About Patrick Harrington QC
Patrick Harrington has an established practice in the most serious and high profile criminal cases. He has appeared in over 250 homicide cases with an almost equal division between prosecution and defence. Although he continues to conduct homicide and other cases normally categorised as "general crime", in recent years the bias of his practice has turned to financial crime. This is an area of work familiar to him but has now become a predominant part of his practice.
He is also instructed in Health and Safety cases having appeared in multiple death cases as well as cases such as R v Porter.1
It surprises some that he also does civil work: he still sits as a Recorder in civil. He maintains a long held interest in both planning and defamation.
Patrick Harrington also has a niche sports law practice both as an advocate and as an occasional tribunal chairman for the Welsh Rugby union. He is an immediate past vice president of the National anti-doping panel.
In Chambers guide to the legal profession he is described as "a top silk" and is categorised in band one for both general crime and financial crime.
Although for many years he has been described as one who "combines great people skills with a virtually guaranteed involvement in the leading cases on the (Welsh) circuit" his practice is much more widespread than this might suggest.
Patrick Harrington is currently instructed in cases in London, Liverpool, Birmingham and Bristol as well as Mold, Cardiff, Newport and Swansea. He has also recently been instructed in cases as far afield as Brunei and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
His interests outside his professional life are centred on sport and music. He follows Ebbw Vale RFC as well as the Welsh Rugby Team. He plays guitar, and plays in a band 'Brief Encounter' which comprises two silks, two judges and a junior barrister; he attends as many concerts as his diary permits. His book 'The Session Man' (written with Bobby Graham) (published by Broom House Publishing) charts the extraordinary story of Bobby's life as a session drummer in the 1960s.
1 [2008] EWCA Crim 1271
