Courtenay Griffiths QC is the joint Head of Chambers at Garden Court Chambers (formerly Two Garden Court Chambers). Courtenay was called to the Bar in 1980, he took silks (became a Queen’s Counsel) in 1998 and a recorder (part-time judge) in 1999.
Courtenay specialises in all aspects of criminal justice, including the criminal law, civil actions against the police and public authorities and inquests. His criminal practice ranges from fraud to terrorism, murder and serious public order to drugs nationally and internationally, including the Special War Crimes Tribunal in Sierra Leone.
Courtenay was a Legal Assistant to the Greater London Council's Police Support Committee in 1981-84 and a Revson Fellow on the Urban Legal Studies programme at City College, City University, New York from 1984-1985.
Courtenay has written and lectured extensively on all aspects of the criminal justice system and debated these issues on television and radio, in both the United Kingdom and the USA. He has also lectured at many academic institutions around the UK and was a speaker at the American Bar Association Conferences and the Norwegian Bar Association. He is the chair of the Public Affairs Committee of the Bar Council, and was for several years chair of its Race Relations Committee.
He retains many community interests and is currently a Trustee of the Bernie Grant Trust.