Richard Atkinson

Richard Atkinson is the Managing Partner of the Kent Branch who qualified in 1990. He specializes in preparing and supervising our serious and complex cases and is rated as “outstanding” by the ‘Good Lawyer Guide’ He has acted in many serious and high profile cases including for one of the defendants acquitted after four months of trial in the biggest cash robbery ever in this country. He has acted for a number of professional people including dentists, doctors, police officers, accountants and he has also advised a number of directors of international banks who were being investigated in relation to foreign exchange collusion allegations.

Richard also undertakes regulatory work and has acted for a number of companies and individuals who have faced investigation and prosecution by various regulatory bodies including the HSE and Environment Agency.

Richard is a Higher Court Advocate who has appeared in number of high profile cases including murders, serious sex offences, fraud and high value drug cases in the Crown Courts. He has successfully appeared at the Court of Appeal and has appeared before Courts Martial. He was appointed to the list of approved counsel at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Richard is a member of the British Academy of Forensic Sciences, the Criminal Law Solicitors Association and the Solicitors Association of Higher Courts Advocates and the Kent Law Society. He is actively involved in supporting the profession and seeking to influence developments within the area of criminal law through his chairmanship of The Law Society’s Criminal Law Committee. Richard is also a member of the Law Society’s governing Council.

He has been recognized for his work together with Robin Murray in seeking to improve the provision of criminal legal aid and they have been described by one national political figure as “two of the most inspiring criminal legal aid lawyers in the country”.
In 2020 Richard received a Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year award in recognition of his work in developing safer conditions for police interviews during the Covid-19 pandemic.