Our History
Our History
A Radical Legacy
Powell Spencer & Partners was born out of the radical political energy of the 1960s and 70s—a time of global resistance, cultural transformation, and social justice movements. From the civil rights campaigns in the USA and Northern Ireland, to the anti-colonial victory in Vietnam and the uprisings in Paris and Prague, this was a period that reshaped how many viewed power, justice, and society.
It was also an era of transformative literature and political thought:
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The Wretched of the Earth – Frantz Fanon (1961)
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Pedagogy of the Oppressed – Paulo Freire (1968)
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If They Come in the Morning – Angela Davis (1971)
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Sexual Politics – Kate Millett (1970)
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The Savage Mind – Claude Lévi-Strauss (1966)
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An Introduction to Marxist Economic Theory – Ernest Mandel (196
Themes of colonialism, race, incarceration, feminism, Marxism, and existentialism influenced a generation of activists, including those who would go on to shape our firm.
From Thompsons to Kilburn
Our roots go back to 1921, when Harry Thompson, a radical lawyer committed to representing trade unions and working-class communities, founded Thompsons Solicitors. Renamed W.H. Thompson in 1947, the firm became known for its work in personal injury and industrial disease litigation.
In the early 1970s, W.H. Thompson brought in a group of idealistic young law graduates—Greg Powell (LSE), Richard Spencer (Queen Mary), Chris Magrath (Trinity College Dublin), and David Hole (Cambridge)—whose political and social ideals would become the foundation for a new kind of law firm.
The Birth of Powell Spencer
On 1st August 1977, Greg Powell and Chris Magrath set up Powell Magrath & Co on Kilburn High Road. Their vision was simple but ambitious: to build a community-based legal aid firm dedicated to accessible, high-quality representation for those most in need. Legal aid was expanding, and the demand for legal advice was overwhelming—particularly in working-class and migrant communities.
At the time, Kilburn was a hub of public services, from banks and post offices to advice centres and probation offices. It’s a stark contrast to today’s landscape, where many of those vital local resources have disappeared.
Richard Spencer and David Hole joined the firm soon after, and the practice became Powell Magrath & Spencer. The 1980’s saw the departure of Chris Magrath and the joining of John Gillman and Mike Tait and the renaming of the firm as Powell Spencer & Partners.
Today the firm is led by a partnership team that continues to bring together legal experience, strategic leadership and a shared commitment to justice. Greg Powell continues as the firm’s managing partner with a distinguished career advocating for clients across all levels of the justice system, Sinead Zaman, a corporate partner and leading figure in our criminal defence team who has extensive experience in serious crime and complex conspiracy cases and Saloud Zaman, corporate partner, head of our costing services department with specialist expertise in legal aid costs and inter-firm instructions on high-value cost claims.
Who We Are Today
From the beginning, Powell Spencer & Partners has stood for justice, community, and quality legal service. Our ethos is rooted in the belief that everyone deserves strong, principled legal representation.
We live in brutal times when dissent faces the power of the State, a new world of social media disfigures social relationships and where the rapaciousness of capital and its success in creating and maintaining its hegemonic interests appears unassailable but where ‘rights’ are still to be defended and justice fought for.