Lawyer in the news

Who? Steven Barker, 44-year-old criminal law partner at six-partner London firm Barker Gillette.

Why is he in the news? Represented John Terry, the Chelsea footballer cleared last week of starting a violent brawl at a London nightclub, along with his team-mate Jody Morris and Wimbledon player Des Byrne.

Mr Byrne was convicted of possessing an offensive weapon and fined 2,000.

Background: LLB at Leeds University 1976-79, followed by a postgraduate diploma in European law at Amsterdam University.

He joined Proctor Gillette in 1980 and worked as a legal clerk before completing his Law Society finals at City of London Polytechnic and qualifying in 1986.

In that year he became a partner in the renamed Barker Gillette.

Route to the case: 'Mr Terry's agent sought me out after I successfully represented Leeds footballer Lee Bowyer in his trial last year for grievous bodily harm and affray.'

Thoughts on the case: 'The alleged incident took place just a fortnight after Bowyer and his team-mate Jonathan Woodgate were cleared of attacking an Asian student, and I believe my client suffered the backlash from that.

People wanted to make an example of footballers misbehaving in a public place.

The case was overprosecuted - the injured bouncer's cuts did not need stitches, and although the prosecution claimed that he was attacked with a bottle, I found a leading pathologist who maintained that they were consistent with a fist.'

Dealing with the media: 'In my experience of high-profile trials - I successfully represented [football pundit] Ron Atkinson in his trial for road rage six or seven years ago and the national hunt jockey Jamie Osborne, who was accused of riding while doped - I've learnt to treat the media with a healthy distrust.

I do trust one or two journalists, but the majority usually have their background pieces prepared before the verdict.

I was expecting a lot of negative press reporting with this case.

In reality, it was marginally more balanced than in previous trials.'

Victoria MacCallum