Chris Daw QC was born in Milton Keynes in 1970 and went to a state comprehensive school and 6th Form College in the 1980s. After a brief period in management consultancy after A Levels he read law at Manchester University and went on to the Inns of Court School of Law, before being Called to the Bar in 1993 by The Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn. Since then, save for a short but successful sabbatical in the world of business, Chris has practised criminal law, first as a busy junior, and then as Queen’s Counsel or “Silk”. Chris has acted in some of the most serious and high profile criminal trials of recent years, including the fresh inquests and criminal trial arising out of the Hillsborough Stadium Disaster, the defence of former England football captain, John Terry, and countless cases of murder, serious fraud, money laundering, armed robbery and international drug trafficking. Chris writes for various publications on criminal justice issues, including the Spectator and the Financial Times, and appears as an expert source on both BBC radio and television. He is an active commentator on criminal justice issues on social media, including Twitter where he tweets as @crimlawuk.
Chris is a powerful force for good in the national debate on criminal justice. You should all go out and buy his book. * The Secret Barrister * Fast-paced, engaging and littered with fascinating and often shocking real-life cases, Daw portrays a judicial system that’s broken from the lowest courts to the toughest prisons in the land, suggesting solutions that are as provocative as they are persuasive. -- Matthew Wright, Broadcaster Extraordinary * Krishnan Guru-Murthy * A shocking, disturbing, revealing and enlightening examination of a deeply flawed criminal justice system by someone who’s seen at first hand what the problems are, and more importantly, knows how they should be fixed. -- Piers Morgan A hard hitting, page turning account of the failures of our criminal justice system describing through some of the author’s own cases not only how our system evolved but also why it fails to deliver to the public the protection they deserve. -- Cherie Blair QC A passionately written blueprint for resolving some perennial problems with our justice system ... A powerful case for reform. -- Geoffrey Robertson QC Uncomfortable truths told in a compassionate and thoughtful way. Importantly, Chris offers hope and credible solutions. -- Lady Edwina Grosvenor, Prison Philanthropist Emotionally searing … A political homme sérieux with a determination to reform our disintegrating criminal justice system. -- Jonathan Aitken * The Tablet * Will stand as a blueprint for criminal justice reform for decades to come … A must read for those in power who genuinely want a system that works. -- Erwin James * Inside Times *