Extradition, INTERPOL & Mutual Legal Assistance

Three Raymond Buildings has been at the forefront of extradition law for over fifty years and is the leading set in this field. We have acted in many of the landmark decisions and have been instrumental in shaping the development of extradition law, from the Pinochet case, in which we were instructed on all sides of the proceedings, to El-Khouri, which saw the Supreme Court overturning twenty years of precedent set by the House of Lords in Cando Armas, in which we also acted. Members of chambers routinely handle the highest-profile and most complex extradition matters including Abu Hamza, Gary McKinnon, Boris Berezovsky, the Rwandan genocide cases, Shrien Dewani, Mike Lynch, Jack Warner, Julian Assange and many others. We have appeared in the first-ever extradition requests from countries such as Algeria, Montenegro, Bermuda, Serbia and Kuwait.

The depth and breadth of expertise and experience within Chambers means that we are able to advise any party at all stages of the extradition, with our unparalleled reputation in this field sustained by recognised extradition specialists at all levels of call. We regularly act for requested individuals, requesting states, foreign judicial authorities, the CPS and the Secretary of State, from the initial hearing in Westminster Magistrates’ Court through to appellate proceedings before the High Court, the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights.

We also advise on UK requests for extradition as well as on extradition proceedings in foreign and Commonwealth jurisdictions and before the Privy Council.

Our expertise in extradition law is complemented by our pre-eminence in the field of INTERPOL, with members successfully acting for numerous high-profile individuals before the Commission for the Control of INTERPOL’s Files to prevent the processing of notices, diffusions and other data by INTERPOL or to achieve their deletion if already published. Relatedly, we have acted for national central bureaus before INTERPOL’s internal bodies in disputes concerning the processing of such data. We have also advised States on membership of INTERPOL, suspension from access to the INTERPOL Information System, and the privileges and immunities of INTERPOL and its officials. We continue to be instructed in watershed confidential arbitration proceedings against INTERPOL. Consistent with our market-leading position, members of chambers are the authors of the two key texts on INTERPOL: A Practical Guide to INTERPOL and Red Notices (Bloomsbury, 2024) and The Legal Foundations of INTERPOL (Hart Publishing, 2020).

We are also experts in mutual legal assistance and are instructed regularly by the UK authorities to advise upon and draft letters of request to foreign jurisdictions. Further, we advise foreign governments wishing to obtain evidence from the UK for use in their domestic proceedings, as well as individuals and companies affected by mutual legal assistance requests, whether as potential suspects or witnesses. We offer specialist advice and representation in legal challenges arising out of such requests and have appeared in many of the leading cases in this field, including those relating to Berlusconi, Zlochevsky and the so-called ‘ISIS Beatles’.