Meet the Team

Philippa is Managing Director of Southwell & Partners. She was called to the bar of England and Wales in 2009 as a Barrister, having cross qualified she practices as a Solicitor Advocate.

Philippa is Managing Director of Southwell & Partners. She was called to the bar of England and Wales in 2009 as a Barrister, having cross qualified she practices as a Solicitor Advocate. Prior to founding Southwell and Partners she set up and headed the human trafficking and modern slavery department at leading criminal firm Birds Solicitors. Philippa is also Managing Director of the Human Trafficking & Modern Slavery Expert Directory. She is a published author and co-author of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery Law and Practice (Bloomsbury 1st and 2nd Edition), Co Author of “Does the new Slavery Defence Offer Victims any Greater Protection” (Archbold Review 9th November 2015 issue 9).

Philippa is an award-winning and internationally recognised lawyer in the field of modern slavery law. She lectures extensively both domestically, throughout the Middle East and Europe. She was called to give evidence as a legal expert in the Home Affairs Committee Modern Slavery Inquiry, she provided both oral and written evidence during the inquiry.

Philippa has a very busy criminal practice which encompasses a whole spectrum of serious criminal work, including violent and sexual offences, false imprisonment, kidnap, robbery, drugs, fraud, murder, firearms, corruption, human trafficking and modern slavery cases.

Philippa advises companies on modern slavery and human rights due diligence and provides training to both the private and public sector. Philippa regularly lectures on all many aspects of modern slavery law, compliance, forced criminality and child criminal exploitation and has been invited as guest lecturer at numerous Universities.

Philippa drafted the Law Society practice notes on human trafficking and was advisor to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in relation to the UK's Modern Slavery Act 2015. Philippa has acted in most of the significant and leading cases involving victims of modern slavery and forced criminality of the last decade, including R v L & Ors [2013] EWCA Crim 991 and representing five of the six applicants in the specially convened victims of trafficking court before the Lord Chief Justice R v VSJ et all [2017] EWCA Crim 36.

Philippa acted in the landmark European Court of Human Rights case V.C.L. AND A.N. v. the United Kingdom (applications nos. 77587/12 and 74603/12). The case has far reaching impact for victims of human trafficking in relation to Article 4 and 6 violations.

She has acted at all levels, representing the interests of victims of trafficking, including during police station investigation stage, as well as in the Magistrates Court, Crown Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights.

Philippa also represents victims of human trafficking in statutory compensation claims via the Miscarriage of Justice Application Scheme. Where victims have been wrongly convicted and punished pursuant to the Criminal Justice Act 1988. She secured the first landmark compensation in 2017 for a victim of trafficking under this scheme.

Philippa has a particular interest in child criminal exploitation and regularly defends both British and foreign national children prosecuted for forced criminality offences, she was one of the first lawyers in the country to raise a s45 Modern Slavery Defence. She is regularly instructed on county lines exploitation cases.

She also has a large appellate case load and regularly advises on appeals against conviction and sentence in relation to applications to both the Court of Appeal and the Criminal Cases Review Commission. She was highly commended in the Law Society Excellence Awards for her modern slavery work and is recognised by the Law Society as the leading lawyer in this field. They have described her as ‘a fierce criminal defence solicitor, who specialises in defending and representing victims of human trafficking who have been prosecuted for criminal offences. She is a leading criminal solicitor in this field’.

Philippa sits on various advisory boards; she is advisory member for working group on Children and Young People in the Justice System for the Inns of Court College of Advocacy Grays Inn. She is advisory member of the Unaccompanied Migrant Children’s Court Steering Group- for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and child victims of human trafficking. She is also an advisory board member for Tackling Child Exploitation and board member of the Criminal Appeals Lawyers Association.

Philippa has provided data, legal commentary and recommendations for numerous reports and publications including publications for Bloomsbury, Archbold and LexisNexis.

Philippa is also involved in international criminal law work, involving war crimes and child soldiers and is on the List of Assistants to Counsel at the International Criminal Court.
Philippa is regularly consulted by many of the world’s leading media organisations for legal commentary on human rights and modern slavery law. She has also appeared in numerous documentaries and news channels.

Notable modern slavery cases
• R v N [2019] EWCA Crim 984
• R v T [2019] EWCA Crim 2151
• R v DD [2019] EWCA Crim 2099
• R v V (T) [2019] EWCA Crim 1223
• R v MD [2020] EWCA Crim 1650
• R v PBL [2020] EWCA Crim 1447
• R v TT [2020] EWCA Crim 1763
• R v AAJ [2021] EWCA Crim 1278
• R v DKN [2021] EWCA Crim 353
• R v BVL [2022] EWCA Crim 1009
• R v AAD, AAH, AAI [2022] EWCA Crim 106
• R v A.Z.E. [2022] EWCA Crim 1008
• R v AGM [2022] EWCA Crim 920
• R v BXR [2022] EWCA Crim 1483
• R v AFU [2023] EWCA Crim 23
• R v BYA [2022] EWCA Crim 1326
• R v AJW [2023] EWCA Crim 803
• R v BWM [2022] EWCA Crim 924
• R v HTP [2016] EWCA Crim 1959
• R v VSJ and Others [2017] EWCA Crim 36
• R v N [2019] EWCA Crim 191
• R v H [2018] EWCA Crim 2678
• R v L [2013] EWCA Crim 991 (THN)
• R v JXP [2019] EWCA Crim 1280
• R v N, R v L [2017] EWCA Crim 2129
• R v VSJ and Others [2017] EWCA Crim 36
• R v Y [2015] EWCA Crim 123
• R v N, R v L [2017] EWCA Crim 2129
• R v D [2018] EWCA Crim 2995
• R v N & O [2019] EWCA Crim 752
• R v N [2019] EWCA Crim 984
• R v O [2019] EWCA Crim 1389
• R v T(N) EWCA Crim 1569
• R v V(T) [2019] EWCA Crim 1223

Steven Bird is a founding Director of the firm. He is also the founding director of Birds Solicitors established in October 2000 prior to which he was a partner at Simons Muirhead & Burton from 1993 to 2000 having been with that firm as a trainee, qualifying in 1990. He remains the managing director of Birds Solicitors dividing his time between both firms.
He specialises in serious fraud, regulatory and criminal cases but especially:-
• serious fraud, including insider dealing, bribery and corruption;
• murder and other serious offences of violence;
• gross negligence manslaughter;
• large drug cases;
• confiscation and restraint proceedings;
• various regulatory matters (including corporate compliance under the Modern Slavery Act 2015, trading standards investigations, health and safety investigations or investigations involving financial regulation);
• rape and other serious sexual offences.
He is well known for taking on cases where there has been a potential miscarriage of justice and has a busy appellate practice both in the Court of Appeal and by way ofapplications to the Criminal Cases Review Commission. He represents previous
victims of miscarriages of justice in claiming compensation from the Home Office.
Steven has been rated as a star individual in the Chambers and Partners directory
since 2011 and has been described as having "excellent technical experience and
ability, allowing him to identify issues at an early stage". In various directory entries he
has been described as "a true class act", "a lawyer's lawyer” and "a superb solicitor
whose judgement can be trusted implicitly" and it is said that "he has incredible
procedural knowledge and he prepares and supports fabulously." He remains in that
position in the Chambers and Partners rankings and as a leading individual in the
Legal 500 for 2020.

Sally is a Consultant Solicitor Advocate at Southwell and Partners. Her professional career in criminal law began in 2009 at a busy criminal defence firm in North London.

Sally has extensive experience as a criminal defence solicitor and undertakes all types of general crime including but not exclusive to allegations of violence (sometimes resulting in death); weapons; drugs supply and fraud.

A tenacious and fearless defender who will consistently fight her client’s corner with passion. Sally excels in representing young and vulnerable defendants, ensuring that confidence and trust is fully established. She is also very personable putting people at ease with her warm and patient nature

Sally regularly defends heavily at the front line attending police stations and Magistrates’ and Youth Courts. She will always strive to achieve the best possible result for her clients and has an admirable success rate in her case load, regularly obtaining acquittals in all Courts and at the initial police station investigation due to her hard work and intricate knowledge of the law.

Very well versed in issues of Modern Slavery with an in depth knowledge of the surrounding legislation and National Referral Mechanism. Sally often spots indicators of slavery which have been overlooked by other professionals in the same individual for years.

Noteable cases:

* R v S – client charged with section 18 Grievous Bodily Harm. Complainant suffered multiple stab wounds, named JS and positively identified them in identification procedures. Identification excluded by legal argument and JS was acquitted.

* R v B – B was a youth accused of bringing weapons into his school. After an Abuse of Process argument and proving that B was a victim of Modern Slavery; following robust representations the Crown discontinued their case agreeing that it was not in the public interest to continue the prosecution.

* R v W and Others – client charged with Violent Disorder after organised football violence broke out in a pub. Police officer gave evidence that they identified W through CCTV. Facial recognition expert instructed and successful argument to exclude the officer’s evidence. Following arguments advanced on behalf of W not only was he acquitted but four (4) of their co-defendants were too on the back of our arguments.

* R v H – client charged with distributing extreme pornography videos and images. The sentencing range was between a two (2) and four (4) year custodial sentence and following robust submissions from the defence they received a twelve (12) month Conditional Discharge.

* R v R - client accused of supplying kilos of Class A and B drugs; there was also an unfortunate amount of incriminating telephone evidence which spanned over several years of supply. Indictment carved and a basis of plea was agreed following evidence from a drug expert instructed by the defence. Client received a suspended sentence order and unpaid work.

* R v K, L, J and Others – represented three of the nine co -defendants in Britains largest jewellery heist at the time worth approximately £40 million to Graff Jewellers. Two of the clients were acquitted and the case attracted significant media attention.

* R v A – Client accused of possessing a firearm found in the wardrobe of his house where he lived alone and bullets were scattered across their living room. A acquitted after trial.

* R v H – Appeal against sentence following charges of Assaulting an Emergency worker. Sentence halved on appeal.

*R v K – Client accused of rape and attempted rape of a colleague of who he was the manager of. Another one of his collegues gave evidence to support the complainant. Robust defence raised at interview including the provision of defence witnesses, personal correspondence and details of where the police would find CCTV footage to support his defence. No Further Action.

* R v J – Successful Abuse of Process argument following a broken promise not to prosecute by the police – acquitted.

* R v M – M accused of Obstructing a Drug Search – after uncovering an amount of flaws in the police procedure the Crown were forced to offer no evidence and M was acquitted.

Harry has been with Southwell & Partners since April 2023.
Harry has a diverse background encompassing experience in Immigration and Asylum law, Private Client matters, and Criminal law. Complementing his legal experience, Harry spent four years working in of sustainable housing, reflecting his drive for pursuing lasting societal change.
His first experience working on cases involving Modern Day Slavery came when he spent a year in Chennai, India with an Anti-Human Trafficking organisation. Working with the Government & Legal Team, Harry witnessed the brutal reality of forced labour first hand, and the efforts of others to combat it through advocacy. He later volunteered with the Bristol Hospitality Network as part of the Advocacy team, supporting destitute asylum seekers.

Education
• Harry graduated from Durham University in 2015 in Theology
• He completed the GDL (Conversion) in 2018
• He completed the LPC LLM in 2021

Nadia joined Southwell & Partners in April 2023 and has developed a keen interest in Human Rights and Trafficking of Children matters.
She has previous experience in Family Law, including Domestic Abuse and Children Act matters. During her studies she worked with UNICEF Netherlands, raising funds for the rebuilding of schools and youth and adolescent skills programs in Syria and Jordan, and volunteered for the AIESEC education programme in Bahrain.
Nadia is focused on achieving the best outcome for the firm’s clients and ensures they are treated with dignity and respect. She values attention to detail and dedication to clients.
Nadia achieved a First-class honours in her BSc in Psychology which she obtained in the Netherlands. She then went on to complete her GDL from The University of Law and is currently studying the SQE part-time to qualify as a Solicitor.
Nadia is fluent in German, Urdu and Punjabi.