PS

Biography

Philippa Southwell is Managing Director of Southwell & Partners, a leading law firm specialising in criminal, modern slavery and regulatory law. She was called to the bar of England and Wales in 2009 as a Barrister, having cross qualified, she practices as a Solicitor Advocate. Prior to founding Southwell and Partners, she established the human trafficking and modern slavery department at Birds Solicitors. Philippa is also Managing Director of the Human Trafficking & Modern Slavery Expert Directory. She lectures extensively both domestically and throughout the Middle East and Europe. Philippa advises companies on modern slavery and human rights compliance. She was called to give evidence as a legal expert in the Home Affairs Select Committee Modern Slavery Inquiry. Philippa has acted on several hundred modern slavery cases and was one of first lawyers in the country to raise a s45 modern slavery defence. She has acted in most of the significant and leading cases involving victims of modern slavery and forced criminality of the last decade and has acted at all levels, representing the interests of victims of trafficking, including the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights. She has been highly commended by the Law Society who have described her as ‘a fierce criminal defence solicitor, who specialises in defending and representing victims of human trafficking who have been prosecuted for criminal offences. She is a leading criminal solicitor in this field’.