Philippa Southwell is a specialist criminal defence and human trafficking lawyer at Birds Solicitors and head of the Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery department; Managing Director of The Human Trafficking & Modern Slavery Expert Directory; co-author of "Does the new Slavery Defence Offer Victims any Greater Protection" (Archbold Review 9th November 2015 issue 9). Philippa specialises in cases concerning victims of human and forced criminality. She has acted in several hundred slavery and human trafficking cases throughout her career. Philippa drafted the Law Society practice note on human trafficking and was advisor to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in relation to the UK's Modern Slavery Act 2015. She regularly delivers training to law enforcement and legal professionals on many areas of modern slavery law, including modern slavery regulatory compliance, both in the UK and internationally. Philippa has been involved in many of the significant and leading cases involving victims of modern slavery and forced criminality. Philippa founded the Human Trafficking & Modern Slavery Expert Directory in 2015, after identifying a desperate need for a single resource for professionals working in the counter human trafficking and modern slavery sector. Judge Michelle Brewer is a human rights and administrative law specialist at Garden Court Chambers.
She has acted in the leading Criminal Court of Appeal cases concerning the principle of non-punishment of victims of trafficking. She has represented Anti-Slavery International in the first Supreme Court case to consider the interplay between common law and UK obligations to trafficking victims under the regional and international instruments. She has been instructed in numerous claims in the European Court of Human Rights, representing victims of human trafficking. She appears regularly before the Administrative Court, Court of Appeal, and Supreme Court. Michelle regularly provides legal training on human trafficking to public authorities (police, local authorities, CPS and immigration service), civil society and the legal community. Ben Douglas-Jones QC, of 5 Paper Buildings has been in all of the leading cases on non-prosecution of victims of modern slavery and human trafficking since 2011. He specialises in human rights, appeals, complex fraud, serious crime and regulatory law, including consumer and intellectual property. Ben co-wrote the Crown Prosecution Service Guidance on charging and prosecuting victims of human trafficking from 2011 to 2019, the Law Society Guidance on the non-prosecution of victims of trafficking and refugee defences and the Judicial College Guidance on non-prosecution of victims of trafficking for judges.
He provides domestic and international training to judges, practitioners, law enforcement officers and industry compliance officers on human trafficking and modern slavery. He is also an attorney-at-law in Grenada, with rights of audience in the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal and a Recorder of the Crown Court.