Joseph Kotrie-Monson
SRA-regulated SolicitorJoseph advises in serious crime, fraud and regulatory cases nationally and internationally. He is listed in the Chambers and Partners legal directory under Band 1 for Financial Crime and edits the textbook Cyber Crime Law & Practice.
Click to watch Joseph in the media
Video introduction
Joseph's reviews
Education
Manchester Grammar School
1999
University College Oxford
Master of Arts (MA)Modern Languages and Literature: Russian and Czech with Slovak2004
University of Law
Postgraduate Diploma in Law2005
Inns of Court School of Law
Bar Vocational Course2006
About Joseph
Joseph is one of the firm’s directors and joint-managing partner. He has worked in the firm since 2006. He is based in Manchester and London, and represents clients throughout England, Wales and in the British Overseas Territories.
Joseph advises and defends in criminal, fraud and regulatory matters. He is experienced in representing people who have never faced a criminal case before. He has interest in the representation of vulnerable people, including those with ADHD and autism spectrum disorder.
Education
He went to school at Manchester Grammar before going to Oxford University (University College). He took postgraduate legal studies at the University of Law and passed the Bar course at the Inns of Court School of Law. He was called to the Bar at Middle Temple.
He qualified as a solicitor and solicitor advocate, appearing in the Crown Court and Court of Appeal.
He was trained as a criminal lawyer by the firm’s founder, the late Mary Monson and also worked as solicitor and junior advocate to Mukhtar Hussain KC, then head of top-ranked barristers' chambers Lincoln House.
Recognition
Joseph has been recognised for his work in the field of criminal and fraud law many times. He has been a Times newspaper 'Lawyer of the Week' and listed as a leading practitioner in the Chambers and Partners and Legal 500 legal directories.
Approach to the work
Joseph's view is that lawyers are there to serve their clients, not to promote the legal profession, or even their own careers. Clients need effective help in difficult situations. Most want straight advice, delivered with sympathy and care, and a lawyer who'll fight for them in court, and that's what Joseph thinks they should have.
Writing and Media
Joseph has written hundreds of legal articles, both for the general public and for lawyers. He regularly appears in national newspapers as a trusted industry voice, and has made more than 200 TV and radio appearances on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and other outlets. He presents the Discovery TV true crime docuseries Inside the Heist, and also the weekly Joseph's Judgements segment on TalkTV's The Week with Trisha.
Outside the law
In his spare time Joseph sings in a rock band, drives race cars and swims in cold water.
Practice areas
Joseph advises and defends in criminal, fraud and regulatory matters. He is experienced in representing people who have never faced a criminal case before. He has interest in the representation of vulnerable people, including those with ADHD and autism spectrum disorder.
Fraud & regulatory
Joseph has defended in all kinds of fraud and regulatory cases, in the UK and abroad, and his cases have been reported in the financial press worldwide. He advises on all types of fraud allegations, conspiracy, shares and markets investigations, false accounting offences, anti-trust & price fixing, and bribery & corruption. He regularly defends investigations conducted by the SFO, HMRC, the City of London Police, the NCA and other government agencies. He has also taken a postgraduate academic course in Corporate Finance at the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE).
Cyber crime
Having written extensively on Cyber Crime, Joseph has defended in these cases for the last fifteen years, and has defended in cases where servers have been hacked to cause vandalism, as well as cases where technology is used to carry out fraud. Joseph defended the COO of elections consultancy Cambridge Analytica in the US/UK investigation into the alleged misuse of Facebook data for the Trump campaign's 2016 US Election. He is currently acting for a main suspect in the investigation into the UK website iSpoof which was shut down by the FBI in 2021. He has written on and featured in the media as an expert in legal cases involving blockchain technology, including crypto currencies such as Bitcoin and Ether, as well as NFT-related fraud.
Murder & manslaughter
Joseph has defended in dozens of murder and manslaughter cases in courts throughout England and Wales, from the North East of England to London's Old Bailey. He is currently representing a lead suspect and manager of cladding supplier Kingspan in the investigation into the deaths of 72 residents of London's Grenfell Tower in 2017's tragic fire. His expertise in homicide cases has led to his work as a script consultant for the long running Internationally syndicated TV series Silent Witness.
Sexual allegations
Joseph regularly advises people accused of serious sexual offences including rape and historic allegations. He defended clients prosecuted as a result of the Rotherham Sexual Abuse Scandal. He regularly advises clients suspected by police of downloading or sharing indecent or extreme material.
Serious crime
Joseph regularly defends in serious conspiracy cases, often involving organised crime, whether connected to drugs or major robbery cases.
Civil fraud allegations
Joseph advises in civil fraud cases arising from allegations of criminal behaviour, and is currently instructed in the defence of a $130 million civil fraud claim in Gibraltar.
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