CHAMBERS

Ylenia Rosso
(Member)
Guernica 37

Called: 2014

Qualified to accept Public Access instructions

Introduction

Ylenia Rosso is developing a practice in International Criminal Law and Extradition. Before joining Guernica 37 she was part of the team acting on behalf of a British-Iranian person who was formerly detained in Iran unlawfully. She has a keen interest in the corporate liability of international crimes.

She has been seconded to the Bank of England and to the Serious Fraud Office in a case involving large-scale international shipping and banking frauds across multiple countries.

Ylenia has significant experience in defending clients of a particularly vulnerable nature, often with complex mental health issues addressing matters of the utmost sensitivity.

Ylenia has a strong relationship with the British Institute of International and Comparative Law through which she has trained Nepalese prosecutors on matters of pre-trial conferencing, witness care and ethics. She currently also teaches new practitioners and pupil barristers Ethics within the Gray’s Inn Education department.

Ylenia is robust in Court and has been commended on her ethics and client care.

Current work

Ylenia has a busy criminal practice in which she regularly prosecutes and defends in the Crown Courts. Ylenia has been appointed to the Government Legal Department’s Junior Panel of Counsel and is also a member of the CPS Advocate Panel Scheme (level 2). She has prosecuted on behalf of the CPS, National Probation Service and local authorities. She has expertise in applying for specialized behaviour orders on behalf of the Metropolitan Police, as well as contesting them and appealing them.

She has successfully represented clients in cases involving serious drug allegations, grave violence and sexual offences. In terms of prosecution, Ylenia has particular experience representing the Crown in cases involving domestic violence.

Ylenia has advised on matters of jurisdiction in an international trade dispute and has been led junior counsel on 3 civil fraud cases. She is often led in civil cases that have a criminal element at hand.

Previous experience

Ylenia spent time working in The Hague at the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal of Former Yugoslavia on the case of Prosecutor v. Radovan Karadžić, who was convicted of genocide.

Before coming to the Bar, Ylenia worked for criminal defence solicitors in their appeals and prison law departments, representing prisoners at independent adjudications and advising on points of appeal against conviction and sentence in cases of murder, serious drug and sexual offences, often incorporating Human Rights issues, in particular fair trial rights. She also worked for the University of Essex Human Rights Clinic as a legal researcher investigating international corporate accountability for human rights abuses.

Ylenia also spent time teaching prisoners at HMP Pentonville. This experience developed an interest in prison law matters and gave her a special understanding of the needs of those in custody; and knowledge of prison procedures, rules and bodies.

Education

BPTC: University of Law, 2013

LLM: International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law; University of Essex, 2012

GDL: BPP, 2012

LLB: Laws with International Relations; University of Malta, 2010

Certificate in Law, War and Human Rights, London School of Economics, 2009

Bachelors in European Studies with Anthropology, 2007

Memberships

Bar of England and Wales

CPS Panel level 2

Criminal Bar Association

The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn

Defence Extradition Lawyers' Forum

Appointments and Awards

September 2011: Awarded "Strategic Educational Pathways Scholarship": Full tuition funding for LLM and study-abroad grant from a Government of Malta and EU joint award

Recent Cases

International Work

Re: Application for Diplomatic Protection – UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Foreign Secretary: concerning individual detained in Iran following a sham trial. The Client was released and repatriated before completing their sentence (Junior Counsel, 2020 – 2021).

Extradition

Romania v D, Westminster MC, 2019

Extradition discharged on the grounds of Article 8 and children’s best interests, given one child was seriously unwell.

Criminal

R v K, Croydon Crown Court; 2022

No evidence offered on 3 counts of burglary and theft for a young defendant suffering from schizophrenia.

R v M, Isleworth Crown Court, 2022

Acquittal secured for a woman charged with 3 counts of Fraud and theft in a 4-day trial. The case required careful witness management as the defendant suffered from severe anxiety and learning difficulties. The jury found that she was not guilty of all charges against her.

R v A, Inner London Crown Court, 2022

Ylenia represented the Crown in a case where the jury convicted a man charged with causing his ex-partner multiple injuries within a domestic setting. Due to the passage of time, some evidence was considered inadmissible, though the jury were able to convict despite this.

R v C, Isleworth Crown Court, 2022

Secured a Mental Health Order for D charged with numerous harassment charges and threats to kill. The case required persistent liaison with mental health services and probation, who initially found that a mental health order was not required.

R v F, Cambridge Crown Court, 2022

D, a youth, was sentenced to a youth-referral order after pleading guilty to a conspiracy involving allegations of racially aggravated violence, including grievous bodily harm as part of a gang.

R v A, Inner London Crown Court, 2021

Secured a Suspended Sentence Order for D who was convicted of 4 counts of sexual assault after trial.

R v C, Woolwich Crown Court, 2021

D was charged with 3 counts of possession of class A drugs with intent to supply and was tried over 5 days. The drugs were found under her bed. The jury acquitted D, following robust cross-examination of the officer in the case and showed there was actually no forensic link between the drugs and the defendant.