Szilvia A. Booker

Background

About Szilvia A. Booker

As a barrister who was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2005, Szilvia has been practising as an independent criminal barrister since completing her pupillage at 2 Paper Buildings, formerly the Chambers of Sir Desmond de Silva, Q.C, scrutinising, challenging and advising on evidence in a range of contested trials, including those alleging serious violent and sexual offences, kidnap, large-scale drug importation, armed robbery and aggravated burglary, and organised crimes alleging the handling of high-value stolen goods, financial collusion, breach of trust and cheating the Revenue. She is a valuable member of Foundry Chambers, the Chambers of Alexandra Healy Q.C, where she is regularly instructed to advise clients on the merits of appeal, and appears for both the prosecution and defence at hearings where agreed bases of pleas and mitigation of sentence are pleaded. Prior to being called to the Bar, Szilvia was a serving police officer with the Toronto Police Service in Canada, which has given her invaluable insight into police investigative practices and procedures and an exceptional working knowledge of the gaining of and forensic examination of evidence relating to firearms, controlled drugs, and bio-data identification. She has operational understanding of covert and intelligence-lead law enforcement operations, which has proven extremely useful both in challenging prosecution evidence when defending and advising authorities on further evidence required when prosecuting cases. She is committed to the fair and independent administration of justice, and brings to any role her experience in a foreign criminal justice system and a fresh perspective to ensure comparative justice.