Stephen Leslie QC

Year of Call: 1971

Specialist practice areas: Serious Crime, Criminal/Civil Fraud, Serious Sexual Offences, Regulation/Compliance, Extradition, Asset Forfeiture, Anti-terrorism, Prison Law, Health & Safety, Police Disciplinary, Courts Martial, Immigration, Inquests & Public Inquiries

Stephen Leslie QC is the Leader of the South Eastern Circuit. He commenced this role on 1st January 2009. 

Stephen Leslie QC has focused exclusively on criminal work, principally defending, for over 20 years. Duringthat time he has built an outstanding track record, owing to his firm commandof the technical details, combined with what a previous edition of Chambers Directory described as his “penchant for concise, effective advocacy”.

Stephen is ranked as a leading Silk in crime in Chambers & Partners (2008). 

Fraud, corruption and financial crime form a substantial part of his workload. Stephen led in his first serious fraud trial nearly 30 years ago and defended the principal in the first ever VAT fraud at the Central Criminal Court. Since then he has handled many other VAT and excise cases, as well as advance fee, mortgage, computer and letter of credit frauds, money laundering trials and insider dealing cases. His major successes include R v Wilkins, the first acquittal in an SFO case since Maxwell. This involved extensive video link cross examination ofwitnesses in the USA. Stephen’s experience of corruption trials encompasses cases against the police and public officials, and he also appears in taxation appeals. 

Stephen is a trustee of a children's charity.  In the past he has defended in a major charity fraud.  Currently he is instructed in another charity fraud

Stephen also specialises in regulatory law and has appeared and advised in a variety of cases. He is similarly experienced in asset forfeiture and confiscation applications, especially in large and complex cases. His  knowledge and experience of fraud and financial law has proved invaluable.

Stephen’s extensive track record of violent crime defence is no less impressive. As a junior he had led in four murder trials before taking silk, and he has maintained a healthy practice since. High profile instructions include R v Blankson, the widely reported Hungerford Bridge murder, where he represented the sole female defendant, and R v Watson, an eight-week gangland shooting trial, where he appeared for the main defendant. High-profile terrorism cases, serious sexual offences (including child abuse and juvenile defendants), complex drugs crimes, manslaughter and mental health cases round off a broad practice.

Stephen appears regularly in pro bono criminal defence work before the Privy Council. Many of these cases are murder appeals from the Caribbean, though an important recent decision concerned the power of the DPP in Mauritius to discontinue criminal prosecutions against the then Prime Minister.