Justin McClintock

“Justin is an exceptional barrister in all respects. He is extremely committed, hard-working and conscientious and his legal knowledge is beyond impressive. He has a calm and persuasive manner which allows him to deal with difficult clients with great ease. He is understanding, reassuring and always provides the best advice.” (legal 500, 2023)

“A talented barrister who combines first-rate tactical judgement with a charming courtroom manner. Justin is very thorough and pays particular attention to detail. He is very good with clients and always makes himself available for advice when needed.” (Legal 500, 2021)

“He has a lovely, calm manner with judges and juries alike.” (Legal 500, 2020)

Expertise

Justin is widely regarded as an accomplished criminal defence barrister. He is highly ranked in the Legal 500 barrister guide and was shortlisted for the Legal 500 Crime & Extradition Junior of the Year Award in 2023. His skill as an advocate has brought him consistent success defending the most serious criminal charges, often against the odds. The breadth of his expertise is reflected in regular instructions relating to sophisticated terrorist offences, cybercrime, and drugs offending.

Justin has developed a heavyweight homicide practice. Over the last four years he has represented defendants found not guilty in several highprofile murder trials. Justin has had similar success defending in attempted murder cases.

Justin has an equally strong financial crime practice, focussing on large-scale fraud and money laundering cases. Again, Justin has achieved consistent successful outcomes for defendants in these cases.

Justin is hard-working, approachable, and calm under pressure. He combines these qualities with good judgement, persuasive advocacy and excellent strategic advice. He routinely faces opponents who are in silk. His advocacy was described by the Court of Appeal as “fluent and succinct” in Caldwell [2021] EWCA Crim 2042.

Justin’s priority at all times is achieving the best possible outcome for his clients. His commitment to his clients is complemented by his proactive and intelligent approach to case preparation, legal argument, and the instruction of experts.

Notable Cases

Fraud, financial and regulatory

Operation Stormy: 

Justin defends in ongoing proceedings at Southwark Crown Court, in which the prosecution alleg that an organised crime group laundered tens of millions of pounds through shell company accounts linked to overseas companies.

Operation Horseshoe: 

Justin defends in ongoing proceedings re a cyberattack on Transport for London (TfL), said to have caused £39 million in damages and affected 10 million people.

Operation Moneypenny:

Justin successfully represented the lead defendant accused of a cross-border conspiracy to steal hundreds of thousands of pounds via the removal and theft of cash machines. His client was the only defendant acquitted on all counts by the jury, having not given evidence. Prosecuted by two counsel.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-68991721

Operation Elder:

Justin defends in an ongoing factually complex fraud/money laundering case at Southwark Crown Court concerning a £22 million pound loss to the taxpayer. Prosecuted by silk and junior.

Operation Jewel:

Defendant acquitted of conspiracy to commit rare earth metal fraud. Prosecuted by silk and junior.

Operation Vino Veritas:

Defendant acquitted of vintage wine fraud at Southwark Crown Court. Prosecuted by silk and junior.

Operation Goshtale:

Justin’s client was accused of laundering a large quantity of cash as part of an Organised Crime Group in London. The defendant was unanimously acquitted following trial. Prosecuted by two counsel.

Operation Wallace:

Justin, acting as leading counsel, represented a defendant accused of laundering money for individuals involved in importing over 175 kg of cocaine into the UK. His client was the only defendant to avoid an immediate custodial sentence after trial. Prosecuted by silk and junior.

Operation Kilo:

Case concerning tens of millions of pounds dissipated via cryptocurrency and other methods. Justin’s client avoided immediate custody. Prosecuted by silk and junior.

R v Haden and others:

Justin represented the lead respondent in what is now the leading authority on postponement and permitted periods under section 14 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. Case report: https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2024/344.html

Murder

R v J:

Ongoing proceedings involving allegations of murder and attempted murder involving the use of a firearm.

R v H:

Defendant accused of murdering an ex-soldier. Trial September 2026.

Operation Shepley:

Defendant acquitted of murder connected to a sham marriage scheme following trial at the Central Criminal Court. The jury returned a not guilty verdict following a seven-week trial in which the defendant did not give evidence. News item here. Court of Appeal decision re appeal against sentence here.

Operation Selbourne: 

Defendant acquitted after trial at the Central Criminal Court, having been accused of an “execution-style” murder in a London park. News item here.

Operation Seathwaite:

Defendant acquitted of conspiracy to murder, kidnap, and robbery after a six-week trial, having not given evidence. News item here.

Operation Foundation:

Murder trial involving difficult hearsay issues after the prosecution’s key eyewitnesses fled the jurisdiction. The case was further complicated by covert prison “confession” recordings.

R v S:

Defendant prosecuted for murder and attempted murder following the fatal stabbing of a student. The incident was captured from various angles on CCTV and attracted national media attention.

Operation Pemo:

Justin defended one of seven defendants accused of murder following a gang-related shooting in London (three-month trial).  Complex admissibility issues relating to gang evidence and music lyrics. Court of Appeal ruling: Heslop [2022] 2 Cr. App. R. https://www.judiciary.uk/judgments/r-v-heslop-ors/

Attempted murder and other serious violence

Operation Evolution:

Justin was leading counsel for the only defendant acquitted of attempted murder in a case concerning a mass armed confrontation in Leicester. Justin also achieved the dismissal of violent disorder charges against his client at the halfway point of the trial.

Operation Fever:

Defendant acquitted of double attempted murder where he fired shots, including one at close range through his co-defendant’s neck (see case summary under firearms cases).

R v RT:

Successful defence of defendant charged with attempted murder of a stranger on a bus. The case was complicated by expert evidence regarding the defendant’s chronic mental ill-health and legal argument relating to material found on the defendant’s phone. Successful representations were made to the Crown that a lesser offence should be accepted. News item here.

R v A: 

Unanimous not guilty verdicts on charges of kidnap, attempted GBH and ABH. Justin’s client was the only defendant to escape conviction on all charges, having not given evidence.

R v T:

Defendant acquitted of attempted murder following successful representations re unused material that supported the defendant’s account of self-defence.

R v S:

Defendant acquitted of false imprisonment following a successful half-time submission. News item here.

R v P:

Defendant acquitted of blackmail following successful submission of no case to answer. News story here.

R v A:

Defendant acquitted of skull mask Rolex robbery following successful submission of no case to answer re ‘moveable object DNA’ and successful application to refuse the prosecution permission to rely on CCTV evidence only served in the trial. News story here

Terrorism

R v L: 

Defence counsel in ongoing proceedings relating to eight counts of encouraging terrorism.

R v B:

Defence counsel for a child who admitted to disseminating a terrorist publication. The case received national media attention. Justin successfully argued for a Referral Order.

Firearms

Operation Fever:

Successful attempted murder defence in a nightclub “shootout” (see above) where both defendants fired almost simultaneously. The case involved complex “transferred malice” analysis, as a nearby food seller was shot by a bullet fired by the codefendant.

R v H:

Defendant acquitted of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

Drugs

R v O:

Ongoing prosecution concerning drugs valued at over £30 million — quantities described as “off the scale”.

Operation Niton: 

Conspiracy to import nearly 40 kg of heroin into the UK.

Operation Pincherry: 

Justin’s client acquitted of both a large-scale conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and conspiracy to convey prohibited articles into prison.

R v M: 

Justin successfully applied to exclude cell site evidence leading to the defendant’s acquittal of large-scale Class A drugs supply (news item here).

Operation Galaxy:

Defendant acquitted of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.

R v K:  

Justin’s client acquitted by the jury of conspiracy to supply 20kg of cannabis, having not given evidence.

R v Z:

Multi-kilo cannabis importation. Bail was obtained for the defendant before a negotiated compromise, resulting in a number of counts being dropped and the court imposing a suspended sentence.

R v M:

Successful sentence appeal resulting in a 2-year sentence reduction for conspiracy to supply cocaine, asserted to be worth £2.5 million (news item here).

Immigration Offending

Operation Lyne:

Conspiracy to facilitate the unlawful entry of Middle Eastern nationals into the UK. The conspirators are said to have accessed ‘a library’ of genuine EU travel documents, held by unknown individuals within the EU.

Operation Wintering:

Conspiracy to facilitate the unlawful entry of Indian nationals into the UK.

Rape & Sexual Offences

Operation Huai:

Successful defence in respect of human trafficking charges abandoned by the prosecution following extensive defence representations.  The case featured nearly half a million pages of evidence, which had a broad international dimension (the defendants being from China, Italy and the UK respectively)

Operation Hostel:

Defence of a woman at the centre of a massive and complex brothel network prosecuted by two counsel. Not guilty disposal on the principle charge of human trafficking.

The volume of digital evidence derived from 43 phones served by the Crown was truly vast (amounting to more than one million pages). The phones were mainly seized from the defendant’s home, said to be the headquarters and call centre for a nationwide network of brothels. The defendant disputed any involvement in running brothels/people trafficking, and her defence required a painstaking consideration of the messaging on the various phones

Operation Ajaxis:

Multifaceted prostitution network trial requiring consideration of in excess of 200,000 pages of evidence derived from 22 mobile phones used to organise the brothels.

Regulatory offences

Justin accepts instructions in a broad range of regulatory and disciplinary matters. He was also instructed as part of the defence team for Pakistan cricket captain Salman Butt in the high-profile disciplinary proceedings brought by the International Cricket Council alleging match fixing in test cricket matches (news item here).

Appellate Cases

Martis [2025] EWCA Crim 1094

Haden and others [2024] EWCA Crim 344 https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2024/344.html

Heslop [2022] 2 Cr. App. R. 2 https://www.judiciary.uk/judgments/r-v-heslop-ors/

Caldwell [2021] EWCA Crim 2042

Dahir (Adam Mohammed) [2018] EWCA Crim 2821

Regina v Maddin [2016] EWCA Crim 1283. Successful appeal against sentence in conspiracy to supply cocaine, asserted to be worth £2.5 million.

Republic Bank Limited (Appellant) v Lochan and another (Respondents) (Trinidad and Tobago) https://www.jcpc.uk/cases/jcpc-2014-0087.html –  Justin (led by Anand Beharrylal) successfully represented the respondents against Republic Bank Limited in a complex property dispute (news item here).

R (on the application of Wright) v CPS [2015] EWHC 628 (Admin) – successful appeal on the basis of flawed evidence re drugs identification  (news item here).

Allan v Croydon Council [2013] EWHC 1924 (Admin) – Successful case stated appeal against ASBO terms that were unnecessary / excessively restricted the appellant’s right to associate with his friends (reported here).