Karen Railton

Karen Railton is Head of the Motor Prosecutions Team in Scotland.

Karen is a criminal lawyer with an extensive background defending cases in the criminal courts. She specialises in the defence of motor prosecutions and Safety, Health & Environment cases. This includes representing clients at police stations and in courts across the country, regularly dealing with complex, fatal matters with clients requiring highly sensitive care.

Karen also advises on the impact of criminal proceedings on associated civil claims

Karen's experience includes:

• PF v C – successfully defending a driver on a charge of causing death by careless driving. This required extensive cross examination of expert witnesses in relation to visibility issues, reaction times and stopping distances of vehicles.
• HMA v X – successfully persuaded the prosecution to take no proceedings against a large construction company in relation to a fatal accident on site investigated and reported to the Crown by the Health & Safety Executive.
• Delivering training seminars on Regulatory issues and prosecutions to both large and small groups of Company Directors and Insurer clients.
• Drafting a guidance document on key aspects of the Scottish Criminal Justice System to assist clients.
  Prior to joining DAC Beachcroft Karen was the instructing solicitor in an extremely high profile murder case that was the largest and most extensive investigation carried out in the history of Strathclyde Police. Karen was praised by the Solicitor General for Scotland on her high quality work on this complex matter.

Endorsements

Karen is highly thought of by insurer and corporate clients, one such client describing her as 'resilient, capable, articulate and a pleasure to work alongside.' She is the requested solicitor and allocated contact for many clients and consistently achieves exceptional results in both motor and health & safety prosecutions.

Karen was admitted as a solicitor in 2007 and joined DAC Beachcroft in 2015.