In UK News The King’s Speech on Wednesday opened the first session of the new parliament, announcing 40 bills – the highest number announced in a King’s Speech since 2005. The bills announced included several relating to human rights, such as a Victims Bill, Mental Health Bill, and two draft bills – one on Race and Disability, predominantly concerning the right to equal pay, and another on Conversion Practices, seeking to ban conversion therapy. Several bills make provisions to combat violence against women and girls. A spokesperson for the Equality and Human Rights Commission responded to th ..read more

The ECHR’s Additional Protocols 4, 7 and 12 have never been ratified by the UK and are not included in the schedule to the Human Rights Act 1998.  This post suggests that the new government remedy this.  It also sets out part of the history to the Additional Protocols, what the rights in those Protocols include, a summary of the relevant jurisprudence and a brief note of what effect they might have in the UK. In the run up to the 1997 general election and during the drafting of the Labour Party’s policy on what was to become the Human Rights Bill there were discussions within the Sh ..read more

As a new Chief Coroner takes up the reins, Jim Duffy is joined by 1COR colleagues Richard Mumford and Lance Baynham to discuss the challenges facing the coronial system today. They look at recent cases on Article 2 ECHR and the ordering of fresh inquests, before reflecting on how the process works for those who come into contact with it. Law Pod UK is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Audioboom, Player FM, ListenNotes, Podbean, iHeart, Radio Public, Deezer or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Please remember to rate and review us if yo ..read more

Introduction The applicant in the ECtHR case of Karsai v Hungary, Mr Karsai, a 47-year-old human-rights lawyer who lives in Budapest, was diagnosed in 2022 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) – a neurodegenerative disease that causes a progressive loss of motor neuron function leaving the patient completely paralysed, while preserving intellectual function. Mr Karsai maintains that “he will be “imprisoned in his own body without any prospect of release apart from death” and his existence will consist almost exclusively of pain and suffering” (§14). Mr Karsai applied to the ECtHR arguing ..read more

One of the most striking appointments to Sir Keir Starmer’s administration has been that of Richard Hermer KC to the office of Attorney General.   In that capacity, as the Government’s senior Law Officer, Hermer will attend Cabinet.  He is a hugely respected senior barrister, who has never been a member of Parliament having spent his professional life in independent practice with a formidable and distinguished legal career.  He is extremely well placed to give the Government independent legal advice of the highest quality, as one would hope for from the AG. Hermer’s appoin ..read more

In Episode 201 Emma-Louise Fenelon speaks to Emma Snell of JUSTICE and Christian Weaver, a barrister at Garden North Chambers about Achieving Racial Justice at Inquests: A Practitioner’s Guide (2024), a guide recently published by JUSTICE and INQUEST. His Honor Judge Mark Lucraft KC, Chief Coroner of England & Wales from 2016-2020 endorsed the guide saying the following: “This important guide equips practitioners and coroners to recognise, raise and investigate issues of race or racism when they arise, sensitively and without reticence. It is an invaluable r ..read more

R (on the application of Finch on behalf of the Weald Action Group) (Appellant) v Surrey County Council and others (Respondents) A detailed summary of the issues and the facts in this case can be found in the Supreme Court’s Press Release. The report below gives a very short account of these followed by a focus on the majority and dissenting judgments. I quote Lord Sales in some detail as the concerns expressed in his dissent will only prevail if Parliament were to legislate for them to do so. Legal and factual background In December 2018, the second respondent, Horse Hill Developments Ltd, s ..read more

In UK news Julian Assange has been released from HM Prison Belmarsh after accepting a plea deal with American prosecutors. Assange pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy to violate the Espionage Act, for communicating with whistleblower Chelsea Manning and receiving and publishing classified information regarding Guantanamo Bay, the Afghan and Iraq war, and US diplomatic cables. After being released from Belmarsh, he travelled to the North Mariana Islands to enter his plea, before travelling on to Australia now a free man. NGOs and media figures have voiced concerns that Assange’s guilty ..read more

In UK News On Thursday, representatives from Liberty, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Inclusion London addressed journalists at a briefing in Westminster to call for politicians and the public to stay alert to human rights issues over the election campaign period. Warnings were given about the diminution in worker’s and migrant’s rights, among others, in recent years. Calls were made by multiple representatives for closer scrutiny of the potential implications of challenges to human rights frameworks such as the HRA and ECHR. “Human rights in the UK have too long been cast in p ..read more

Our 200th episode is the second of our International Women’s Day series exploring gender at the Bar. In this series, Lucy McCann and Rajkiran Arhestey speak to Lady Justice Whipple, Sally Smith KC, Clodagh Bradley KC, Cara Guthrie, Judith Rogerson, Isabel McArdle, Emma-Louise Fenelon and Chloe Turvill about their experiences, in the hope of drawing out some key reflections and continuing the conversation about gender and the profession. In this episode, Lucy and Kiran discuss a number of issues relating to parenthood, including pregnancy, maternity and paternity leave, childcare, gendered ass ..read more