Tihomir Mak

Tihomir provides representation and advice in all aspects of extradition, criminal law, human rights, international criminal law, international humanitarian law and public international law. He has significant experience in complex, high-value and sensitive international disputes.

Tihomir also has experience in civil actions against the police, domestic human rights claims, select aspects of EU law and international arbitration proceedings. He is comfortable dealing with complex issues and working with vast volumes of evidence. He has particular experience in modern litigation technologies, including various e-discovery platforms.

Background and Expertise

Tihomir is both civil and common law educated and multilingual, with a background in international criminal law and public international law.

Since coming to the Bar, Tihomir became a committed criminal defence specialist with experience in defending a wide range of criminal matters, including serious violent offences, drug offences and sexual offences.

He also developed an extradition practice and has appeared in both first instance and High Court extradition proceedings.

Before coming to the Bar, Tihomir practised in a Tier 1-ranked law firm dedicated exclusively to public international law, where he represented states, international organisations and private clients on a wide range of contentious and non-contentious public international law issues.

His contentious experience included representing a State before the International Court of Justice in proceedings related to allegations of transboundary harm, representing foreign investors and States in investment treaty arbitrations and representing a national company in a commercial arbitration.

His advisory experience included advising a Middle Eastern state on the international ramifications of the armed conflict in Ukraine, and advising a national company on unbundling issues in EU law. During this time, Tihomir also taught public international law at postgraduate level, with a focus on international humanitarian law, law of treaties and human rights. Following this, he worked as an international law adviser at the British Red Cross where he provided high quality advice on international humanitarian law issues to the UK government and the British Red Cross.

Prior to that, Tihomir was a member of the defence team in a seminal war crimes case at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, where he advised on international criminal law, international humanitarian law and criminal law, drafted complex arguments involving a combination of legal, procedural and evidential issues, and managed the entire litigation process in proceedings lasting 6 years, culminating in the acquittal of the client.

His previous experience also includes strategic human rights litigation through co-representation, legal support to applicants and third-party interventions at the ECHR and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, working at the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia as a consultant and at the University of Zagreb as a teaching assistant. He also worked as a project manager of European Commission funded rule of law project and an assistant in the Mission Officer of the UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Areas of Expertise

Criminal Law, Extradition, Civil Rights

Advising and representing a client facing serious domestic violence allegations and obtaining a declaration from the court that proceedings before the court were a nullity due to procedural errors. The client’s successful and lucrative international career would have ended with a criminal conviction.

Representing a vulnerable refugee in a successful application to vacate his guilty pleas in a case of dangerous driving causing damage to multiple vehicles. Following detailed written and oral submissions, the Crown ultimately offered no evidence on all counts

Securing a unanimous acquittal of a defendant accused of assaulting emergency workers following comprehensive cross-examination of police officers who fabricated evidence and lied on oath to cover up use of excessive force.

Advising on claims under the Human Rights Act against the Metropolitan police in relation to serious police investigative failures in a high-profile serial killer case.

Securing a discharge in a Polish extradition case on grounds of substantial and unexplained delay and Article 8 rights

Securing an acquittal on modern slavery grounds for a youth charged with drugs and offensive weapon offences

Representing a member of a religious minority group in a High Court case raising issues of permissible restrictions on the appellants’ rights under Articles 9, 10 and 11 of the ECHR