She specialises in appellate and trial advocacy for serious and complex national, transnational and international criminal cases, often with both legal and factual complexity. As an international QC she is regularly called upon to handle serious, complex and sensitive trials and appeals at every level of court. Her cases and advisory work often involve an international or human rights element, including genocide, war crimes, torture terrorism, homicide, biosecurity, illegal logging, modern slavery, human trafficking and other major domestic and international crime.
Felicity has a particular interest in the law on complicity: She led a team of academics and practitioners who were given leave to file an Amicus Curiae Brief in the ICTY on JCEIII liability. She was leading counsel in R v Jogee [2016] UKSC 8 which corrected an error of law in complicity. She led similar appeals in Hong Kong and Australia. She led a successful mercy petition on behalf of a young Aboriginal man who was convicted of a murder when he was not physically present and has filed a similar petition in the UK on behalf of an autistic prisoner. She also led appeals in R v Lewis [2017] EWCA Crim 1734 which clarified the law on joint principalship and in Rv Rebelo (No 1) [2019] EWCA Crim 633 which clarified the law on causation in manslaughter with a focus on women’s autonomy.
She has particular experience of cases involving women, science and technological issues and adapting court processes for vulnerable victims and led the petition for a posthumous pardon for Christine Keeler
Felicity also conducts some judicial review and administrative law matters. This has included Constitutional issues in the context of biosecurity and challenging decisions by various Government Ministers and administrative decision makers, including the heritage listing of Aboriginal land.
She appears in some civil litigation – particularly in the context of personal injury in the context of sexual abuse.
She is experienced in professional disciplinary matters on behalf of medical and legal professionals.
Please note, this an information / academic / media website.
Felicity does not provide direct public access legal services.
For legal services from Felicity Gerry QC, please contact Libertas Chambers (UK) or Greens List (Australia) via the contact page.
2018 Amicus Curiae Brief Radovan Karadžić ICTY Appeals Chamber on interpretation of JCEIII liability leading a group of counsel and academics (leave granted).
R v Johnson 2018 and R v Henry 2018 Leading in two applications to the European Court of Human Rights for permission to appeal in ‘joint enterprise’ murder – human rights issues include racial and disability discrimination.
R v Finn 2018 Appeal against conviction on complicity issues and an inappropriate prosecutor’s closing address.
R v Honeysett 2018 Appeal against sentence including jurisprudence on Koori conversation in sentencing.
R v Van Beelan 2017 Appeal to the High Court of Australia on the statutory definition of “substantial miscarriage of justice” and the admissibility of fresh evidence in an alleged ‘cold case’ murder.
R v Henderson (a pseudonym) 2017 Appeal in relation to tendency evidence relied on by the prosecution as ‘relationship and context’.
R v Jogee 2016 – Successful appeal to the UK Supreme Court (formerly the House of Lords) which sat for the first time, at the same time as the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Alleged joint enterprise murder. Correcting the law on foundational liability for secondary parties. Court of Appeal Report at R v Jogee [2013] EWCA Crim 1433.
Chan Kam-shing (Hong Kong) 2016 – Leading appeal in alleged common purpose murder to Court of Final Appeal following Jogee.
J v Minister for Lands and Planning NT 2016 – In the matter of Kulaluk community land, an appeal under the Heritage Act
Devastating – a few weeks ago I moderated a superb event for @GpsMonash & @CastanCentre when wonderful educated women told us of their experiences in Afghanistan and the progress that had been made, and now this! twitter.com/askarysajjad/s…
