Ben Rowe.
Ben Rowe is a founding member of Crucible and specialises in serious, complex criminal matters and white collar crime. He both prosecutes and defends and has a particular expertise in areas where criminal law and commercial litigation overlap, especially cases with a high volume of computer-related evidence. Alongside his criminal practice Ben has also developed a strong regulatory and disciplinary practice.
Ben previously spent three years employed within the commercial litigation and financial crime teams at the UK’s largest litigation-only law firm. He has a well-deserved reputation for his strong relationships with both professional and lay clients, and for being very responsive and easy to work with.
Ben is a fearless and passionate advocate with a robust, no nonsense approach to advocacy, while also sensitive to the needs of vulnerable clients and witnesses.
Within Chambers, Ben is the joint head of Pupillage and Training alongside Clea Topolski.
Practice Areas:
Ben has a great deal of experience in both criminal and civil fraud. Ben’s experience has included matters involving private prosecutions, confiscation, restraint and asset tracing.
In his previous employed role he advised the firm and its clients on any number of criminal matters arising from large scale, international litigation. As a result Ben has extensive experience of the intersection of criminal and corporate matters, and is able to take a sound, commercial view when advising white collar clients.
In his prosecution practice, Ben was recently instructed as a led-junior in a multi-million pound tax fraud. He also has significant experience of prosecuting frauds undertaken by people in positions of trust (such as employees and carers) and also frauds against the State.
Ben is able to advise businesses and individuals who either face, or may face, investigations by regulators and prosecutorial authorities. He can be involved from the very first moment, even before matters are reported, to help steer the path to the benefit of his clients.
Acting for regulators and investigators, Ben has a strong reputation for advising on searches and raids, and is particularly experienced in dealing with investigations which may touch upon matters of legal privilege (such as when he recently attended the raid of an established solicitors firm alongside police and investigators to provide instant, on the scene, advice about privilege).
In his defence practice, Ben has previously been instructed in his own right in cases including attempted murder and a large number of very serious assaults. As a led-junior he has also been instructed to defend in a murder case. He is used to participating in trials with multiple defendants. He is particularly adept at dealing with cell site and telephonic evidence.
As a Grade 2 prosecutor he regularly conducts trials in the Crown Courts for charges such as actual bodily harm, robbery and other violent matters.
Given his previous experience, Ben is very comfortable with cross-jurisdictional offences and large scale conspiracies. He is currently instructed as a led-junior to defend in a multi-million pound people trafficking and money laundering conspiracy. He is also instructed as a leading junior in a thirty-handed drug trafficking conspiracy.
Ben is very experienced with “County Lines” drug cases and is particularly sensitive to the needs of younger defendants in these cases who are often the victims of trafficking themselves. He is experienced with cases involving the Home Office’s National Referral Mechanism and potential modern slavery defences.
Ben regularly represents registrants, especially healthcare professionals, in disciplinary proceedings before their regulators. His work includes substantive hearings as well as interim hearings and reviews of established orders. He is regularly instructed to attend the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and Health and Care Professions Council (HCPS) on behalf of the RCN, UNITE and other unions.
Ben also has experience of representing Prison Officers and psychiatric nurses who work in secure environments.
Notable cases:
R v P (Ongoing)
Led-junior, instructed to defend a person accused of being a significant participant in an international conspiracy involving people trafficking and money laundering.
R v OW
Instructed as a junior alone to defend a charge of attempted murder. Successfully negotiated a plea which significantly reduced the charge faced and the defendant’s alleged culpability.
R v C
Led-junior, instructed to prosecute a businessman accused of a multi-million pound tax fraud.
R v MG
Successfully prosecuted a serious road rage attack in which an Uber driver stabbed another road user in the head with a screwdriver.
R v DC
Successful defence of a bus driver accused of dangerous driving after hitting a pedestrian while driving in excess of 50mph in a 30mph zone.
R v SD
Successful defence in a county-lines drug case of a trafficked teenager who was sexually and physically abused and trafficked to Devon and forced to sell drugs on the street.
R v GS
Successful representations which convinced the CPS to discontinue a case against two brothers (one of whom was training to be a police officer) accused of a series of violent assaults
R v MC
Successful defence of a homeless person, with severe addiction and mental health issues, accused of robbery, who had a long list of similar previous convictions.
R v LR – Snaresbrook Crown Court
Successful defence of a London Black Cab driver accused of theft who took the keys from another vehicle’s ignition following a collision, and fled the scene.
Orb a.r.l. and ors v Ruhan [2016] EWHC 850 (Comm)
Sole criminal lawyer acting within the claimants’ litigation team in a very complex commercial matter. The case involved alleged criminal matters including large scale hacking, illegal covert surveillance, theft and blackmail.
NMC v RM
Successful defence of a nurse accused of contributing to a death before the NMC.
HCPC v RT
Mitigation on behalf of a paramedic accused of engaging in a road race against another ambulance driver. Convinced panel to impose a caution order despite HCPC’s request for a suspension.
Regulatory investigation
Instructed to design and supervise the privilege review of hundreds of thousands of documents seized following the raid of a solicitors’ firm as part of the investigation of a multi-million pound investment fraud.