Ian Whitehurst

1.     Practice Overview

Ian is a Leading Junior in Serious Organised Crime, Financial Crime and Confiscation as well as Regulatory Law and is ranked as a leading individual in those practice areas in Chambers and Partners and The Legal 500.

His recent ranking for confiscation and asset recovery in Chambers and Partners reflects his growing practice in this area and is notable that he is the only Barrister ranked outside of London.

His practice can be divided principally into 3 main areas but there is a considerable overlap between the practice areas that he specialises in.

Firstly, Ian has a heavyweight crime practice and defends and prosecutes in equal measure throughout the country with a particular emphasis on homicide, firearms and drugs conspiracies as well as cyber related criminality.

Secondly, in financial crime and misconduct matters Ian has specialised for many years as Leading Counsel in the fields of MTIC VAT fraud, Direct Tax Fraud, Money Laundering, False Accounting and Corporate Misfeasance and is a member of the Revenue Bar Association.

With regards to his regulatory practice, Ian has been appointed to the Specialist Regulatory Panel of Counsel and prosecutes and defends in equal measure in the regulatory field, concentrating in particular upon health and safety, environmental, trading standards prosecutions and information law.

2.     Education

 University of Hull, LLB (Hons) (1993)

3.     Memberships

·      Criminal Bar Association

·      Private Prosecutors Association

·      Revenue Bar Association

·      New York City Bar Association

·      International Technology Law Association

·      The Bar of Northern Ireland

4.     Appointments

·      Level 4 Specialist Serious Crime Group Panel (CPS)

·      Level 4 Prosecutor General Crime Panel (CPS)

·      Level 4 Specialist Proceeds of Crime Panel (CPS)

·      Level 3 Specialist Fraud Panel (CPS)

·      Specialist Regulatory Panel (Level B)

·      Disclosure Counsel for Serious Fraud Office (SFO)

·      Licensed Advocate Isle of Man (2012)

·      Visiting lecturer at the University of Lancaster

·      Associate Lecturer at John Moore’s University

·      Advocate (the Pro Bono unit of the bar)

5.     Called to the Bar of Northern Ireland Arbitrator Appointments

I am listed as an arbitrator with the following arbitral institutions:

·      Arbitration Ireland

·      The Arbitration Institute of The Stockholm Chamber of Commerce

·      The Madrid International Arbitration Centre

·      The Vienna International Centre

·      London Arbitration Centre

6.     Academic Appointments

·      Associate Lecturer at John Moores University, Liverpool & Northumbria University,  Newcastle – lecturing in organised crime, fraud and asset recovery [2020 – present]

·      Guest lecturer at the Universities of Nottingham, Ulster & Galway in cyber and data law with an emphasis on cyber security, ransom ware and the role of data regulation[2021 – present]

7.     Publications

Ian has written several articles on the issues of financial crime, the criminal justice system and more:

·      Better days will return | COUNSEL | The Magazine of the Bar of England and Wales https://www.counselmagazine.co.uk/articles/better-days-will-return

·      Gambling an ‘easy target’ for UK Government after coronavirus pandemic, say barristers https://www.counselmagazine.co.uk/articles/better-days-will-return

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