Partner
Peter Csemiczky is an expert criminal defence solicitor in our Serious & General Crime team who offers his clients a complete service from investigation to trial. He acts for individuals and organisations facing a broad spectrum of criminal allegations: from homicide and other violent offences to serious sexual assaults, drugs, communications and motoring offences. Whatever the allegation, Peter understands the impact of an investigation or proceedings on his clients and gives the same intense commitment to all his cases.
As litigator and advocate in both Magistrates’ and Crown Courts, Peter specialises in representing professionals such as business people, doctors and lawyers, as well as high profile individuals for all of whom any suggestion that they are connected to a crime is professionally devastating. He is expert in navigating the investigation and prosecution processes so that allegations are either ended early or are completed in in the most discreet way possible. His diligent case preparation, fierce determination and sympathetic manner mean that clients are highly enthusiastic about the results he achieves.
Peter’s clients have included some of the best known people in Britain facing the most serious allegations. He takes pride in providing a truly personal and dedicated service to all his clients, whatever their problem.
Peter has developed a niche specialism advising individuals on the criminal, regulatory and reputational implications of social media posts and maintaining an online profile.
After initially training to be a professional musician, Peter qualified as a solicitor in 2009 and joined Hickman & Rose in 2015. He was made a partner in January 2018 when he was also recommended by Chambers UK as a “rising star in the criminal defence world”.
Peter was the Honorary Secretary of the London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association from 2018 to 2020 and remains a committee member. He is also member of the European Criminal Bar Association.
Peter is regularly instructed in relation to allegations of sexual offences, both non-recent and contemporary. His deep experience of the criminal investigation process means he is able to offer his clients expert advice on the best way to engage with authorities.
He also advises individuals facing sexual misconduct investigation by institutions such as universities, schools and employers. While institutional investigations are serious and can be very complex in their own right, they also have the potential to develop into criminal investigations. Peter ensures that these quasi-criminal investigations are treated carefully with an eye on the potential impact in any subsequent police investigation or trial.
Peter often gets involved in these matters at the very earliest stages. His long experience in this field enables him to determine the best way to approach potential interviews and to retain control in what is often a bewildering and worrying process.
His clients in these matters include household names, regulated professionals such as business people, doctors and lawyers.
Peter has a strong reputation for handling sensitive cases which, if not given the appropriate care and attention, can cause disproportionately large financial and career damage to clients. He provides robust yet realistic advice to professional and high profile clients with valuable reputations to protect, for whom merely being named in respect of a police investigation is potentially devastating.
He recognises the importance of his clients’ privacy and reputation which remain at the forefront of his strategy throughout the life of a case.
Peter’s diligent case preparation, fierce determination and sympathetic manner means clients are highly enthusiastic about the results he achieves.
He has acted for some of Britain’s best known individuals in criminal matters both serious and relatively minor and has achieved significant successes not only in persuading law enforcement agencies to end investigations without charge, but also ensuring minimal, or no, publicity.
Recent cases include:
Peter is instructed in the most serious of cases, including those involving a death.
Notable cases include:
Peter routinely represents individuals accused of crimes which, while not necessarily the most serious, can nonetheless be hugely damaging. Drink and drug-related allegations, certain types of assaults, motoring allegations, communications offences: these sorts of crimes can be hugely damaging even if the allegation never reaches the charge stage.
Peter works alongside colleagues in the firm’s civil litigation team – and with a select group of trusted reputational and media experts outside the firm – to ensure that ‘collateral damage’ from any criminal allegation is kept to a minimum.
He has enjoyed significant success preventing unmerited allegations from entering the public domain. Often this is done by taking decisive action at an early stage by persuading an investigating authority to end its inquiry before the charging stage.
His clients in these matters have included celebrities, politicians and other household names but they are also HNWs and doctors, lawyers and City professionals for whom an allegation of wrongdoing would be reputationally and professionally devastating.
Peter often represents drivers charged with the whole range of motoring offences, from the most serious which tragically involved a death to drink or drug driving and speeding. He understands the impact these investigations and prosecutions can have on an individual and brings his tenacity and attention to detail to every case.
Notable case include:
9 Sep 2021
Serious and General Crime partner Peter Csemiczky has written an article for the Solicitors Journal on proposed reforms to the pre-charge bail system.
Peter sets out why the current system does…
29 Mar 2021
Hickman & Rose partner Peter Csemiczky has been quoted in the Law Society Gazette in relation to new date from the CPS about its record on private prosecutions. The data, which was obtained under…
9 Mar 2021
Serious and General Crime partner Peter Csemiczky has been quoted in a Law360 looking at Covid-19’s impact on the criminal justice system. Peter explains that it is a mistake to lay all the blame for…
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+44 (0)20 7702 5331 or email us.
