Ruba Huleihel

Ruba undertakes all areas of criminal work, both prosecuting and defending, and is a CPS Level 3 Panel Advocate for general crime. She has a calm and genuine demeanour which establishes an easy rapport with clients. She is an eloquent and effective advocate, employing meticulous preparation.

Current or recent instructions include rape (both as a led junior and junior alone), drugs, serious violence, burglary, robbery, and fraud.

Ruba is a native Arabic speaker and is fluent in Hebrew. On one occasion when an interpreter failed to attend court, she interpreted simultaneously for a defendant in court while mitigating.

Recently, Ruba has acted as disclosure junior in a case concerning historic sex offences. Following this, she has acted in trials and sentences concerning serious sex offences and child sex offences.

Ruba has also completed a legal review for Lexis PSL of Practice Notes on Road Traffic Offences

Previously, Ruba completed an LLM in International Law. Inspired by her casework at a criminal defence firm, she wrote her dissertation on extradition and the right to a fair trial.

Prior to qualifying, Ruba was a legal advisor at Harrow Law Centre working with young people and parents on Stop and Search rights, county lines exploitation, education law, and community care law. Alongside this role, she was a support worker to Syrian refugees at Single Homelessness Project.

In a previous career, Ruba co-founded an ethical fashion brand employing women facing barriers to work. She has also worked with Seeds of Peace and Solutions-not-Sides, conflict resolution charities focusing on the Palestinian-Israeli crisis.

Recent Case Examples:

R v CM (Sentence, Isleworth Crown Court, 2023): Defending. Successfully argued against imposing a 3-year minimum sentence under the 3-strike rule for domestic burglary. Sentence of 26 weeks custody suspended for 2 years.

R v KA (3-day trial, Portsmouth Crown Court, 2023): Defending allegation of possession of a bladed article (axe). Not guilty verdict.

R v X (a youth) (Sentence, Salisbury Youth Court, 2023): Defending. Serious child sex offences. Sentence of 12-month youth referral order.

R v GT (5-day trial, Portsmouth Crown Court, 2023): Defending allegation of fraud. Not Guilty verdict.

R v HB (3-day trial, Winchester Crown Court, 2023): Prosecuting allegation of attempted burglary. Complainant evidence successfully adduced as hearsay. Successfully resisted submission of no case to answer. Guilty verdict.

R v TM (2-day trial, Portsmouth Crown Court, 2023): Defending allegation of possession of indecent images of children. Trial followed successfully vacating guilty pleas. Not guilty verdicts.

R v Y (a youth) (2-day trial, Newport Youth Court, 2023): Defending allegation of rape. Finding of guilt. Sentence of 12-month youth rehabilitation order.

SIA v LO (13-day trial, Portsmouth Crown Court, 2023): Defending multiple allegations of fraud and perverting the course of justice, two defendants, 12 prosecution witnesses. Not guilty verdicts.

R v MM (Sentence, Bournemouth Crown Court, 2023): Defending. Successfully argued against imposing minimum sentence for two-strike rule for possession of a bladed article. Sentence of 18-month community order.

SPA v M (4-day trial, Court Martial, 2023): Defending allegations of sexual assault. Not Guilty Verdict.

R v A (3-day trial, Southampton Crown Court, 2022): Defending allegations of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Commended by the judge for legal arguments on bad character and hearsay. Not guilty verdict.

R v E (3-day trial, Southampton, 2022): Defending allegations of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Vulnerable defendant requiring an intermediary. Not guilty verdict.

R v TM (Portsmouth, 2022): Defending. Successfully vacated a guilty plea entered by a defendant who felt pressured by a judge.