Mary Cowe

Call 2006

‘Mary is incredibly hardworking and brilliant in court. She is a great all rounder who is an asset to any serious and complex case.’

For enquiries please contact

Lucy Northeast
Practice Director - Crime & Sports
0117 930 9000
Click here to email

Grant Bidwell
Practice Manager - Crime
0117 930 9000
Click here to email

Shannon Cregg
Assistant Practice Manager - Crime
0117 930 9000
Click here to email

‘Mary is incredibly hardworking and brilliant in court. She is a great all rounder who is an asset to any serious and complex case.’


Legal 500 UK 2023

"Mary is as impressive on paper as she is in court."


Chambers & Partners UK 2023

"She is easy to work with and has an extraordinary eye for the finer details in a case, as well as a clear grasp of strategy."


Chambers & Partners 2022

"She is a formidable cross-examiner. She can see the nuances and understands how to use them to persuade the judge. Her witness handling is excellent, particularly when it comes to vulnerable witnesses."


Legal 500 2022

"She is a really strong advocate and her tenacity and no-nonsense approach is fantastic."


Chambers & Partners 2021

"A class act - precise, considered, clever and persuasive."


Legal 500 2021

"A superb hands-on approach, great client care, sharp and a natural advocate."


Chambers & Partners 2020

  • CPS General Crime Panel Grade 4
  • CPS Specialist Fraud Grade 4
  • Serious Fraud Office Panel B

  • MPhil in Criminology at St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge
  • MA (Hons) in Jurisprudence at Keble College, Oxford

  • Bar Pro Bono Unit
  • Criminal Bar Association
  • Howard League for Penal Reform
  • Lawyers for Liberty

Mary is a criminal barrister and one of the ‘first choice’ advocates for serious fraud cases.

She provides an often hard-to-find combination of careful legal analysis and robust, persuasive advocacy. Now often called upon to provide advice at the earliest stages of a case, she has been particularly complimented on her ability to provide advice in plain English about more abstruse areas of law, to think tactically, and to gain the trust of judges and juries alike.

Other than her specialism in fraud work, Mary undertakes other serious criminal cases; often those involving expert evidence or unusual points of law. She has a reputation for being an impressive lawyer as much as a powerful advocate, and for being someone who can confidently build a case, lead a team and chart a path through factual or legal complexities. She was described in one legal directory as ‘a class act: precise, considered, clever and persuasive’.

Mary is a member of the Criminal Bar Association Law Reform Committee, and currently edits the Fraud blog. She has been a pupil supervisor, co-edited and contributed to a book about Criminal Advocacy, and acts as a mentor with the Inner Temple and as an advocacy trainer on the Western Circuit. Mary also provides legal training to prosecuting authorities and defence solicitors.

Expertise

Mary has a substantial practice in relation to cases of Fraud and Financial Crime. She has appeared as a leading junior, alone, and as part of a Silk-led team in cases of this type. She is a member of both the CPS Serious Economic and Organised Crime panel and the Serious Fraud Office panel.

Mary has been instructed to defend and prosecute allegations of all forms of fraud and conspiracy to defraud, fraudulent trading, forgery and FSMA offences arising from a variety of different contexts, both personal and corporate. She has called and challenged evidence in relation to forensic accountancy, share valuation and intellectual property rights among other areas.

Mary is also instructed in relation to Confiscation proceedings and has advised on ancillary matters, such as challenges to Restraint Orders, and Civil Contempt relating to breaches of such orders.

Featured Fraud and Financial Crime cases


Operation Sheridan (ongoing)

Instructed by CPS SFD as a led junior in a case involving allegations of misconduct in a public office


R v Freckleton and Jay, Southwark CC (2023)

Instructed by CPS SEOCID to prosecute an unusual ‘cryptocurrency boiler room’ conspiracy. Mary appeared alone against a silk instructed by the defence to deal with preliminary legal argument before the 5-week trial commenced


“Operation Recoil”, Bristol CC (2023)

Instructed as leading junior to defend a chartered accountant charged with £7.5 million fraud


R v Alaghband, Southwark CC (2022/2023)

Instructed by the SFO as a part of a silk-led team in a 20 week trial concerning allegations of conspiracy to defraud on the part of Balli Steel, who went into administration with debts of over $500 million.


R v Riley, Bristol CC (2021)

Mary prosecuted as a led junior, in a case involving allegations of fraud by abuse of position and attempted murder.

Mary is often called upon to appear in other serious and complex criminal cases where there may be multiple complicating factors: whether dealing with multiple experts, unusual legal points or clients/witnesses who need additional assistance in navigating the criminal courts, Mary provides calm, confident advice.

Featured Other Serious Crime cases


R v KH (ongoing)

Pre-charge advice in a homicide investigation with experts in extreme cold, neurology and pathology


R v W (ongoing)

Pre-charge advice in modern slavery case involving allegations that a woman had been subject to forced or compulsory labour for much of her adult life


R v MS (ongoing)

Defending a former soldier charged with murder

For enquiries please contact

Lucy Northeast
Practice Director - Crime & Sports
0117 930 9000
Click here to email

Grant Bidwell
Practice Manager - Crime
0117 930 9000
Click here to email

Shannon Cregg
Assistant Practice Manager - Crime
0117 930 9000
Click here to email

‘Mary is incredibly hardworking and brilliant in court. She is a great all rounder who is an asset to any serious and complex case.’


Legal 500 UK 2023

"Mary is as impressive on paper as she is in court."


Chambers & Partners UK 2023

"She is easy to work with and has an extraordinary eye for the finer details in a case, as well as a clear grasp of strategy."


Chambers & Partners 2022

"She is a formidable cross-examiner. She can see the nuances and understands how to use them to persuade the judge. Her witness handling is excellent, particularly when it comes to vulnerable witnesses."


Legal 500 2022

"She is a really strong advocate and her tenacity and no-nonsense approach is fantastic."


Chambers & Partners 2021

"A class act - precise, considered, clever and persuasive."


Legal 500 2021

"A superb hands-on approach, great client care, sharp and a natural advocate."


Chambers & Partners 2020

  • CPS General Crime Panel Grade 4
  • CPS Specialist Fraud Grade 4
  • Serious Fraud Office Panel B

  • MPhil in Criminology at St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge
  • MA (Hons) in Jurisprudence at Keble College, Oxford

  • Bar Pro Bono Unit
  • Criminal Bar Association
  • Howard League for Penal Reform
  • Lawyers for Liberty

For help or advice please call 0117 930 9000 or complete the form below.

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