Specialisms
Olivia is a solicitor in the dispute resolution team at B P Collins, where she practices civil and criminal litigation.
In civil litigation Olivia’s primary area of practice is commercial litigation, largely focussed on contractual disputes and construction disputes. Olivia has worked with a wide variety of clients, ranging from international organisations to individual consumers. Olivia offers bespoke assistance to each client, aiming to identify each client’s objectives and provide commercial, straightforward legal advice, helping clients to achieve their best outcome.
In criminal practice, Olivia works on all types of criminal litigation, both defending those accused and representing victims of crime. At what can be a highly stressful time for the client, Olivia provides direct and pragmatic legal advice, tailored to each client’s specific circumstances, offering support from beginning to end of the matter.
Experience
Civil litigation
Olivia has experience advising on a range of commercial and construction disputes concerning breach of contract, consumer protection issues, and debt recovery; as well as claims arising from defective building and remedial works.
Olivia acts for claimants and defendants in pre-action and all stages of litigation in the High Court and County Court.
Criminal litigation
In the Magistrates’ Court Olivia has advocated on behalf of a number of clients, dealing with an assortment of criminal allegations; from offering pleas in mitigation for a road traffic offence, to defending racially aggravated assault.
Olivia has worked on a number of victims’ rights matters, advising clients in relation to their concerns regarding the actions of various police forces (namely, the Thames Valley Police and the Metropolitan Police).
Olivia also advises on higher education providers’ disciplinary procedures, HMRC investigations, and FCA investigations.
Key achievements
R v H, 2023: successful mitigation on behalf of client found guilty of assault at Oxford Magistrates’ Court. The sentencing guidelines indicated that the client faced the prospect of a custodial sentence; but after mitigation, the court agreed that it was not appropriate to order a custodial sentence, nor any community order, and instead disposed of the sentence by way of financial penalty.
R v V, 2023: persuaded the Prosecution to drop one charge of failure to report, and successfully submitted a plea in mitigation for the offence of failure to stop, at Stevenage Magistrates’ Court. The circumstances of the offence placed the client at risk of disqualification, but we successfully mitigated, and the client retained their licence.
R v S, 2022: secured an acquittal at Reading Magistrates’ Court for a client accused of racially aggravated assault and awarded a defence costs order.
R v D, 2022: successfully advanced an exceptional hardship argument at Willesden Magistrates’ Court. The client had 6 points on his driving licence and was charged with five traffic offences. The court endorsed the licence with a further 8 points but did not disqualify the client, recognising that if the client had lost their licence, it would have had a catastrophic impact on their young family and bereaved parent.
R v P, 2022: secured an acquittal at Westminster Magistrates’ Court for a client accused of assault.
Outside the office
Olivia enjoys going to the theatre, playing the piano, reading about social and political history and travelling.
Olivia is a host of the Criminal Maze Podcast. Listen to the latest episodes on your podcast platform of choice by following the link below:
