David Perry QC

Queen's Counsel

Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...

is a senior English criminal

Criminal law

Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...

 barrister

Barrister

A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...

.

Perry was called to the bar in 1980 and took silk in 2006. He has built a reputation as a prosecutor in appeal courts

Appellate court

An appellate court, commonly called an appeals court or court of appeals or appeal court , is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal...

, appearing in the House of Lords

Judicial functions of the House of Lords

The House of Lords, in addition to having a legislative function, historically also had a judicial function. It functioned as a court of first instance for the trials of peers, for impeachment cases, and as a court of last resort within the United Kingdom. In the latter case the House's...

 around 56 times before its abolition. In addition to his work as a barrister, Perry has served as a deputy High Court

High Court of Justice

The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...

 judge since 2003 .

In 2007, Perry advised the Crown Prosecution Service

Crown Prosecution Service

The Crown Prosecution Service, or CPS, is a non-ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for public prosecutions of people charged with criminal offences in England and Wales. Its role is similar to that of the longer-established Crown Office in Scotland, and the...

 on the viability of prosecutions relating to the Cash for Honours scandal. He has also been involved in a number of high profile cases, many of which have reached the House of Lords or European Court of Human Rights

European Court of Human Rights

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...

. Notable cases include prosecuting Abu Hamza

Abu Hamza al-Masri

Abu Hamza al-Masri is an Egyptian Sunni activist known for his preaching of a violent and politicised interpretation of Islam, also known as militant Islamism or jihadism...

, prosecuting in the landmark House of Lords decision R v G

R v G

R v G and Another [2003] UKHL 50 is an English criminal law case, concerning recklessness. It held that a defendant must be shown to have subjectively appreciated a risk to the health or property of another but carried on in any event before they may be said to be criminally culpable...

, representing the state in Pretty

Diane Pretty

Diane Pretty was a British woman from Luton who became notable after being the focus of a debate about the laws of euthanasia in United Kingdom during the early part of the 21st century...

 v United Kingdom and defending in Blue Arrow

Re Blue Arrow plc

Re Blue Arrow plc [1987] BCLC 585 is a UK company law case dealing with unfair prejudice under s 459 Companies Act 1985 .-Facts:...

Colleagues are said to hold Perry in high regard. He has been described as 'a workaholic' who is said to work 14 hour days. He enjoys reading and gardening and is a Roman Catholic.