Harry Laidlaw

Harry has a busy and diverse practice, specialising in crime, inquests, public inquiries and health and safety work.

His grounding is in crime and he regularly acts for the prosecution and defence across the spectrum of serious criminal offences. Recently he has been involved in cases involving serious violence (including murder), firearms, drugs offences, fraud, rape and child sex offences. He is often instructed to represent vulnerable individuals who suffer with a range of mental health difficulties.

Harry also has experience defending in cases brought by a wide range of enforcement authorities such as the Health and Safety Executive. Recent instructions include defending in the case of Reading Borough Council v R P Ltd, a child death health and safety prosecution, and defending a director of a company charged with various Health and Safety at Work Act offences after an employee died at work.

He has extensive experience representing those afforded interested person status at inquests including medical professionals, care homes, medical facilities, companies and families of the deceased. He is particularly adept at acting in inquests with complex medical or health and safety issues and for professionals who are at risk of criticism.

Harry also has experience representing core participants at public inquiries, he is currently instructed as junior counsel to Post Office Ltd in the Horizon IT Public Inquiry.

Outside of court work Harry regularly advises organisations and individuals at the pre charge stage in matters of a criminal or quasi criminal nature. He is currently instructed by Peters & Peters as junior counsel in relation to the Post Office ‘Horizon’ Appeals reviewing hundreds of convictions from the Post Office’s use of data from the Horizon computer system in prosecutions between 2000 and 2014.

Harry acts on both a private and publicly funded basis.