Patrick Ormerod
Patrick is an Associate in our Business Crime & Investigations team. He acts for individuals and organisations in criminal investigations and proceedings, extradition proceedings, public law matters and public inquiries.
Patrick’s practice encompasses general crime, financial crime, protest law, public law, human rights and public inquiries. He has acted in cases involving allegations of fraud, money laundering, bribery, licensing and regulatory breaches, terrorism, violent and sexual offences, electoral offences, public order and social media offences, section 2 interviews, extradition and Proceeds of Crime Act proceedings. He also has experience of judicial review claims, criminal record disputes and the law relating to political parties and campaign spending.
He deals with a range of enforcement authorities and opponents, including the police, the Crown Prosecution Service, the Serious Fraud Office, central and local government agencies, and is an experienced litigator in the magistrates’ court, Crown Court, High Court and Court of Appeal. He has a track record of negotiating out of court disposals, discontinuances and civil penalties in lieu of prosecution.
Patrick has particular expertise in cases involving interference with human rights and civil liberties. He is recognised as an ‘associate to watch’ in protest law by Chambers & Partners and is ‘highly recommended’ by Netpol. He has acted in some of the most high-profile protest cases of recent years, advising campaign organisers and defending activists for peace and democracy, racial equality, women’s rights, environmental protection and action against climate change, and freedom of expression and assembly. He also acted in a number of noteworthy cases brought under emergency Coronavirus legislation.
Case examples
Coronavirus cases – acted in over 30 cases under emergency legislation, including Reclaim These Streets’ judicial review relating to the right to protest during lockdown, Neale v Director of Public Prosecutions, a case concerning the extent of the duty of citizens to assist law enforcement in the context of Coronavirus restrictions, and a challenge to hotel quarantine on behalf of Zaina Erhaim, a prominent Syrian journalist
R v Shone – defended the alleged administrator of an international anarchist website accused of terrorism and drugs offences in a prosecution involving complex technical evidence, resulting in the discontinuance of all terrorism charges and the successful opposition to an application for a Serious Crime Prevention Order
Undercover Policing Inquiry – assisted in the representation of numerous non-state, non-police core participants, including anti-Apartheid campaigners infiltrated by the Special Demonstration Squad in the 1970s
Cambridge Analytica scandal – advised a whistleblower on issues connected with revelations made about Facebook, Cambridge Analytica and the Brexit Referendum
Protest cases – defended women arrested/prosecuted for attending vigils during lockdown in 2021, Black Lives Matter activists prosecuted for public order offences in 2020, and dozens of Extinction Rebellion activists in numerous multi-defendant trials in 2019 in which the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer gave evidence for the defence