Garden Court Chambers is delighted to announce that Keir Monteith, David Emanuel and Hossein Zahir of the Garden Court Chambers Crime Team will be formally appointed Queen’s Counsel. On 11 March 2019, the Lord Chancellor will preside over the appointment ceremony at Westminster Hall, where he will formally bestow the title of QC.
Keir Monteith (Call: 1994)
Keir Monteith represents clients facing heavyweight criminal allegations. He has been instructed in numerous murders, industrial scale Class A drug importations and conspiracies, multi-million pound frauds, multi-million pound confiscations, and escape from custody cases.
Keir was a winning member of the Crime Team of the Year Award at the 2015 Legal 500 Awards and was shortlisted for the same award in 2016 and 2017. Keir is a Recorder deployed to the North East Circuit.
Find out more about Keir Monteith
David Emanuel (Call: 1996)
David Emanuel has a wealth of experience in a wide range of serious and high profile criminal cases. In the last 18 months he has obtained acquittals in murder, terrorism, money laundering and duty evasion trials and regularly leads in complex frauds and serious sex cases.
David is recognised as one of the leading criminal appeal lawyers and regularly appears in the Court of Appeal. An extensive part of his practice involves written advices on the merits of out of time appeals and CCRC applications. David is a winning member of the Crime Team of the Year award at the prestigious 2018 Modern Law Awards for his work on the successful appeal against conviction for gross negligence manslaughter of consultant surgeon David Sellu.
Find out more about David Emanuel.
Hossein Zahir (Call: 1998)
Hossein Zahir has acted as lead defence counsel in some of the most high-profile criminal and terrorist trials in recent times and is recognised as one of the leading lawyers in this field. He also has particular experience in public order and protest cases. Formerly as a solicitor and now as a barrister he has represented defendants charged with murder, drug trafficking, firearms, fraud, money laundering and other serious and complex crimes.
Hossein was a winning member of the Crime Team of the Year Award at the 2015 Legal 500 Awards and was shortlisted for the same award in 2016 and 2017.
Find out more about Hossein Zahir.
These new silk appointments will bring the total number of Garden Court criminal defence silks to 20. The title of QC is awarded to those who have demonstrated particular skill and expertise in the conduct of advocacy. QCs are appointed by The Queen, on the advice of the Lord Chancellor. He is in turn advised by an independent Selection Panel which receives and considers each application and makes recommendations as to appointment.
