Megan Millar

Barrister

Year of Call

2020

Profile

Megan has a varied criminal and public law practice, with particular experience of public inquiries and judicial review proceedings. Many of her cases involve issues at the intersection of those areas. In August 2024, she was appointed to the Attorney General’s C panel of counsel.

Megan is often instructed in high-profile and complex cases. Current and recent highlights of her practice include:

  • Junior counsel to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry (led by Jason Beer KC).
  • Junior counsel to the Andrew Malkinson Inquiry (led by Sophie Cartwright KC).
  • CIUC v DPP: Junior counsel advising the Director of Public Prosecutions of an overseas jurisdiction in judicial review proceedings concerning a decision not to prosecute (led by David Perry KC).
  • Junior counsel representing the National Association of Care & Support Workers in the UK Covid-19 Inquiry (led by Adam Payter).
  • Sole counsel representing a witness in the Undercover Policy Inquiry.
  • Peterkin & Mehmet v CPS: Sole counsel in joint appeals against conviction concerning the dishonesty of a senior police officer with conduct of the case.
  • CC v CPS: Second junior counsel representing the Crown in an appeal against conviction following a reference by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (led by James Curtis KC and Lucy Organ).

Megan was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 2023.

Expertise

Megan has particular experience of criminal appeals. Her recent experience as a sole advocate includes:

  • AS v CPS: An appeal concerning the lawfulness of a conviction and sentence following the appellant’s surrender pursuant to a European Arrest Warrant;
  • Peterkin & Mehmet v CPS: Sole counsel representing the Crown in two unopposed appeals against conviction concerning the dishonesty of a police officer who had conduct of the case.
  • JK v CPS: An appeal against conviction in which a self-represented appellant alleged that his representatives at trial had coerced him into pleading guilty.
  • CC v CPS: Second junior counsel representing the Crown in an appeal against conviction following a reference by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (led by James Curtis KC and Lucy Organ).

Megan regularly appears in the Crown Court, where she both prosecutes and defends. She is a Level 3 prosecutor for the CPS on the General Crime panel. She also has a broad range of experience of complex and serious trials. Megan is currently instructed in a fourteen-handed trial concerning a conspiracy to commit criminal damage in a protest context. She was also instructed as junior defence counsel in a multi-handed trial involving a large-scale conspiracy to produce cannabis which spanned four years across England and Wales. She has particular experience of advising on public law issues arising during the course of criminal trials.

Megan defends clients charged with road traffic offences and has experience dealing with technical legal issues in this area. She has also successfully run exceptional hardship arguments in circumstances where a client faces disqualification from driving. She accepts private instructions in this area.

Megan has a broad range of experience of both statutory and non-statutory public inquiries.

Megan is instructed as junior counsel to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry which she has worked on since 2021. She recently conducted the examination of a number of witnesses who were involved in investigating cases brought against subpostmasters. She is also currently instructed as junior counsel to the Andrew Malkinson Inquiry.

Megan also has experience of representing Core Participants and witnesses. She currently represents the National Association of Care & Support Workers in Module 6 of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry which concerns the impact of the pandemic on the adult social care sector. In addition, she represents a witness in the Undercover Policing Inquiry.

Megan has experience of a range of public law matters and is particularly interested in cases in which public law and crime intersect.

Recent instructions include:

  • WCC v CPS: Sole advocate representing the Crown Prosecution Service in respect of a successful challenge to a refusal by the Crown Court to extend the custody time limit.
  • NMC v CPS: Sole advocate in judicial review proceedings concerning wasted costs being ordered following the discontinuance of criminal proceedings.

Megan is regularly instructed by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (“FCDO”) to advise on the imposition of sanctions under the UK’s autonomous sanctions regimes. She has particular experience of advising on the evidential sufficiency and human rights compatibility of proposed designations.

She accepts pro bono instructions from Advocate, particularly cases with a public law element. She recently advised an individual in respect of a potential claim for judicial review of a decision by the police to take no further action in respect of an allegation of rape.

Megan has experience representing surrendered and requested persons in preliminary hearings. She has previously assisted senior Members of Chambers with the preparation of extradition appeals. In addition, she contributed to updating the extradition chapter of Stone’s Justices’ Manual in relation to the post-Brexit extradition arrangements between the UK and the EU.

Before coming to the Bar, Megan gained a broad range of experience working for a number of non-governmental organisations and international institutes.

In 2019, Megan was the Policy Officer at Law Centre NI, where she coordinated policy responses on access to justice issues. She was a co-convener of the Cliff Edge Coalition, a group of over one hundred organisations advocating for welfare reform in Northern Ireland.

In 2018, Megan was the trainee to Judge Bošnjak at the European Court of Human Rights. She was involved in preparing draft judgments and preparing briefing notes to inform the Judge’s position on cases before the Court.

Megan was also a legal intern at Media Defence, where she assisted with a constitutional challenge to the Kenyan Penal Code before the East African Court of Justice. In addition, she worked for the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute where she spent the majority of her time campaigning about the persecution of the legal profession in Turkey.

In 2016, Megan volunteered at Texas Defender Services where she conducted research and compiled mitigation for death penalty cases.

  • CPS Panel Advocate, Level 3 (General Crime).
  • Attorney General’s Civil Panel Counsel, C Panel.
  • Clerk to the Bar Disciplinary Tribunal.
  • LL.M., University of Melbourne (first class)
  • MA, Law, Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge (first class)
  • BPTC, City, University of London
  • Contributor, Serious Fraud, Investigation & Trial (5th ed., 2023) (Kingsley Napley & 6KBW College Hill).
  • Author, Case comment: In the matter of an application by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission for Judicial Review
  • Pegasus Scholar, Inner Temple (2022).
  • Prince of Wales Scholarship, Gray’s Inn (2019).
  • David Karmel European Scholarship, Gray’s Inn (2018).
  • Ormond Scholarship, University of Melbourne (2017).
  • The Frank Galbally Memorial Award for International Criminal Law, University of Melbourne (2017).
  • 1912 Senior Scholarship, Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge (2016).
  • Whitlock Prize, Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge (2016).
  • London Irish Lawyers Association
  • Women in Criminal Law
  • Defence Extradition Lawyers’ Forum
  • Extradition Lawyers’ Association

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Recognition

Notable cases

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