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Home  /  Team

The team

Meet the team.

Solicitors, advocates and counsel who made their names in the largest London offices — and who still take the call themselves.

Our solicitors, advocates and counsel

Yaqub Hussain

Sole Proprietor

Yaqub Hussain

Yaqub has built a niche practice in the field of criminal law. Having litigated in a number of major cases in recent years, ranging from serious fraud, homicide and terrorism, Yaqub is seen as a major player in the field of serious crime.

y.hussain@lpevans.com 07823 440046
Zoe Maria Nicola

Solicitor

Zoe Maria Nicola

Zoe has been a leading criminal solicitor for the last 20 years, appearing in some of the UK’s highest profile cases. A solicitor with meticulous attention to detail on her cases and a strong belief in the rights of the accused make her one of the most sought-after criminal solicitors in the country.

z.nicola@lpevans.com 07957 426815
Alex Sirghi

Solicitor Advocate

Alex Sirghi

A highly accomplished criminal defence lawyer, Alex’s professional achievements include having provided criminal defence services in high profile cases, several of which are regarded as notable. As an accredited Criminal Duty Solicitor and Higher Rights Advocate, Alex is a member of the Criminal Litigation Scheme and able to advise anyone arrested for any type of criminal offence.

a.sirghi@lpevans.com 07803 548428
Michael Levy

Consultant Solicitor Advocate

Michael Levy

Michael is our most senior consultant, a solicitor advocate with more than thirty years in practice and one of the country’s leading specialists in serious and complex fraud, financial crime and money laundering investigations.

info@lpevans.com
Neil FitzGibbon

Barrister

Neil FitzGibbon

Neil is a successful criminal defence barrister, called to the Bar in 1989, with expertise in a range of specialist areas — foremost among them health and safety — and extensive experience in coroner’s inquests, inquiries and courts martial. He undertakes trials around the country and abroad and is the go-to barrister for aviation, fire and rail defence. Over the last 30 years he has successfully defended in many notable trials, receiving considerable acclaim for his thorough approach and skilful but determined cross examination.

info@lpevans.com
Steve Foster

Consultant

Steve Foster

Steve has almost 30 years’ experience in defending those investigated and prosecuted for the most serious offences, many of which have attracted national and international media coverage.

s.foster@lpevans.com

Sole Proprietor

Yaqub Hussain

y.hussain@lpevans.com 07823 440046

Yaqub Hussain deals with a succession of serious cases, especially drugs and murder. He also has a substantial fraud practice; recent instructions include HMRC and bank fraud, and large scale money laundering. He acts for a number of high profile clients.

Yaqub made his name acting for the defence in the Heathrow liquid terror plot and today is recognised as one of the most dynamic and committed solicitors in the country. He has been featured in an article about modern Muslim heroes, and in Emel Magazine.

Mr Hussain is also LP Evans’ designated Compliance Officer for Finance and Administration (COFA).

Looking at life in prison, Yaqub was everything I needed in the Terror Liquid Plot. An inspiration who is savagely loyal to his clients. In court he is possibly the most professional and well mannered person I have seen, and this respectful approach is seen in every aspect of his dealings and demands respect from everyone he meets. If you need someone in your corner that will fight for you the best they can then Yaqub is top of the pack. I would highly recommend him to anyone and everyone.
DSW

Notable cases

Terrorism

  • R v S and Others (Woolwich Crown Court) — conspiracy to blow up transatlantic airliners with liquid bombs. Client acquitted.
  • R v R — preparing acts for terrorism; conviction being reviewed by the CCRC.
  • R v R (Court of Appeal) — possession of explosives. The defendant had a previous terrorism conviction; the case was dismissed by the judge on abuse of process grounds and the Court of Appeal upheld the dismissal.

Drugs

  • R v LW (Basildon Crown Court) — significant Class A conspiracy; the accused was recorded handing over a quantity of cocaine. Defence of lack of knowledge. Acquitted.
  • R v S (Birmingham Crown Court) — importation of Class A through UK airports, and firearms.
  • R v R (Leeds Crown Court) — importation of millions of pounds of Class A drugs (the ‘James Bond jet ski’ plot).
  • R v A (Liverpool Crown Court) — Operation Starlight international drugs conspiracy. Client acquitted.
  • R v AA (Teesside Crown Court) — conspiracy to supply Class A. Client acquitted by the jury.
  • R v IA (Southwark Crown Court) — conspiracy to supply Class C medication. Client acquitted by the jury.
  • R v S and Others (Sheffield Crown Court) — large scale conspiracy to supply Class A. Client acquitted by the jury.
  • R v S and Others (Woolwich Crown Court) — Colombian cocaine importation. Supergrass case.
  • R v M and Others (Ipswich Crown Court) — major importation of Class A drugs.

Murder

  • R v L (Winchester Crown Court) — 28-year-old acquitted of a ‘body in the boot’ murder in Bournemouth.
  • R v C (Central Criminal Court) — 14-year-old charged with the murder of an 18-year-old.
  • R v N (Central Criminal Court) — teenager acquitted of murder, along with his brother who was acquitted of perverting the course of justice.
  • R v XS (Central Criminal Court) — defendant extradited from Albania, alleged professional hitman. Yaqub and his team persuaded the Crown to accept the lesser charge of possession of a firearm.
  • R v S and Another (Central Criminal Court) — murder, with complex issues of joint enterprise.
  • R v F and Another (Isleworth Crown Court) — child cruelty resulting in death.

Fraud and other

  • R v DG and Others (Sheffield Crown Court) — landmark case under the Gangmasters Licensing Authority where hundreds believed their employers to be fully licensed. Defendant acquitted by the jury.
  • R v M and Others (Stafford Crown Court) — lead defendant on multiple modern day slavery charges.
  • R v SP (Southwark Crown Court) — high profile UAE official. Client acquitted of all charges.
  • R v O (Bristol Crown Court) — lead defendant in an organised grooming and sexual abuse case. Acquitted by the jury.
  • R v C (Birmingham Crown Court) — lead defendant in a large tobacco fraud privately prosecuted by a major Chinese tobacco firm.
  • R v H (Southwark Crown Court) — large timeshare fraud across multiple jurisdictions, prosecuted by three separate agencies.
  • R v I (Manchester Crown Court) — one of the largest mortgage fraud investigations in the country.
  • R v R (Central Criminal Court) — one of the defendants in the largest ever seizure of firearms to enter mainland Britain.
  • R v D and Others (Southwark Crown Court) — gang involved in a multi-million-pound conspiracy to steal expensive vehicles at gunpoint.

Client identities are protected. Every case turns on its own facts; past results are not a guarantee of any particular outcome.

Solicitor

Zoe Maria Nicola

z.nicola@lpevans.com 07957 426815

Zoe has extensive experience representing those facing the most serious allegations, including deprivation of citizenship, terrorism, murder, manslaughter, rape, sexual offences, money laundering, fraud, confiscation proceedings, firearms and violent offences, robbery, multi-handed drug importations and conspiracies, and death by careless driving.

Zoe qualified in 2002 and since then has had conduct of numerous high-profile criminal cases. Her expertise lies in terrorism and fraud, and she excels at the forensic, detailed analysis required when dealing with accounting, forensic and cell-site data. She has also represented clients pursued under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, and is regularly instructed to defend in serious sexual offences.

Zoe has been instructed by an international corporate client in a European multi-jurisdictional mutual assistance money laundering investigation, where a settlement was ultimately secured — work which involved advice on European arrest warrants. More recently she acted in several multi-handed drug and county lines cases, and represented an interested party in the inquest into the deaths arising from the London Bridge and Borough Market attack of 3 June 2017.

Zoe is accustomed to liaising with all arms of law enforcement on a daily basis, and to digesting vast volumes of evidence — forensic, banking, cell-site, telephone, expert and witness material — then preparing summaries, briefs to counsel and advice to clients.

Notable cases

Terrorism

  • R v H & H and Others (2001–2003) — IRA case involving two brothers charged with conspiracy to cause explosions in London and Birmingham; the last Real IRA bombing campaign of its kind on the UK mainland.
  • R v M and Others (2006) — arrest of Bradford students under ss.57 and 58 Terrorism Act 2000 relating to downloading ‘extremist’ literature. Conviction subsequently quashed by the Court of Appeal.
  • R v A (2006) — directly connected to the transatlantic liquid bomb plot; s.38 Terrorism Act 2000. Acquittal secured.
  • R v M and Others (2006–2008) — multi-handed case involving receiving terrorist training, linked to the 7/7 bombings, under s.6 Terrorism Act 2006.
  • R v K and Others (2008) — man accused of soliciting the murder of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
  • H2 v Secretary of State for the Home Department (2013) — SIAC case involving international terrorism and illegal rendition.
  • R v H and Others (2016) — allegations of funding a proscribed terrorist organisation in Syria.
  • R v A (2013) — murder of a soldier, relying on a novel defence of ‘under the Queen’s peace’. Investigated by SO15.
  • London Bridge Inquest (2019, Central Criminal Court) — representation of an interested party at the inquest into the deaths of eight individuals killed on 3 June 2017.

Drugs

  • R v A and Others (2019) — multi-handed £65 million conspiracy to manufacture steroids.
  • R v A and Others (2021, Kingston Crown Court) — multiple count indictment relating to a conspiracy to supply Class A as part of a county lines operation.

Fraud

  • R v G (2009) — bank fraud, nine co-defendants, conspiracy to steal and false accounting, involving voluminous accounting and telephone data. Acquittal secured.
  • Public Prosecutor’s Office Netherlands v Lycamobile (2011) — brought by the Dutch National Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Criminal Assets Deprivation Bureau regarding possible tax violations. Settlement secured.
  • R v A (2012, Central Criminal Court) — ten-week multi-handed million-pound Cisco fraud.
  • R v S (2012) — bank fraud involving forensic analysis of banking documents, transactions and mobile phone data, with substantive disclosure issues. Acquittal secured.
  • R v M and Others (2016) — conspiracy to defraud prosecuted by the London Borough of Redbridge; false claims to housing and in-work benefits totalling over £1,600,000, followed by POCA confiscation proceedings.
  • R v H (2018, Southwark Crown Court) — £6 million conspiracy to cheat the public revenue by diverting funds owed to HMRC through a network of accounts in the UK, Dubai, Jersey and Switzerland.

Client identities are protected. Every case turns on its own facts; past results are not a guarantee of any particular outcome.

Consultant Solicitor Advocate

Michael Levy

info@lpevans.com

Michael is a solicitor advocate with over thirty years of professional experience, and is recognised nationally as one of the country’s leading specialists in serious and complex fraud, financial crime and money laundering investigations.

His particular expertise covers Missing Trader Intra-Community (MTIC) fraud, long firm fraud and diversion fraud, money laundering allegations, confiscation proceedings and complex financial investigations — the cases that turn on documents, company structures and the movement of money rather than on eyewitnesses.

Alongside his criminal practice he has an unusual breadth across company law, insolvency, property disputes, contentious probate, commercial litigation and regulatory matters, which is often what a financial crime case actually requires.

He has built a wide following over the years and remains one of the most sought-after solicitors in the field of heavyweight crime.

If I do not know how to do it, I know someone who does. My clients don’t want to know what they cannot do. They want to know how they can do it.
Michael Levy

Notable cases

Serious and complex fraud

  • London City Bond — Michael acted for several of the leading successful defendants in what has been described as one of the most significant fraud prosecutions in modern legal history. The case led to the publication of the Butterfield Report, which exposed shortcomings in HM Customs and Excise’s investigative and prosecutorial practices.
  • Missing Trader Intra-Community (MTIC) fraud — a long-standing specialism, and among the most document-heavy prosecutions brought in this jurisdiction.
  • Long firm fraud and diversion fraud.

Financial crime and confiscation

  • Money laundering allegations, including those arising from wider financial investigations.
  • Confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act, from the first application through to enforcement.
  • Complex financial investigations by HMRC and other prosecuting agencies.

Client identities are protected. Every case turns on its own facts; past results are not a guarantee of any particular outcome.

Barrister

Neil FitzGibbon

info@lpevans.com

Neil was called to the Bar in 1989 and practises from 187 Chambers. His work covers criminal defence, fraud and financial crime, asset forfeiture and confiscation, courts martial and military law, alongside a substantial regulatory, professional discipline and inquests practice.

He is instructed in homicide, large-scale drugs conspiracies, firearms, kidnapping and serious sexual offences, and defends at courts martial in this country and abroad. He undertakes trials around the country and is the go-to barrister for aviation, fire and rail defence.

Over more than thirty years he has received considerable acclaim for a thorough approach and skilful but determined cross examination.

Notable cases

Homicide

  • R v Edwards (Chelmsford Crown Court) — murder trial in which the defendant stabbed his partner seventeen times. Acquitted of murder on the basis of provocation and convicted of manslaughter.
  • R v Buckingham — murder, the accused having stabbed a road sweeper while attempting to escape a burglary.
  • R v Neil Boyle — murder where the victim died six years after the assault. The accused was found unfit to stand trial.
  • R v Yograj Rai (Court Martial, Belize) — murder of a young Belizean boy outside a nightclub. The soldier was acquitted and returned to his regiment.

Drugs

  • R v Dhir (Winchester Crown Court) — conspiracy to supply cocaine, £20 million of it collected from cold storage disguised as pallets of chicken. Not guilty verdict secured.
  • R v Waqas Khan (Luton Crown Court) — multi-million pound multi-handed Class A conspiracy. Acquitted after a trial lasting several months. Cocaine was found in the dock during the trial; Neil successfully argued the evidence be excluded as highly prejudicial.
  • R v Williams — Class A conspiracy in which the accused was filmed handing over cocaine. Acquitted on a defence of lack of knowledge.
  • R v Clark — large-scale supply, with significant quantities of drugs and cash found on the premises. Acquitted on all counts.

Firearms, violence and sexual offences

  • R v Doherty (Chester Crown Court) — possession of a firearm. Acquitted following submissions on DNA transference by indirect or secondary contact.
  • R v Gueli — kidnapping of two young boys, held overnight at knifepoint.
  • R v Goldie (Sennelager Court Martial Centre) — grievous bodily harm with intent, the accused alleged to have cut a soldier with an eight-inch knife causing sixty wounds. Defence of self-infliction. Acquitted.
  • R v J.J. — serious sexual offences following contact made through Facebook. The accused was acquitted.
  • R v Quilligan (Winchester Crown Court) — industrial-scale burglary by a family gang. The client was acquitted.

Fraud and money laundering

  • R v El Kurd and Others (Blackfriars Crown Court) — multi-handed £80 million money laundering trial lasting over six months. The defendant Neil represented was acquitted.
  • R v Ikram Ali (Southwark Crown Court) — conspiracy to supply prescription-only medication over the internet, imported and distributed worldwide. Acquitted after a three-month trial.
  • R v Athenou (Southwark Crown Court) — VAT fraud concerning gas sales and alleged non-payment to HMRC. Acquitted.
  • R v Okrah (Kingston Crown Court) — multi-million pound Oyster card fraud involving manipulation of the TfL revenue ticketing system.

People smuggling

  • R v Fatmir Dragoshi — conspiracy to smuggle Albanian nationals across the Channel from France. Acquitted.

Client identities are protected. Every case turns on its own facts; past results are not a guarantee of any particular outcome.

Speak to a defence solicitor

The first hours of a case shape everything that follows.

Call us before you are interviewed. Advice at the police station is free, whatever your means — and our out-of-hours line is answered by a solicitor, day or night.

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