Robert received an honours degree in laws in 1974 from London University. In 1975 he was admitted to the Utter Bar by the Honourable Society for the Middle Temple and commenced his pupillage in the Chambers of Dan Hollis QC in Queen Elizabeth Building following which he accepted an invitation to join the Chambers of Wilfrid Fordham QC in Kings Bench Walk which upon his retirement became the Chambers of Brian Higgs QC. Initially he had a general common law practice which eventually lent towards crime with a specialisation in fraud since approximately 1985. His early fraud cases included defending Lord Spens in the first Serious Fraud Office trial involving Guinness, prosecution of Dieter Apt the former Town & Country Catering chairman for allegedly obtaining £2.75m from 4 banks in the City of London and prosecuting former solicitor Guy Lucas and 12 others for a mortgage fraud involving in excess of £100m fraudulently obtained having been committed in 1989. Other notable cases included defending Melvyn Jackson, the only person to be charged with the same murder three times, Graeme Allison, who was charged with Christopher Carrajohn (Angie Best’s alleged former boyfriend) for swindling pensioners out of their life savings, prosecuting Operation Glasgow in which three persons from the USA were extradited to England including the chemist involved in the manufacture of methylamphetamine hydrochloride in Kent as well as some 8 others. In 1998 he took silk, being appointed by Lord Irving of Lairg (Derry Irving).
In 2001 he took a sabbatical and moved to Spain and ran a small bed and breakfast and subsequently opened his own Chambers in Estepona remaining registered and insured with the Bar Council of England and Wales.
In 2010 he commenced undertaking work for Governor’s Street Chambers in Gibraltar as an overseas barrister. He was called to the Bar in Gibraltar in 2011 and undertook various cases acting as a consultant to Governor’s Street Chambers and Stephen Bullock & Co. In 2013 he was invited by HM Government of Gibraltar to join the Attorney General’s Chambers where he remained until 2018 prosecuting the majority of serious cases and advising the newly formed money laundering unit of the RGP.
In 2018 he was invited to join Verralls as a consultant.
He has appeared in the vast majority of courts in every jurisdiction in England including the Supreme Court (formerly the House of Lords), Court of Appeal (both divisions), Crown and County Courts, Magistrates’ Court, Coroners’ Court and in both General and District Courts’ Martial in various countries. He has appeared before a variety of tribunals and also was a member of the Bar Disciplinary Tribunal.
He has in the past lectured to the Joint Credit Card Company on fraud prevention as well as a number of plc’s as well as being a partner in a fraud prevention company in England.
He received the Freedom of the City of London as a result of being Head Boy at the City of London School.