Date of Call: 1983
Date of Silk: 2009
• Dec 2009 – Appointed to list of Queen’s Counsel to appear on behalf of the prosecution for the Serious Fraud Office
• Member of the Bar of Northern Ireland
• Member of the Bar of England and Wales
• Member of the Criminal Bar Association
• American Bar Association, Bar Council and Law Society accredited lecturer
• B.A. (Hons), LL.M (Commercial Law) , A.C. I (Arb)
Mark is a very experienced practitioner in all areas of criminal law.
Expert in serious organised crime and fraud cases (especially those involving trade mark and copyright infringement), VAT frauds, murder, sexual offences and drug importation cases.
Notable Fraud cases
Lead Counsel for the prosecution in the UK’s largest stolen car export fraud ‘Operation Movement’, a case involving 16 defendants tried and convicted over four separate trials between 2007 and 2009. R-v-Gatsinzi & others 2008 (reported as R-v-Clark and others [2008] EWCA Crim 3221). The case involved directing parts of the investigation, marshalling huge quantities of paperwork and presenting the material in a manageable and coherent form to the various juries.
Lead counsel for the prosecution in R-v-Qureshi 2001 and R-v-Alibhai 2004 EWCA Crim 681, the first two successful fraud trials to be conducted in the UK re counterfeit Microsoft software. Alibhai is now the leading authority on third party disclosure and involved complex issues of PII and working with the National Crime Squad, F.B.I. and the U.S. Justice Department.
Ten years experience of leading large teams of lawyers, investigative officers and support staff in major cases for both prosecution and defence with clients including F.I.G., S.O.C.A., the Flying Squad, the Major Crimes Unit and Pfizer pharmaceuticals.
Notable Murder & Rape cases
Appeared in R-v-Khangura (reported as R-v-Jones & others [2006] 2 Cr. App. R. (S) 121), as lead counsel for the defence at the C.C.C. for client charged with murder. The defendant was acquitted of murder but convicted of manslaughter. The case is a lead case concerning sentencing in cases involving death by explosions (fire-bombing).
Appeared for the defence, securing acquittal, in the well publicised teenage girl knifing and attempted murder case at the C.C.C. – R-v-Murphy, June 2008 – a case involving delicate cross-examination of a 7 year-old witness.
CPS London Rape Specialist List. Expert specialism in prosecuting rape and other serious sexual offences for more than 15 years with special emphasis on young and vulnerable witnesses. Also appears for the defence in this area.
Successfully defended an A.G. Reference in the high-profile case of the rape of a 12 year old - Attorney General's reference No. 31 R-v-Mutubila (Isaac) [2006] EWCA 1040.
Chambers & academic activities
• Mark is a visiting lecturer with the Faculty of Law at the University of Iowa and Florida State University and lectures on comparative criminal law (1995 to date).
• Founder and Head of Chambers at 2 Paper Buildings (1987- 1999), joining 5 Paper Buildings in 1999.
• Mark is a visiting lecturer with the Faculty of Law at the University of Iowa and Florida State University and lectures on comparative criminal law (1995 to date).
• Since 1991 has helped run the London Law Consortium (LLC) programme for American Law Students.