Founded by Damien Morrison in 2002, the practice has evolved into a nationally respected specialist criminal practice.

Damien Morrison

Senior Partner

Liam Hassan

Partner

Adam Henry

Partner

Dave Ryan

Partner

Keith Whitehouse

Consultant

Liam Jackson

Solicitor

James Dixon

Trainee Solicitor

Jess Hill

Trainee Solicitor

Lottie Monks

Trainee Solicitor

Claire Wooderson

Office Manager

Photo coming shortly…

Lucy Wells

Office Administrator

Damien Morrison

Damien Morrison is a partner in the firm, and has specialised in criminal, regulatory and road traffic matters since he qualified as a solicitor in 1994.

Damien has experience of representing suspects facing a wide range of criminal allegations from terrorism and gangland shooting to fatal road traffic offences.

He heads up the team providing specialist advice and representation for Road Traffic Offences, and undertakes regulatory work, having long-standing links with the very best regulatory solicitors firms and barristers' chambers, and has extensive experience of referral work.

He can deal with matters from the police station to the Crown Court and Courts of Appeal, and regularly practises as a Higher Court Advocate.

Notable Cases

HSE v G - Representing an employee of a £1.7 bn turnover energy company, charged with breaches of s.7 HASAWA after a sub-station explosion.

HSE v B - Representing an employee of 30 plus employee family business, investigated for breaches of s.7 HASAWA and Working at Height Directive 2005, following a 6 metre fall.

HSE v C & Y - Representing two employees of a £2.3 bn tunrover facilities management company, investigated for alleged breaches of s 7 HASAWA following a fatal bollard collapse.

Local Authority v M, D, B, & F - Representing four senior employees of £400m turnover automotive business for alleged breaches of s.2 HASAWA 1974 and Working at Height Directive 2005

R v R - Representing an employee of educational institution, charged with Gross Negligence Manslaughter, after fatal accident in nursery school.

R v C - Representing motorist charged with Death by Careless Driving.

R v S - Representing company director charged with Causing Serious Injury by Dangerous Driving.

Liam Hassan

Liam qualified as a solicitor in 2005, and has been with the firm since early 2007.

He is a Duty Solicitor, both at the police station and in the Magistrates Court., and has a wide experience in dealing with cases, including rape, murder, arson, serious assaults, and fraud cases.

 Liam specialises in dealing with Youth Court matters and road traffic law, but has wide experience in a number of cases and matters including sexual offences, domestic violence, assaults and public order matters and fraud cases (including white collar crime).

Just like all the solicitors in the firm, Liam is qualified as a Court and Police Station Duty Solicitor.  Liam takes part in the firm’s on call rota, representing suspects in the Police Station 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year, to ensure that the best outcome possible is achieved from the outset of each case.  He can deal with matters from the police station to the Crown Court and Courts of Appeal, and regularly practises as a Higher Court Advocate.

Notable Cases

R v D / R v H – Representing two defendants in two separate cases where allegations of rape were made. Cases involved disclosure issues over social media / text messages. In both cases, the messages were used as evidence and the clients were acquitted.

R v S and W – Representing two defendants accused of theft from employer – case involved the examination of a number of documentary pieces of evidence which showed that the prosecution case was contradictory. The case was dropped by the CPS upon the service of this evidence.

R v K – Representing defendant involved in large drugs conspiracy involving a number of other defendants, police surveillance evidence and forensic examinations.

R v O – Representing defendant accused of arson with intent.  The case involved the examination of contradictory witness accounts and timings. Case was dropped by the prosecution upon representations.

R v O – Representing defendant accused of high value fraud / money laundering with large amounts of money passing through her account. Work undertaken to verify her defence in terms of evidence presented to the Court. The matter was then dropped by the prosecution.

Adam Henry

Adam qualified in 2011 and is a Criminal Duty Solicitor with vast experience of the management of large serious criminal cases including murder, firearms offences, serious assaults, rape and serious sexual offences, drugs offences, fraud, burglary, theft and motoring offences from the initial arrest of clients and representation at the Police Station, through all stages of a case to subsequent trial.

Adam has significant experience of advocacy in the Magistrates Court, and a particular interest in representing retailers accused of offences.

Notable Cases

R v P -  Representing motorist charged with Death by Careless Driving after road traffic collision involving client's car and the victim's motorbike when client turning across bus lane on busy London road. Client acquitted after trial.

R v B - Representing individual charged with conspiring to import, produce and deal class A drugs over the dark web. Contested confiscation proceedings concerning a proposed benefit figure of approximately £1 million of cryptocurrency (Bitcoin).

R v E – Representing individual charged with public order offences and offences against the police. Successful application for prosecution to be stayed on the grounds of an abuse of process.

R v B – Representing individual charged with multiple allegations of Rape. All charges dismissed following representations regarding telephone evidence identified by the Defence.  

Dave Ryan

David is a partner at the firm and has 30 years' worth of experience in dealing with all aspects of crime from interviews at the Police Station through to representation at the Magistrates Court, Crown Court and even the Court of Appeal. He qualified as a Solicitor in 2006 and as a Duty Solicitor and Solicitor-Advocate 3 years later. He has also been an Accredited Police Station representative since 1995.

He specialises in defending those charged with the most serious of criminal offences throughout the country and is well known and extremely highly respected by his fellow professionals and clients. A Legal 500 ranked ‘Leading Individual’ and ‘Recommended Lawyer’ and someone who is also quoted as being ‘superb in serious sexual offences and homicide cases’ and who ‘works tirelessly and is a great advocate’. He prides himself on his thoroughness and attention to detail.

He has enjoyed considerable success in defending a wide range of serious cases including murders, rapes, fraud and investigations commenced by Trading Standards and other regulatory authorities. He very recently successfully defended a young man charged with the murder of another male in a city centre night club that involved complex legal issues surrounding the law on joint enterprise.

He is also currently representing defendants charged with gangland murder, international drug trafficking offences and offences of cybercrime. He also deals with serious cases of public disorder, robberies and burglary and specialises in dealing with clients charged with serious sexual offences.

Notable Cases

R v S – represented the main defendant in a trial lasting 6 months, involving a multimillion pound mortgage and VAT fraud and money laundering.

R v A – represented a defendant charged, along with others, with murder following a brawl in a city centre night club. Jury acquittal, complex issues surrounding joint enterprise.

R v H – represented a Vietnamese national charged with conspiracy to produce cannabis. Acquitted by a jury after the ‘new’ statutory defence under the Modern Slavery Act was raised.

R v B – represented a defendant charged with a wide range of serious sexual offences against a number of his family members. Acquitted by the jury of all counts.

R v Mc – represented a defendant charged with money laundering with significant amounts of money passing through her account. On the day of the trial the prosecution offered no evidence following service of an expert’s report, prepared following extensive consideration of thousands of pages of bank statements.

R v P – represented a defendant involved in large scale drugs conspiracy involving a number of other defendants, which involved detailed consideration of mobile phone evidence and police surveillance evidence.

 Keith Whitehouse

Keith has been an Accredited Police Station Representative since 1994 and qualified as a Solicitor in 2008. He joined the firm in January 2020, and became a partner in August 2022.

He is a qualified Duty Solicitor and holds Higher Rights of Audience in the Crown Court. He has vast experience as an Advocate, having successfully represented clients in a number of high profile cases of Murder, Robbery, and Drugs Conspiracy.  He is a meticulous in the preparation and presentation of his cases, displaying a detailed knowledge and understanding of complex legislation and sentencing guidelines. A formidable and robust defence advocate.

Notable Cases 

1.  R v O and others Leeds CC Successfully represented O charged with Conspiracy to Murder in a multi-handed Trial. This involved expert analysis of multiple phone data and cell site evidence thereby persuading the jury to eventually acquit all six Defendants.

2. R v D and Others Leeds and Bradford CC . Defended D in a multi-handed Conspiracy to Murder case which involved the first application of a Serious and Organised Crime Act Contract in West Yorkshire whereby a former Defendant gave evidence for the Prosecution across two Trials. There followed complex legal argument on the issues of admissibility and joint enterprise.

3. R v G and Others Bristol CC. Successfully represented G in a multi-handed Conspiracy to Murder and Supply Firearms. G was the only Defendant of 8 to be acquitted of all charges.

4. R v O and Others. Successfully defended O charged with Conspiracy to Launder Money in a multi -national arena. This was a voluminous Complex Crime Case requiring meticulous scrutiny of Prosecution schedules and other unused material. The Prosecution case against O collapsed at Trial.

5. R v C. Successfully represented C charged with Causing Death by Careless Driving. By careful research and application of recent Case Law successfully persuaded the Magistrates to retain jurisdiction and thereby achieve a non-custodial sentence for the Defendant.

 Adrian Williams

Biography to be added shortly…

 Liam Jackson

Liam has vast experience of dealing with cases in the Police Station varying from all kinds of cases of serious nature as well as motoring offences.

He has had conduct over cases that have progressed towards the Crown Court, including robberies, sexual allegations, and Fraud.

Liam has a large interest in specifically Fraud offences and as well as dealing with Youths arrested at the Police Station.

 James Dixon

James joined the firm in July 2022 after obtaining a first class degree and completing the Legal Practice Course at the University of Law in Leeds. 

James is a trainee solicitor at the firm and participates in the firm’s on call rota, representing clients at the police station regularly.  He has dealt with numerous cases including driving offences, robbery, importation of class A drugs, fraud, assaults and sexual offences.  James also assists with general case administration and trial preparation for cases in both the Magistrates and Crown Court.

 Jess Hill

Jess completed her LLB (Hons) degree at Liverpool Hope University and went on to complete her LPC and LLM at The University of Law in Leeds. She is now a Trainee Solicitor at the Firm.

Jess is an Accredited Police Station Representative and regularly advises clients at the police station for all offences. She has prepared both Magistrates and Crown Court cases for offences including Driving Offences, Conspiracies to Supply Class A Drugs, Fraud, Money Laundering and Serious Assaults.

Jess recently used social media to challenge Identification Evidence resulting in an acquittal for the client at trial.

Lottie Monks

Lottie has recently completed her LLB and Legal Practice course at the University of Law in Leeds and now works as a Trainee Solicitor at the firm.

She is an Accredited Police Station Representative, enabling her to represent a client at the police station, however serious the allegation might be.

She is also currently undertaking in depth analysis and preparation of upcoming Crown Court cases, including drug supply and money laundering conspiracies, fraud, and rape. 

 Claire Wooderson

Claire moved to Yorkshire and joined us at M & A in 2019 as a legal secretary/receptionist and in 2023 was promoted to the position of Office Manager.

She has a key role within the office, supporting all members of the team, liaising with clients, barristers’ chambers and experts.

Claire manages the office diary, arranging appointments and the general day to day running of the office.

 Lucy Wells

Biography to be added shortly….

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