Grace Forbes: Meet the glamorous UK lawyer trying to clear Sam Kerr after racial harassment charge

Murder, guns, drugs, fraud, money laundering. Alleged stabbings, rapes and revenge attacks. Accused gangsters.

They are all on the CV of glamorous UK barrister Grace Forbes — described by her peers as an undoubted “rising star” of London’s legal landscape.

Just last year, she defended one client in a multi-million-pound fraud and money laundering trial, and another accused of sexual assault and witness intimidation.

Not usually in Ms Forbes’ inbox are late nights out involving drink, vomit, taxi drivers and British bobbies allegedly taking offence at being called “a stupid white bastard”.

But, when the person allegedly doing the vomiting — and the abusing — is soccer superstar Samantha Kerr?

Well, a barrister with “acute tactical judgement and an intensive, forensic focus”, along with a “total mastery of voluminous and complex papers” might just be worth paying for.

What Ms Forbes charged for her 16-minute appearance in Kingston-Upon-Thames Crown Court earlier this month is not immediately known.

Her chambers website quotes anywhere between £100 ($190) to £1500 ($2900) for a first appearance.

But, given what is at stake for Kerr if the ongoing case goes to trial next year — a trial which could run for up to five days — then the Matildas captain would surely be happy to part with a bigger chunk of her estimated $3 million-a-year salary.

It was during that March 4 hearing that Kerr pleaded not guilty to the single charge of “using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour, thereby causing that or another person harassment, alarm or distress and the offence was racially aggravated”.

It was also there that Ms Forbes revealed the Chelsea goalscorer had been briefly taken into custody on the night she allegedly racially abused the UK police officer, before being interviewed by investigators.

In the same submission, Ms Forbes urged the court and the cops to ensure CCTV clips from the night in question were preserved, as they will likely make up a chunk of the evidence, as will body-worn footage from officers on the scene.

“My estimate, albeit somewhat conservatively, was four to five days to take account of the potential for defence witnesses,” Ms Forbes said.

“And the fact that there is certainly going to be some, if not numerous body-worn video clips and potentially CCTV in this case.”

She assured the judge that she would be the one defending Ms Kerr at trial, and before that, putting forward a motion to throw the case out altogether because of an “abuse of process”.

That argument will be based around the fact it took almost 12 months for UK Crown Prosecutors to lay the charge.

And during that time, very few outside of Kerr’s most inner circle knew about the criminal charge hanging over her.

When news broke that Kerr had been charged, Football Australia boss James Johnson and Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson both admitted they were not aware of the allegations — sparking speculation Kerr had kept the alleged incident secret from them.

Chelsea manager Emma Hayes hasn’t confirmed when Kerr told the English club about the incident.

But Hayes did confirm that Kerr “has our full support, she knows that”.

“There’s difficult moments, tough times, and that’s what my role is at this football club — to make sure I look after our people.”

On Thursday, WA Premier Roger Cook added to the support Kerr has been afforded since the charge became public.

“Sam Kerr is a great Western Australian,” he said.

“She’s one of our greatest ever sports stars and she’s done so much for the sport of soccer, and particularly women’s and girls’ soccer.

“And so we stand by Sam. She has been charged with some offences and obviously, we’ll await the outcome of that process.”

That process — and the alleged abuse of it — will return to the court on April 26.

Until then, Kerr was granted her unconditional bail by Judge Judith Coello, who also said she would not have to attend that hearing in person, even though it was likely to be decided on that day.

“If it is successful then that will be the end of the matter, if it is not successful, then clearly the matter will proceed to trial,” Judge Coello said.

She also issued some warnings to the 31-year-old.

“Should there be any change in your position . . . the sooner you plead guilty to this matter, if that is your intention and your wish, the earlier you do that the better, do you understand?” Judge Coello said.

“You will lose credit as time goes on and should you be convicted after trial; you will lose all credit you might otherwise have obtained.

“Are you clear on all of that?”

Kerr simply answered: “Yes”. She has made no public comment since.