Jo Chart | Senior Associate
Jo is a senior solicitor who specialises in criminal defence and associated civil proceedings. Jo has successfully represented clients facing serious and complex criminal allegations such as murder, large-scale drug conspiracies (involving encrochat and county lines), robbery, firearms charges, complex fraud and sexual allegations.
Jo accepts private instructions for pre-charge engagement. She believes that strategic and compassionate representation at the earliest and most critical stage of a criminal investigation is the key to success. When reputations and livelihoods are at risk, Jo’s personable and hardworking nature gains the trust of clients in the most stressful situations.
Jo recognises the importance of continuity in legal representation and frequently represents her clients at the police station through to trial, delivering tactical and personalised advice across all stages of criminal proceedings. Jo conducts her own advocacy in the Magistrates Court and the Youth Court. Her calm, practical and client-centred approach to advocacy secures excellent results in Court; such as acquittals, avoiding immediate prison sentences, reducing financial penalties and persuading Prosecutors that cases should not proceed.
Jo is passionate about representing young and vulnerable people whose voices and experiences are often overlooked. Through written representations and oral negotiation, Jo is skilled in persuading the Crown Prosecution Service that cases should not proceed to trial.
Notable Cases:
R v M ( 2025) – Jo’s client was found not guilty of murder and manslaughter following a trial at the Old Bailey. The jury deliberated for just 55 minutes in the case which spanned three years. The case also involved an urgent application to the High Court for writ of Habeas Corpus and other relief in judicial review.
R v A (2025) – After a written application exposing issues with the prosecution evidence, the CPS offered no evidence against Jo’s client who was facing a serious sexual allegation.
R v K (2025) – Jo secured a Suspended Sentence Order for her client who was sentenced for being concerned in the supply of class A drugs. Jo’s client had a recent previous conviction for the same offence and was on licence at the time of the offences. Jo instructed a county lines and modern slavery expert which persuaded the court to conclude that her client took a lesser role in the offending.
R v J (2025) – Through written representations to the CPS and the instruction of a psychiatrist, Jo persuaded the CPS that it was not in the public interest prosecute her client facing an allegation of assault occasioning Actual Bodily Harm.
R v M (2024) – The CPS offered no evidence against Jo’s client charged with rape. Jo wrote written representations to the CPS and instructed a phone expert to prepare a defence bundle of key electronic communication which undermined the prosecution evidence.
R v L (2024) – Following written representations to the CPS and a successful legal argument regarding the admissibility of cell site evidence, the CPS offered no evidence against Jo’s client facing serious drug charges during her trial at Lewes Crown Court.
R v T (2024) – Jo’s client was found not guilty of one count of s.18 grievous bodily harm and one count of s.20 unlawful wounding at Inner London Crown Court. Jo instructed a psychologist to provide an opinion on how the client’s diagnosis of PTSD would have affected him at the time of the allegations.
R v S (2023) – Jo represented a 14-year-old who was found not guilty of joint enterprise murder at Kingston Crown Court.
R v A (2023) – Jo’s client was the only defendant to secure not guilty verdicts in a multi-handed trial involving an indictment of conspiracy to supply class A drugs Snaresbrook Crown Court.
R v J (2023) – Jo’s client was the only defendant to avoid guilty verdicts in a multi-handed trial involving an allegation of money laundering at Woolwich Crown Court.
R v J (2023) – Following the preparation of written representations, the prosecution offered no evidence against Jo’s client facing an indictment of affray and possession of offensive weapon at the house of Benedict Cumberbatch (after an initial arrest for burglary with intent to cause GBH).
R v A (2022) – Jo’s client was found not guilty of murder on the grounds of Diminished Responsibility at the Old Bailey. The case involved the instruction of an international security expert to address torture suffered by her client, a forensic pathologist to comment on scars on the client’s body, as well as distinguished forensic psychiatrists.
R v O (2021) – Jo’s client faced an indictment of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and possession of criminal property and was found not guilty following a trial at Inner London Crown Court.