Year of Call
1982Areas of practice
“Orlando you are a real life version of what we both thought a talented and flamboyant criminal barrister would be like”
Biography
Orlando has been a specialist criminal barrister since 1985, prosecuting and defending in a range of serious cases including those involving serious violence and sexual offences, drugs offences, human trafficking modern slavery and money laundering offences. He combines his experience with a calm, unflappable personality and accomplished written and oral advocacy.
He is a highly skilled and experienced barrister, representing clients in the Crown Court and Court of Appeal, frequently against Kings Counsel. He is also able to provide written opinions on the prospects of conviction based on his years of experience in front of a jury.
Orlando is a natural performer. Outside the law, he has led jazz bands for over 20 years, performing at weddings, balls and formal dinners. He is a keen musician and sportsman, and utilises his performance skills and presence effectively in the courtroom to command attention.
Crime (prosecution)
Orlando has been a CPS Level 4 prosecutor for several years, prosecuting a variety of serious offences. His areas of specialisation include violent assaults (including attempted murder, GBH/wounding), firearms offences, drugs offences, rape and serious sexual offences; kidnapping, false imprisonment and blackmail; and public order offences (including violent disorder and affray). He has recently been instructed in several prosecution cases involving modern slavery defence.
Orlando was instructed in a number of prosecutions arising out of the BBC/Macintyre undercover covert operations involving conspiracy to commit football-related violent disorder and affray. These prosecutions included huge amounts of evidence, including 1,300 hours of undercover recordings. He was subsequently instructed for the Crown in the appeal which involved live evidence before the Court of Appeal. He is very good at dealing with document heavy cases, and at efficiently exposing the key issues for the jury.
Orlando has also represented the Crown in a number of High Court appeals dealing with issues related to his main areas of criminal specialism such as the Crown Court’s duty as an appellate court to give reasons for its decisions.
Crime (defence)
Orlando is an experienced defender, most often dealing with cases involving allegations of violence, rape and serious sexual offending, drugs offences, fraud and money laundering offences. He is particularly adept at dealing with evidence heavy cases, assimilating and distilling huge amounts of information into persuasive arguments for a jury. He is also able to manage cases involving multiple defendants.
Orlando also accepts instructions in family and childcare, specialising principally in current and historic safeguarding review in the context of religious and educational establishments and other related institutions.
Instruct
To instruct Orlando, please contact Stephen Bush.
Education
- LL.B. Laws, University College London
Memberships
- Criminal Bar Association
Notable Cases
R v Stromfield (2023): Orlando prosecuted a maths teacher who was sentenced to 12 years for rape, attempted rape and sexual activity with a child. The case was widely reported in the media.