A lawyer with extensive experience in high profile cases including homicide, firearms and major fraud has joined a leading Carlisle legal firm.
David Wales has returned to Carlisle to join the team at Wragg Mark-Bell as the firm’s higher courts advocate in its crime team.
Mr Wales has been involved in a number of notable cases during the 20 years since he first qualified as a barrister including what was at the time the UK’s largest ever medical insurance fraud case.
His most recent job before coming to Carlisle was with the Crown Prosecution Service in Leeds working on rape and serious sexual offences, preparing the cases for court and advising the police.
Prior to that Mr Wales, 44, was worked for a number of firms across North London and the Thames Valley where he handled cases ranging from large scale frauds, serious sexual offences, homicide and presenting cases to the High Court and the Court of Appeal.
He also had a brief spell in Carlisle with KJ Commons and is pleased to be back working in Cumbria.
“Wragg Mark-Bell is a very organised firm. You can be confident that all the people working on the cases are doing their job properly as they are very well trained and work together as a good team.
“Here can be working in a city and then drive five minutes into a very rural area such as where we’re living.
“There are lots of advantages to rural living particularly when you have children and mine are 15 and five. You can choose where you want them to go to school and obviously I would rather they grow up where they can breathe the air and know who their neighbours are,” he said.
And Mr Wales is looking forward to taking on more cases at Carlisle Crown Court, adding: “One of the things I find most satisfying as a defence advocate is that you are providing representation to those that most people wouldn’t want to help and giving them an opportunity to put their case as if they had your knowledge and experience.
“It’s satisfying being able to challenge the evidence and being able to cross-examine witnesses and in the end it’s about communicating to a jury and persuading them, if you can, of your client’s case – there’s a great deal of satisfaction involved in that.”
