Ben Rich

Education

BA (Politics, Philosophy and Economics) University College, Oxford

Awards

Major Scholarship (Inner Temple)

 

Ben joined Chambers in April 2012 following successful completion of his pupillage.

He is regularly instructed to advise and represent defendants in the Magistrates', Youth and Crown Courts. His experience covers offences of violence, dishonesty and drugs, as well as road traffic offences. He also represents individuals who are the subject of confiscation and extradition proceedings. He is instructed by the Serious Organised Crime Agency to train senior and junior officers in presenting evidence in court.

During pupillage Ben gained wide experience in drafting, including advices for the Attorney General on unduly lenient sentences, skeleton arguments, schedules and case summaries. For five months he was a pupil to Treasury Counsel at the Central Criminal Court, where he assisted in the prosecution of cases of murder, attempted murder, firearms offences and perverting the course of justice.

Before being called to the Bar, Ben had a substantial career as a radio and television journalist at the BBC. He worked across BBC News, including six years as an editor on BBC2's Newsnight, before becoming Deputy Editor of the Six and Ten O'clock News on BBC1. In 2003 he won two awards for ‘Blair on Iraq: A Newsnight Special': a one hour programme on BBC2 in which the then Prime Minister faced an audience opposed to the conflict shortly before the fighting began.