Chambers is delighted to announce that Sonia Larbi Aissa and Ashley Heyworth have accepted tenancy at 33 Bedford Row.
Sonia comes to the Bar after working as a paralegal in two leading London law firms, one specialising in criminal defence and one specialising in public and private children law. Sonia worked on cases involving cash detention and forfeiture proceedings, multi-million pound confiscation orders after POCA convictions, complex Crown Court matters including PWITS, robbery and murder, and niche regulatory proceedings including taxi license appeals and HMRC AML decision appeals. Sonia also assisted with a busy caseload of public and private children proceedings acting for CAFCASS Guardians. Sonia worked on cases involving issues of domestic abuse, sexual abuse, parental alienation, deprivation of liberty orders, competent children clients and FDAC proceedings. Sonia is keen to promote access to justice for all clients and is committed to a Legal Aid practice in both the criminal courts and for family matters.
Ashleigh was the Head of the Crown Court department for a criminal defence firm prior to coming to the Bar, where she was trusted with the most serious and complex cases. She has had strong exposure to the Criminal Justice System with working in the legal field for several years. She has litigated on a range of offences, including terrorism where the client was acquitted of terrorism charges. This attracted coverage from the national media, where junior counsel and leading counsel trusted her to perform the role of second junior. Within her role, Ashleigh was responsible for preparing the cases in the Crown Court and considering the evidence. Most recently, instructed counsel referred to her as 'striking gold' when perusing unused material in a Conspiracy to Murder case which would undoubtedly assist the defence case resulting in acquittal. She has excellent repertoire and skills dealing with the vulnerable and young.
Both Sonia and Ashleigh welcome instruction