Matthew Knight
Knights

Who? Matthew Knight, 47-year-old founding partner of Knights in London and specialist in public law, criminal regulatory matters and political work.

Why is he in the news? Acts for the eight fox-hunting supporters who invaded Parliament last week. The protesters bypassed security by donning builders’ clothes, which they discarded in a corridor before bursting in through a door behind the Speaker’s chair to protest in front of baffled MPs. They were soon captured by parliamentary security staff, and were later arrested by police for violent disorder, burglary and uttering a forgery - a forged letter inviting them to a meeting at the Commons was found with the discarded clothes.


Background: LLB in law at Newcastle University, followed by LPC at the College of Law in Guildford. Articles at Farrer & Co in London, qualifying in 1982. Moved to Sinclair Roche & Temperley in the City, then joined the London office of Kent firm Cripps Harries Hall as a partner in 1984. Founded Knights in 1994.


Route to the case: Had acted for protester Robert Thame in a regulatory matter, and also for fellow protester Otis Ferry - son of singer Bryan Ferry - from time to time. Was also acting for the Countryside Alliance in relation to the protest rally on Parliament Square.


Thoughts on the case: ‘The protesters were very well treated by the sargeant-at-arms. They were then taken to Charing Cross police station, where the police were most interested in whether they had had inside help - which they did not. My clients have not committed any crime - all they have done is trespass in areas that should have been sealed. No one asked them for identification. The letter was given to them, and they never produced it nor had any intention to do so - it was just there as an aide memoire. There was no dry run, and anyone could have done it. If they had been questioned, they would have shrugged their shoulders and gone away - they never expected to achieve their objective. It is important that a democracy can operate in a free and transparent way, and what the protesters have done is likely to produce consequences adverse to that. The executive will force through measures that will close the legislature to ordinary people. That is an unintended consequence, but the protesters felt themselves to be in a situation of utter impotence, with no alternative than to make a political protest in the way they did. It was non-violent, and within the criminal and regulatory framework.’


Dealing with the media: ‘Once the story broke, my mobile telephone number became known, and I received 60 calls in one day. I tried to react to questions so that my clients’ points of view were put forward, without prejudice to the case.’