Hannah Williams
Call: 2015
“This is an excellent set that has worked hard to secure a well-deserved position amongst the leading sets at the Criminal Bar.”
Chambers UK Bar, 2022
Personal profile
Hannah is a highly regarded junior with a specialist criminal practice.
She is experienced being led in the most serious cases, including attempted murder and organised crime, high-value fraud and, and large-scale drugs conspiracies. As junior alone, she has defended cases including attempted murder, kidnap and rape.
In addition to her defence practice, Hannah is a Level 3 Prosecutor on the CPS Advocate Panel List and Level 1 on the Serious and Organised Crime Panel List.
Hannah is instructed in all areas of criminal law and is confident to deal with complex legal and factual issues giving her insight that is far beyond her year of call.
She has a growing practise of cases involving violence, drugs and organised crime and has a particular interest and expertise in representing young people and vulnerable defendants facing serious offences. She is empathetic, able to build a quick rapport with lay clients and provide clear advice.
Serious & Organised Crime
Hannah is instructed in all areas of criminal law and is confident to deal with complex legal and factual issues giving her insight that is far beyond her year of call.
Featured Cases
- R v C [ongoing] – Led junior defending in a conspiracy in respect of people smuggling.
- R v C, L & T [2026] Led junior successfully prosecuting firearms offences arising out of a shooting.
- R v T [2025] Successfully defended teenager accused of arson with intent to endanger life
- R v K, K, A & F [2025] Successfully prosecuted a multi-handed case of allegations of drug conspiracies
- Operation Frizington [2025] Led junior prosecuting a 10-handed drugs conspiracy across East London.
- R v P [2024] Successfully defended P accused of kidnap, blackmail and robbery
- R v L [2023] Led junior instructed in a 12-handed case involving multiple counts of kidnap and blackmail in relation to alleged organised crime group.
- R v H [2022] Successfully defended a teenager accused of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.
- R v T [2022] Successfully defended a teenager accused in a multi-handed ‘honey trap’ kidnap and robbery.
- R v G [2024] Hannah was the only successful acquittal when defending G in a multi-handed large-scale drugs case.
- R v C [2022] Successfully defended C on counts of controlling and coercive behaviour and violence.
- R v S [2021] Hannah was the only successful acquittal when defending S in a multi-handed PWITS Class A trial over five days.
- R v L [2021] – Successfully defended L who faced counts of a high value theft against his vulnerable neighbour using the s28 procedure.
- R v V [2020] – Instructed alone for the first defendant who was accused of running a large-scale drugs conspiracy.
- R v S [2019]- Succeeded in running the defence of non-insane automatism after calling a defence expert and S was acquitted of all offences.
- R v Q [2019] – Led junior defending in historic allegations of ill-treatment/ neglect of care home residents lacking capacity whilst working as a mental health nurse.
Serious Violence
Featured Cases
- R v D [ongoing] – Instructed to defend a young female student of good character for s.18 GBH in respect of a late-night violent incident.
- R v H [ongoing] – Instructed to defend H accused of allegations of s.18 GBH against police officers.
- R v C [2024] Instructed alone in multi-handed attempted murder with youth defendants. Succeeded in negotiating a plea to s.18 GBH.
- R v D [2024] Successfully defended D in allegation of s.18 GBH.
- R v S [2024] Successfully prosecuted an allegation of s.18 GBH with a machete.
- R v M [2023] Led junior by a silk and successfully defended allegation of attempted murder.
- R v B [2021] – Successfully defended B in relation to an incident at a football match after a four-day trial of affray and avoided a football banning order.
Sexual Offences
Featured Cases
- R v S [2025] Successfully defended S at trial who faced allegations of rape, sexual activity with a child and witness intimidation.
- R v H [2025] Successfully defended H who was alleged with multiple counts of rape.
- R v K [2025] Defended in allegations of sexual activity with children in relation to three child complainants requiring the s.28 procedure.
- R v M [2023] Successfully defended M at trial who was alleged with rape. The case included detailed arguments in relation to previous sexual history under s.41 and bad character.
- R v B [2023] Hannah defended B in allegations of sexual communications with children. B was alleged to have met the children in person and then communicated with them at length on snapchat. B also had previous convictions for the same offences. B was acquitted after a seven-day trial.
- CCOBP v G [2021] – Successfully opposed an application for a standalone Sexual Risk Order brought by Bedfordshire Police after a two-day contested hearing including cross examination of police officers and neighbours of the Respondent.
Fraud
Featured Cases
- R v S [ongoing] – Led junior defending D1 of 10 defendants said to be the orchestrator of a £25M conspiracy to cheat the revenue. The sophisticated scheme alleged to have involved the use of more than 300 bogus companies, false accounts and corporate documentation, stolen identities as well as an entirely false paper trail, all in an attempt to defraud the revenue out of false reclaims for research and development.
- R v I [2025] Prosecuting in a complex contested POCA involving expert evidence in respect of cryptocurrency and international transactions.
- R v S [2024] Successful defended in contested high value POCA proceedings and after a two-day final hearing.
- R v D [2019] – D faced multiple counts of fraud to a total value of approximately £500,000 and possession of false identification documents with intent to use them. D pleaded guilty to all counts on a basis of coercion that did not amount to duress which the Crown accepted. He was also in breach of an 18-month SSO and received a total sentence of 46 months custody.
Healthcare Regulation
Hannah has wide regulatory experience for both prosecuting and defending and, in particular, in relation to health care professions.
Hannah has been instructed by the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) to present cases and has also been instructed to defend nurses in cases before the NMC. Before coming to the Bar, Hannah worked at Kingsley Napley LLP as a Regulatory Legal Assistant.
Featured Cases
- NMC v O – Hannah successfully argued for an Interim Suspension Order to be lifted for a nurse facing criminal allegations of assaulting a patient.
Education
- LLB Law (Hons) – University of Manchester
- BPTC (Very Competent) – University of Law
Awards
Prize winner for achieving the highest mark in Advanced Criminal Practice BPTC (University of Law)
Professional appointments
CPS Panel Advocate (General Crime) (Grade 3)
CPS Panel Advocate (Serious Organised Crime) (Grade 1)
Memberships
- Gray’s Inn
- Criminal Bar Association
- Young Fraud Lawyers Association
- Young Legal Aid Lawyers
- Woman in Criminal Law