Legal aid firm Magrath & Co loses leading criminal lights

Leading criminal lawyers Mark Haslam and Aileen Colhoun have both deserted the niche commercial and legal aid firm Magrath & Co.

Haslam, secretary of the London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association, is joining fraud practice Burton Copeland as a salaried partner after being a partner at Magrath & Co for four years.

Colhoun, who acted for a defendant in the second Maxwell trial, was made a partner in 1990 and was head of Magrath & Co’s criminal department.

This month she sets up her own white collar crime niche practice - Oury Colhoun & Co - with solicitor James Oury, who, until now, has been working in-house at Slough-based accountancy firm Clarks.

Colhoun, who left Magrath & Co on 1 May after a six-month sabbatical, said: “I just felt it was time for a change.”

Senior partner Chris Magrath said he wished both of them well but described them as “extremely junior equity partners”.