
Doughty Street Chambers is delighted to announce twenty-f...Read more
Peter Carter KC undertakes most types of criminal law work either for defence or prosecution, but with the principal emphasis upon fraud, terrorism, homicide and trafficking and cases with a trans-national or international element. He appeared with Parosha Chandran in the criminal appeals of R v O and R v N on behalf of victims of international trafficking. As a result of appearing in those cases he was appointed as special adviser to the Joint Parliamentary Pre-Legislative Scrutiny Committee on the Modern Slavery Bill in 2014. On occasions he advises prosecuting authorities, government and NGOs on legislative reform.
He has appeared in many of the major terrorist trials in the last twelve years. Peter created the Protocol for Special Advocates in public interest immunity (following the House of Lords’ decision in R v H & C) when he was appointed by the Attorney-General in the case of Bourgass and others at the Central Criminal Court. He defended Yassin Omar (R v Ibrahim and others, the 21st July 2005 bombing case), Ul Haq (R v Barot and others) and most recently represented a defendant convicted of attempting to murder cyclists, pedestrians and police officers outside the Houses of Parliament (R v Khater [2019] EWCA Crim 2420). His work defending in terrorism cases led in turn to him teaching recruits to the Counter-Terrorism Command on the law relating to interviews of suspects and on the human rights issues engaged in the investigation and prosecution of terrorism cases.
He is expert in international human rights law. He has appeared in domestic and regional human rights courts outside the UK and participated in amicus briefs in overseas jurisdictions. Peter was one of the team instructed on behalf of both Houses of Parliament to draft an amicus brief for the US Supreme Court in the Guantanamo Bay case of Rasul v Bush which successfully challenged the US government’s denial of constitutional and international human rights to the detainees.
He appears pro bono before the Privy Council in appeals in capital cases from the Caribbean and associated work in the Caribbean itself. He has also appeared before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the UN Human Rights Council and the Social Rights Group of the EU Parliament.
His practice includes public inquiries and public law. He was appointed counsel to a public inquiry in Trinidad into the collapse of that state’s largest financial institution and is currently leading counsel to an inquiry concerning a major UK financial institution.
He has taught advocacy of human rights issues in Jamaica, Trinidad, Singapore, South Africa, Malawi, Kenya and Morocco and at the International Criminal Court. He regularly lectures on rule of law and human rights issues, including: counter-terrorism, privilege and human trafficking. To commemorate the anniversary of Magna Carta he delivered a lecture entitled “Human Rights at the Point of a Sword” to several audiences.
“Peter has a really good manner and is not shy about raising controversial issues.” - Chambers and Partners 2025
“Peter is one of the big hitters in financial crime. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of privilege.” - Chambers and Partners 2025
"Peter is a doyen and has a world of experience in criminal and financial services matters. He is very strong on issues of privilege, is a class act and he has got really excellent judgement." - Chambers and Partners 2025
"He is a cerebral man and approaches matters through the lens of an academic eye." - Chambers and Partners 2024
"A superb lawyer and an intellectual heavyweight whom judges respect." - Legal 500 2023
"Peter is immensely clever. He has very sound judgement and works very hard." - Chambers and Partners 2023
"He is a seasoned criminal practitioner with a good sense of the strategic direction of the case." - Chambers and Partners 2022
Peter Carter has appeared in several of the most significant terrorism cases.
Peter has worked on a series of cases representing victims of trafficking who had been convicted of offences after being trafficked and exploited:
Peter has various appearances in the Privy Council on behalf of defendants facing death penalty:
Other cases: