Publication on Abuse of Process (principal author, Colin Wells).
He has defended Ashley Walters (“Asher D” of “So Solid Crew”), Herbie Hyde (when he was WBO Boxing Champion of the World), and in two high-profile “stalker” cases. He has advised the former MI5 agent Richard Tomlinson on a variety of civil liberties issues. He has also defended in recent significant riot cases at Immigration Detention Centres in Yarls Wood and Harmondsworth.
Notable Cases/Awards
R v Shirley Brown – freedom of speech case known as “the coconut case”: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/7862137/Was-it-necessary-to-turn-an-insult-involving-coconuts-into-a-criminal-prosecution.html
R v Joseph Sheehan (defended in high-profile murder case where defendant decapitated victim with an axe in a public street in North London): http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2006/may/09/ukcrime.uknews2
R –v- Orchin; defended a Church of England Vicar on child pornography charges).
R – v – T; defended a practising doctor charged with rape of victims met on internet dating site
R –v- Smedley ; defended consensual adult incest case (brother and sister) with defendant a serving police officer).
R –v- Sharna Baker: successfully keeping out of prison bank clerk who stole a quarter of a million pounds from her employer to fund an internet gambling obsession, a case later profiled on BBC1′s Panorama: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article43622.ece
R v Kastrioti and others (successful defence in the Yarlswood Immigration Detention Centre Riot): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1821557.stm
Defended various defendants charged following the Harmondsworth IDC riots: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2006/nov/30/uknews
R –v- Van Dongen. A murder case which redefined the case law on the defence of provocation. (see Van Dongen [2005] EWCA Crim 1728 )