Ben Lay
Ben Lay is a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy, where he works as a Naval Barrister and a Logistics Officer.
Selected for legal training by the Navy in 2018, Ben completed the GDL and BVS from 2019 and was called to the Bar in 2021. He undertook pupillage at 5 Paper Buildings in 2021-22, enjoying a variety of prosecution and defence work during his practising period. On completion of pupillage Ben moved into his next Naval assignment and was pleased to be made a door tenant of Chambers.
Ben has served in the Royal Navy as a Logistics Officer since 2013 and highlights of his career before legal training were as the ‘Pusser’ (head of logistics department) of the survey ships HMS Scott and HMS Echo, as well as a deployment to Bahrain on the staff of the counter-terrorist and counter-narcotic Combined Task Force 150. Other assignments were to Principal Security Advisor (Navy), the Maritime Battle Staff, the Carrier Strike Group, and Devonport Flotilla.
As a Naval barrister, Ben will undertake a variety of legal roles, including prosecuting and defending in the Court Martial, advising on summary hearings, providing operational legal advice, and working in other areas of criminal, international, and employment law. Between legal billets, he will continue to work in his source branch of logistics in a variety of sea-going, staff, and outer office assignments.
Ben holds an MA and MSt from the University of Oxford, where he won the Hertford Prize in Classics Mods in 2005. More recently he was awarded the Everard Ver Heyden Foundation Prize for his overall performance on the BVS.
