Nina Grahame KC in The Times: retirement, theatre to law, vulnerable female defendants
16 April 2026
Garden Court North’s Nina Grahame KC (pictured) has announced her imminent retirement. Credit: Garden Court North Chambers.
Garden Court North’s Nina Grahame KC has been featured in The Times’ ‘In Conversation’ column, in which she discusses her pending retirement, the litany of high-profile criminal cases she acted on, and some of the key issues she has championed throughout her 33 years at the Bar.
The column, published today (16 April 2026), also chronicles some of Nina’s life before coming to the Bar and joining Garden Court North in 2008. For instance, Nina recalls working in theatre in London for ten years alongside a role as an outdoor clerk for a solicitors’ firm, where she assisted barristers in court, took notes, and looked after clients and witnesses.
“I gradually got more interested in what I was seeing at court and found myself talking more about that and less about the theatre work I was doing,” Nina said.
Having completed her law conversion course at City University and the Bar qualification at the Inns of Court School of Law, Nina was called to the Bar in 1993 aged 34. Nina remembers being told that “you’ll never get silk because by the time you’ve got enough experience to apply you’ll be too old.”
In 2019, Nina was appointed Queen’s (now King’s) Counsel. She has been described as “simply the best silk in the north, and probably in the country” in The Legal 500 (2025), regularly defending in the most complex Crown Court cases.
‘In Conversation’ is a monthly column in The Times written by Catherine Baski, a former criminal and immigration barrister turned legal affairs journalist.
Vulnerable female defendants and the “antiquated” law on infanticide
During the interview, Nina voiced concerns that the Government’s proposed reforms to limit jury trials are being sold as helping victims in criminal cases.
She noted that 70% of women in prison or under probation supervision are victims of domestic abuse – a “sledgehammer” approach by the criminal justice system which can overlook the “nuances and complexities” of individual cases involving abused women.
“A lot of women who are abused are not necessarily very articulate,” Nina said. “Some are neurodivergent or have problems with addiction and don’t always present themselves in the most sympathetic light.”
She argues that there should be more emphasis on understanding the complexities of abuse and how it affects women, calling for experts to assist juries and a “myth-busting” direction to be given, as there is with rape cases.
“There should be a neutral, agreed direction to say that people who are victims of domestic abuse will not always pick up the phone to the police to complain”, Nina explained.
She also argued for reform of the law on infanticide. The Infanticide Act 1938 created an offence relating to women who kill their biological children within 12 months of birth.
The “antiquated” law, Nina said, is “too narrowly prescribed” being limited to circumstances where “the balance of [the mother’s mind] was disturbed by reason of her not having fully recovered from the effect of giving birth to the child or by reason of the effect of lactation”.
The Infanticide Act should be broadened to incorporate the complexities of mental distress, pointing to the case of Joanne Sharkey to illustrate the need for reform. Ms Sharkey was initially arrested for murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility at Liverpool Crown Court last year, resulting in a two-year suspended sentence rather than immediate custody.
The Crown Prosecution Service typically prosecutes women for murder or manslaughter rather than infanticide, Nina emphasised. This places the burden on the defendant to prove diminished responsibility on the balance of probabilities, unlike infanticide, where the prosecution retains the burden of proof.
Nina is currently completing her last remaining sentences and appeals, after 33 years at the Bar.
Garden Court North Chambers would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for Nina’s ceaseless commitment and stellar work as former Deputy Head of Chambers, and Chair of the crime team. She has embodied Chambers’ ethos since joining Garden Court North in 2008, and we wish her the very best in her future adventures.
Additional media
The Times – Nina Grahame KC: ‘I was told I’ll never get silk’
For further information, please contact Alex Blair, Communications Manager at Garden Court North Chambers: ablair@gcnchambers.co.uk
