LAWYER IN THE NEWS

Who? Mark Bowen, 32-year-old associate solicitor at five-partner London firm Offenbach & Co.

Why is he in the news? Acted for Andrew Gardner, cleared last week of murdering his ex-girlfriend, Dr Karenina Longe, by forcing her to drink a mug of sulphuric acid.

During the two-week trial, the jury heard how Mr Gardner waited almost half an hour to call an ambulance - however, they decided this was not proof that he had fed Dr Karenina acid in a 'final toast' to the end of their affair, as the prosecution had claimed.

Her reasons for drinking the drain cleaner, which contained the acid, remain unknown.

Background: Law degree at Central London Polytechnic (now University of Westminster) 1988-92, followed by Law Society finals at the College of Law in London.

He qualified with Offenbach & Co in 1997, and has been there ever since.

Route to case: 'I was personally recommended to Mr Gardner's family.'

Thoughts on the case: 'Throughout, we were fighting against the emotional side of the case, which was the side that the press was playing up.

We had to make the jury forget this, and look at the hard evidence - and there was absolutely no evidence that my client had murdered Dr Longe.

The jury would have had to believe that someone could be tricked into drinking a mug of sulphuric acid without having a clue what it was.

Thankfully they saw that this just wasn't possible.'

Dealing with the media: 'This case taught me a lot about dealing with the media: they have their own agenda, and in this case it was a guilty verdict, because that would have made good headlines.

We were constantly fighting against the media's misrepresentation of the case, and the way they presented the evidence so that my client appeared guilty.

I'm very pleased that the jury managed to come to the right decision, and avoid a major miscarriage of justice.'

Victoria MacCallum