Francesca Levett

Year of Call: 1997

Education / Qualifications

LLB (Hons)

Specialist practice areas

Asset Forfeiture & Confiscation
Personal Injury
Crime

Profile

Francesca is a general criminal defence specialist. She has acted in a number of recent, high profile fraud trials, the most significant of which resulted in acquittals following successful Abuse of Process arguments. She is an experienced trial advocate and has appeared as a junior to leading counsel as well as conducting litigation in her own right. She has also recently undertaken a six month consultancy with a leading London law firm of white collar crime specialists and has considerable experience in dealing with voluminous cases. She has experience in VAT carousel fraud, corruption, other conspiracies to defraud and confiscation proceedings.

In addition to white collar crime, she practises in both serious criminal and civil litigation, with an emphasis on criminal defence and personal injury work. Her criminal cases have included manslaughter, multi-handed robberies (including armed and "steaming" robberies), aggravated burglaries, sex, drug and violent offences and cases involving children, both as witnesses and defendants.

 

The civil work she has undertaken includes personal injury, employment and housing cases, the majority of which have been 'paper-based', although she has also appeared at appeals and full hearings before the Court of Appeal, Administrative Court, High Court and County Courts.

She has also developed a practice in proceedings brought by Trading Standards, Environmental Health services, Revenue Protection and Local Authority Housing Departments. Her practice has included the provision of advice and assistance at a pre-issue stage, drafting Informations and Indictments, advising on developments in the law and attending hearings and trials in the Administrative, Crown and Magistrates' Courts. Her experience in regulatory law has also enabled her to conduct private prosecutions and other hearings on behalf of a major utility company.

Professional Memberships

CBA, YFLA

Languages

Conversational French and Italian