Nicholas (Nick) Freeman (born 1956) is an English lawyer best known for specialising in the defence of traffic and speeding cases as well as road safety campaigning. He is the owner of Manchester-based legal practice Freeman & Co.
Freeman has been nicknamed "Mr Loophole" by the British tabloid press, a sobriquet which he has since trademarked.
Early life
Freeman is Jewish. He was privately educated at Uppingham School in Rutland. His father worked in retail, but warned him there would not be a business for him to take over. Although harbouring ambitions to become a professional golfer, he was persuaded to study law. Freeman completed his A-levels a year early, and went on to study law at Trent Polytechnic, and at the College of Law in Chester.
Career
On graduation, Freeman became an Articled Clerk in Nottingham. He won an advocacy competition and was hired as a prosecutor for Greater Manchester Police in 1981. In 1983, he moved to a firm of criminal lawyers in Manchester and was a partner within six months.
Aged 42, he left and set up Freeman & Co in Manchester. Freeman gained notoriety for getting acquittals for a number of celebrities. Freeman also still handles legal aid work and is on the Legal Services Commission's specialist fraud panel.
Loopholes
A motorcyclist was acquitted of a 132 mph speeding charge when Freeman quoted case law from 1922. Ashley Fitton, was cleared of drunk-driving based on the defence of coercion from the Criminal Justice Act 1925, claiming she was terrified she would be hurt by her husband if she did not drive him. Freeman "defended a businessman who had crashed his car and was taken to hospital seriously injured", and who was over the drink-drive limit, and was acquitted as "the relevant legislation says that the blood must be taken by someone who is not associated with the driver's care. In this case, it was taken by a surgeon directly involved, and so the man was acquitted."
On the ethics of using loopholes, Freeman comments:
Clients
His first high-profile case was that of Alex Ferguson in 1999. Freeman argued that Ferguson had to use the hard shoulder to get to the training ground to allow for his upset stomach and need for a toilet. Clients since have included: