Stephen Parkinson

Stephen is the head of the Criminal Litigation Practice Area. He has extensive experience of business and financial crime litigation, as well as regulatory litigation and public law. He is a highly versatile lawyer with rankings in the leading directories in respect of business and financial crime; administrative and public law and professional discipline.

Outstanding in Field"

Spears Top 5 Criminal Lawyers, 2016

Widely recognised for his 'sensational' work, particularly defending high-profile individuals"

Who's Who Legal: Business Crime, 2016

Stephen frequently represents high profile individuals caught up in criminal or regulatory investigations. His background, working at the highest levels of government, makes him particularly well placed to advise in cases which need good political antennae and sensitive handling.

Stephen is included in the Times Law 100, the list of the most influential lawyers in the country.

In his varied career Stephen has been a prosecutor in the CPS, the Legal Adviser to the Companies Investigation Branches of the DTI and has had responsibility for all the Government's chancery and regulatory litigation. Between 1999 and 2003 he was the Deputy Head of the Attorney General's Office.

WHAT CLIENTS AND DIRECTORIES HAVE SAID

Really top-notch given his experience and insight. …His knowledge is amazing; he's very sharp and very quick."

Chambers UK, A Client's Guide to the UK Legal Profession, 2016

High minded and clever "

Chambers UK, A Client's Guide to the UK Legal Profession, 2016

Strong on the interface between criminal and public law". He is described as "very incisive, pragmatic and easy to work with." 

Chambers UK, A Clients Guide to the UK Legal Profession, 2016

Fantastic lawyer, with a political head on him,' ... 'absolutely cool in a crisis."

Chambers UK, A Clients Guide to the UK Legal Profession, 2015

Stephen Parkinson is head of the firm’s criminal and regulatory litigation group and another "major player in the UK market". Interviewees picked out his "phenomenal track record", which includes clients in several major SFO investigations as well as other high-profile clients such as the former Prime Minister Tony Blair in the Hutton Inquiry and former UBS chief executive Dr Marcel Rohner in relation to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards."

Who's Who Legal: Investigations, 2015

Stephen Parkinson has 'a very high standing in his field'... 'wonderful at offering strategic advice' and providing 'sound counsel' to clients."

The International Who's Who of Business Crime, 2013

Excellent lawyer, who has great objectivity, and is considerate and calm",

Chambers UK, A Clients Guide to the UK Legal Profession, 2013

Excellent strategic advice on highly sensitive issues",

Chambers UK, A Clients Guide to the UK Legal Profession, 2012

Professional, experienced, calm and knowledgeable",

Legal 500 UK. 2012

Stephen is 'cool and calm in a crisis' and has an ability 'to sift through material and find the bits that matter'...",

Chambers UK, A Clients Guide to the UK Legal Profession, 2012

Clients value his ability to 'see the problems and the issues immediately, and understand the easiest way to make progress'...",

Chambers UK, A Clients Guide to the UK Legal Profession 2011

Impressed clients describe him as 'an anchor in the middle of a storm'...",

Chambers UK, A Clients Guide to the UK Legal Profession, 2010

He is commended for his extensive knowledge and ability to explain complex information clearly",

Chambers UK, A Clients Guide to the UK Legal Profession, 2010

Master tactician",

Legal 500, 2009

An intelligent practitioner who has an acute awareness of political sensitivities",

Chambers UK, A Clients Guide to the UK Legal Profession, 2009

Outstanding track record",

Legal Business

 

Recent cases

• Represents Tesco Plc in the SFO investigation into its accounting practices.
• Currently advises senior business people in several other major SFO investigations.
• Represented the Financial Conduct Authority  in the Davis Inquiry (2014)
• Advised Rebekah Brooks in the early stages of operations Weeting and Elveden (phone hacking and police corruption) and the Leveson Inquiry. A Kingsley Napley team led by Angus McBride represented her at trial.
• Adviser to several former Cabinet Ministers on a range of criminal and public inquiry work: 2012 – to current date.
• Advised the former Prime Minister Tony Blair and all the No 10 and Cabinet Office witnesses in the Hutton Inquiry.
• Advised former Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major and former Deputy Prime Minister Michael Heseltine in the BSE Inquiry.
• Advised a key witness in the Iraq Inquiry.
• Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards: advised former UBS Chief Executive, Dr Marcel Rohner.
• Represented several clients in corruption investigation/prosecution in Turks and Caicos Islands.
• Represented Sir Ian Blair and other officers in the IPCC investigations arising out of the shooting of the Jean Charles de Menezes.
• Represented Sir Ian Blair in the Flanagan investigation for the MPA.
• Represented clients in the loans-for-peerages investigation.
• Represented clients in the BAE/Saudi corruption investigation.

 

Publications and Articles

Books:

• Author, with David Corker, Disclosure in Criminal Proceedings, published 2009

Articles and comment:

• Quoted in The Times, June 2017, Jury is still out on future of the SFO
• Quoted in Reuters, June 2017, Serious Fraud Office wins reprieve after May fails to mention abolition plan
• Quoted in Commercial Dispute Resolution Magazine, June 2017, Lawyers hit back as SFO threatened with the axe
• The Times, May 2017, Decision to axe Serious Fraud Office is bizarre in the face of £650m success by Stephen Parkinson
• Quoted in The Financial Times, May 2017, Lawyers urge May not to abolish fraud office
• Quoted in Law 360, May 2017, UK Lawyers Warn Nixing Fraud Squad Will Hurt Enforcement
• Quoted in Daily Mail Online, May 2017, End of the white collar crime buster: Serious Fraud Office to be axed after series of bruising scraps with Theresa May
• Quoted in The Law Society Gazette, May 2017, No sense in 'pulling the rug' from under SFO, lawyers say
• Quoted in The Guardian, May 2017 General election 2017: ITV hosts first leaders' debate – as it happened
• Quoted in  The Financial Times, May 2017 "Conservatives pledge to scrap Serious Fraud Office"
• Quoted in The Financial Times, March 2017 "SFO fights to keep white-collar crime role"
• The Lawyer,  October 2015 "Hot 100 Alumni - Stephen Parkinson"
• The Times, June 2014 'Should we follow the Scots by having a written constitution?'  (paywall access required)
• The Lawyer, June 2014 'Government bribery review: need for speed must not replace fairness'
• The Guardian, 'Keir Starmer to stand down as director of public prosecutions'  April 2013
• The Times, 'when is a bribe not a bribe', Stephen comments on the challenges of oligarch litigation, July 2012
• The Times, Ministers defy their experts to kill Serious Fraud Office and Standalone agency crucial in the fight against corruption, April 2011.
• The Telegraph, The Bribery Act is a case of 'right idea, wrong time' for the the Government, February 2011.
• Times online, CPS role in extradition cases, January 2011.
• Lawyer of the Week, The Times, July 2010.
• Stephen is a member of the Times Law Panel and of the Advisory Board of the Centre of Criminal Law, University College, London.

 

Professional SOCIETIES and Memberships

Stephen was called to the Bar in 1980 and requalified as a solicitor in 2005. He became a partner of Kingsley Napley in 2005 and the head of the Criminal and Regulatory Practice Area in 2006. He is also admitted to the Bar of the Turks and Caicos Islands in respect of a number of cases.