Laywers.
Simon Joyston-Bechal
(Solicitor, Director)
Simon heads the Turnstone Law team as Director and has over 25 years’ experience as a solicitor. Specialising in regulatory defence, he is widely regarded as one of the UK’s leading health & safety lawyers. His experience also covers fire safety, trading standards, product liability, food safety, white-collar crime, environmental defence, judicial review, human rights and commercial litigation.
More about Simon Joyston-Bechal
Having previously qualified as a doctor, Simon is uniquely placed to deal with technical, safety and health-related legal issues. He represented Cotswold Geotech in the first case to be brought under the Corporate Manslaughter Act, in which he managed to get manslaughter charges against the managing director dropped. He also acted successfully for the major oil companies in the aftermath of the Buncefield Oil Terminal explosion.
Simon advises across all sectors, with special interests in construction, energy, services, manufacturing, retail, education and restructuring. He chairs conferences and lectures regularly across the UK and in Europe, focusing on safety leadership and directors’ duties, giving practical advice on how to stay out of jail.
He is co-author of the textbook “Health & Safety Law for the Construction Industry”. Simon’s previous roles in the City were at Clifford Chance and as a partner at Pinsent Masons, where he led their national health & safety team for 10 years.
Memberships
- Health & Safety Lawyers’ Association – Chair of Policy and Thought Leadership Committee
- City of London Law Society Corporate Crime Committee – member
Education
- MA, MB BChir Cambridge University – qualification as a doctor 1989
- College of Law 1989 to 1991 – Common Professional Exam and Solicitors’ Final Exam
Valerie Charbit
(Team Barrister)
Valerie qualified as a barrister in 1992. In addition to her work as a Turnstone Law team barrister, she also practices through Red Lion Chambers. She has extensive experience across a wide range of criminal regulatory law, including health & safety, food safety and white collar crime.
More about Valerie Charbit
Valerie has had several notable successes in the Court of Appeal. She is on the Grade A (top tier) list of Specialist Regulatory Advocates in Health & Safety and is ranked as a leading barrister in health and safety by Chambers & Partners 2021. Her health & safety experience includes defending and prosecuting companies, NHS trusts, local authorities and individuals, including directors and trustees.
Examples of her work include gas and chemical explosions, falls from height, electrocution and exposure to asbestos. She has been instructed in cases involving fatalities or serious injury on construction sites, care homes, hospitals, factories and railways. She has recently advised and defended a large high street retailer for food safety offences and health and safety offences. She has also prosecuted for the Office of Rail and Road.
Valerie’s white-collar crime experience includes multi-party trials of corruption and large scale fraud. She is Wellbeing Director for the Criminal Bar Association and represents the Criminal Bar Association on the Bar Council’s working party group on wellbeing. She is a part-time Tribunal Judge and an ethics and advocacy trainer for Middle Temple. She was an Ombudsman for the Financial Ombudsman Service between 2010 and 2012 and was a voluntary member of the Bar Standards Board from 2007-2013.
Memberships
- Health and Safety Lawyers’ Association
- Criminal Bar Association
- Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers
- Mental Health Lawyers’ Association
- South Eastern Circuit
Education
- 1988-1991 Sheffield University LLB Law (Hons) 2:1
- 1992 Awarded Middle Temple Scholarships: Sir Joseph Cantley Prize, Ravenscroft Prize
- 2000-2002 Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and Kings College London MA in Text and Performance Studies – Merit – Distinction for dissertation
Voluntary work
- Director/Board member of Inclusion London
- School Governor
Fiona Horlick QC
(Team Barrister)
Fiona qualified as a barrister in 1992. In addition to her work as a Turnstone Law team barrister, she also practices through Outer Temple Chambers.
She has experience across a wide range of criminal and regulatory law, including health & safety, fire safety, food safety, maritime and white-collar crime. She is the co-editor and contributing author of the premier international textbook on bribery, ‘Lissack and Horlick on Bribery’.
More about Fiona Horlick
Fiona has been an advocate in all courts from the Privy Council downwards. Her health & safety experience includes fatalities and serious accidents, as well as advising multinationals, utilities companies, construction companies and airlines on their compliance with regulations. She has appeared at many inquests.
Her instructions include advising a participant at the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, defending a care home in a prosecution brought by the Care Quality Commission and prosecuting a large multi-national security services company as a result of a suspected legionnaires outbreak at their premises. She is particularly sought after by clients for her strategic input into investigations pre-PACE interview with a target of achieving a result of ‘no further enforcement action’.
Her experience of business and financial crime, regulation and enforcement is wide-ranging. It includes bribery and corruption, large scale MTIC/carousel fraud, international advance fee fraud, tax fraud, fraudulent trading, mortgage fraud, money laundering and asset recovery.
Before her elevation to becoming a QC, Fiona was consistently ranked as a Band 1 (top tier) leading junior barrister, in both Chambers & Partners and Legal 500. She is now ranked as a respected New QC.
Memberships
- Health and Safety Lawyers’ Association
- Criminal Bar Association
- Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary lawyers
- Financial Services Law Association
Education
- Westminster School, London
- Kings College, London LLB Law
Alexandra Tampakopoulos
(Team Barrister)
Alexandra qualified as a barrister in 2007. She specialises in regulatory crime, particularly health & safety, fire safety, food safety, Coroner’s Inquests and public inquiries. She has been instructed in a number of high profile cases, including the Didcot Power Station collapse, the Manchester Arena bombing, the Grenfell Tower public inquiry, the Litvinenko inquiry, Hillsborough and the ‘SAS Inquest’ involving the death of three army reservists from heat illness in the Brecon Beacons.
In addition to her work as a Turnstone Law team barrister, she also practices at 2 Hare Court barristers’ chambers.
More about Alexandra Tampakopoulos
In the Health and Safety field, Alexandra’s practice covers the full range of offences from corporate to gross negligence manslaughter to prosecutions under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 arising from fatal and non-fatal accidents. She also advises and acts in relation to appeals against enforcement notices. She has significant experience advising and acting for clients across a wide range of sectors including energy, construction, retail, manufacturing and agriculture.
Alexandra has extensive experience advising on cases arising from food safety, hygiene and food labeling and has defended a number of prominent restaurants, food chains and manufacturers.
In addition, she has advised on fire safety law including appeals against fire safety enforcement notices.
Alexandra is a specialist defence advocate and is ranked as a leading individual in the Health & Safety section in Chambers UK 2021. She was nominated as Health and Safety Junior of the Year in the Chambers UK Bar Awards 2018 and Public Law Junior of the Year by The Legal 500 in 2018.
Memberships
- Health and Safety Lawyers’ Association
- Criminal Bar Association
- Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers
Education/Awards
- BA (Hons) Russian and History, University College London
- MSc Human Rights, LSE
- CPE (Law Conversion), City of London
- Bar Vocational Course, Inns of Court School of Law
- Awarded the European Commission and Quintin Hogg Scholarship and Hardwicke Scholarship
Memberships
- Health and Safety Lawyers’ Association
- Criminal Bar Association
- Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary lawyers
Education
- 1981-1984 University College, Oxford BA (Hons) Philosophy Politics and Economics (First)
- Major Scholar, Inner Temple 2009
- ‘Outstanding’ result in Bar Vocational Course 2010
Ben Rich
(Team Barrister)
Ben qualified as a barrister in 2010. In addition to his work as a Turnstone Law team barrister, he also practices through 2 Hare Court barristers’ chambers. He has a practice across a range of criminal regulatory work, with a particular focus on health & safety, inquests and white collar crime.
More about Ben Rich
Ben has appeared in the Court of Appeal, High Court, Crown Court and Magistrates’ Court. He is an experienced trial advocate in front of juries and magistrates.
In 2016-2017 Ben spent over a year instructed in a complex health and safety case involving two sets of charges for separate incidents. After obtaining a number of expert reports on fire and gas safety and making sustained representations one case was dropped entirely. The second was the subject of a guilty plea on a detailed basis after which the company, with a turnover of nearly £200 million, was fined in the tens of thousands.
Ben has experience of high-value, complex fraud and other white collar work. He recently represented a company director accused of 14 counts of fraud and unfair trading. He represented another sole trader and negotiated the basis of plea in a £1m motor vehicle fraud. He previously undertook 10 months’ work on a major land-banking fraud being prosecuted by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Before switching to law, Ben had a successful career as a journalist for the BBC. As an editor at Newsnight and Deputy Editor of the Six and Ten O’clock News, his interest in health & safety was sparked by his responsibility for the safety of staff visiting hazardous environments on location. His skills as a journalist give him an edge as a lawyer when it comes to seeing behind the arguments, getting to the nub of an issue quickly and giving clear concise written advice.
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