Will Byrne

SPECIALISMS:

Civil

Will is regularly briefed in small claims and fast track trials, infant approvals and disposal hearings. He has dealt with road traffic, employers’ and occupiers’ liability claims. He has extensive experience of credit hire cases, acting for both claimants and defendants. Will drafts pleadings, advices and skeleton arguments.

Will is often called upon to represent claimants at criminal injuries compensation appeals and interested parties at inquests. He also has experience of interlocutory applications, detailed costs hearings and applications for injunctive relief.

Will accepts civil work under all funding arrangements.

Crime

Will has a particular interest in crime, regularly appearing in both the Magistrates and Crown Court. He is well-versed in road traffic law, prosecuting on behalf of the DVLA and representing defendants in exceptional hardship applications, challenges to s. 172 notices, careless driving and speeding matters. He completed his LLM dissertation on anti-social behaviour orders.

LECTURES AND SEMINARS:

Will often gives CPD accredited seminars to solicitors, most recently on interim injunctions and on human rights. In 2010 he gave a lecture to the Italian Criminal Bar Association in Italy.

EDUCATION:

1998-2002 BA (Hons) Law with European Law, Universities of Nottingham and Göttingen, Germany
2005-2006 Bar Vocational Course, University of Northumbria
2005-2007 LLM Advanced Legal Practice (Distinction), University of Northumbria

SCHOLARSHIPS AND AWARDS:

Gray’s Inn
2007 The Graham Challis European Scholarship
Awarded for work at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
2006 The Lee Essay Prize
Awarded for an extended essay examining the compatibility of laws criminalizing Holocaust denial with the European Convention on Human Rights
The Kalisher Scholarship Trust
2006 Kalisher Award
“In recognition of evident talent and commitment to the criminal bar.”
University Prizes
2006 The Lexis Prize University of Northumbria
Awarded to the BVC student who achieves the highest mark of the year in the legal research examination.
2002 The Law Graduates’ Association Moot Prize University of Nottingham
For the “best competitor in the final of the Moot Competition.”
2002 The Punch Coomaraswamy Prize University of Nottingham
Given to a student “who has made an outstanding contribution to the life, work and well-being of the School of Law and to its capacity to operate successfully as a multi-cultural community.”

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Between 2002 and 2005, Will taught English at a Senior High School in rural Japan. Before commencing pupillage with Trinity, Will spent a little over three years at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Starting as an intern, he was then appointed Consultant to the Office of the Prosecutor working on the prosecution of the former Prime Minister of Kosovo, Ramush Haradinaj. He subsequently worked as the Senior Legal Assistant to Counsel and Co-counsel acting for the defence of the most senior police officer at Srebrenica, Ljubomir Borovčanin. Will speaks some German and Japanese.