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.
Peter has a particularly strong reputation for representing professionals, high-profile and High Net Worth individuals for whom any suggestion that they may be connected to criminality is can be professionally and personally devastating.
Peter’s clients include some of the best known people in Britain, facing some of the most serious criminal allegations. He takes pride in providing his clients with a truly personal, dedicated service, whatever the problem they face.
As litigator and advocate in both Magistrates’ and Crown Courts, Peter 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 success in this area is, in part, due to his ability to handle with sensitivity matters which, if not given the appropriate care and attention, would cause huge personal, professional, financial and reputational damage.
Peter specialises in advising school and university students facing disciplinary investigations which have the potential, if not handled correctly, to develop into police investigations. Often these cases concern sexual allegations. He has also developed a niche specialism handling the criminal, regulatory and reputational implications of social media posts.
After initially training to be a musician and a fledgling career in Fintech, Peter qualified as a solicitor in 2009. He joined Hickman & Rose in 2015. He was made a partner in January 2018.
Peter is recommended as a leading partner in the Legal 500 directory and maintains his Band 2 ranking in Chambers & Partners. He is an active current member of the European Criminal Bar Association and is the former secretary and committee member of the London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ 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 is often instructed 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 from the sporting and entertainment worlds, regulated professionals such as financiers, doctors, teachers and lawyers.
Recent work highlights include:
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 Csemiczky is one of the leading defence solicitors operating at the highest level in school and university disciplinary proceedings.
Peter knows that if these matters are not handled correctly from the outset, an internal school or university disciplinary investigation can spiral out of control into a police inquiry with potentially devastating, lifelong consequences.
This, plus the fact that schools and universities can operate in widely different ways, means successfully representing clients school and university matters requires compassion, deep knowledge of the legal territory, and forensic attention to the details of the case.
Peter often acts for young male students accused of sexual misconduct in a school or university context. The circumstances in which these cases occur mean that Peter often needs to act as a trusted “sherpa” for his clients and their parents guiding them carefully through emotionally difficult and legally treacherous territory.
Peter has achieved significant success in this area. Recent clients 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:
1 Apr 2025
Hickman & Rose is delighted to announce that Kate Goold has rejoined the firm as a partner in its market-leading Serious and General Crime team.
Kate originally joined Hickman & Rose in…
6 Mar 2025
On International Women’s Day, Hickman & Rose is proud to support the important work done by Women in Criminal Law to improve the working lives of women in the profession.
This year the firm…
9 Jan 2025
Peter Csemiczky has written an article for the Times newspaper in which he criticises the way many UK universities handle allegations of sexual misconduct made against students.
Peter points out…
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