|
Junior counsel for the Metropolitan Police, led by David Pannick QC and John Beggs QC, in two leading appellate human rights authorities in the public order context:
R (Laporte) v Gloucestershire Police and others [2007] 2 AC 105: Judicial review concerning police action to prevent a breach of the peace at RAF Fairford, including the forced return to London of coach-loads of anti-war protesters.
Austin & Saxby v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [2008] 2 WLR 415 (CA) [2009] 1 AC 564 (HL): Claim concerning the containment of a crowd by the police to prevent public disorder at Oxford Circus in 2001. Issues included whether this was a deprivation of liberty under Article 5 ECHR. Metropolitan Police successfully defended claim up to House of Lords.
Other cases:
R (Ferriday) v Chief Constable of Gwent Police [2009] EWHC 2083 (Admin): Judicial review concerning the dismissal of a probationary constable under regulation 13 of the Police Regulations 2003. Issues included the force’s alleged failure to follow its policy. Junior counsel for the (successful) Chief Constable - led by John Beggs QC.
Re B (A Minor) [2009] 1 FLR 1264, [2009] LS Law Medical 214: Represented a hospital in its application to the High Court for a declaration that treatment could be withheld from a young child if her condition deteriorated.
NHS Trust v Ms D and Mr and Mrs D [2006] 1 FLR 638: Represented the parents of an adult suffering from a terminal neurological condition in the hospital's high profile application to the High Court for a declaration that treatment could be withheld. A supplemental judgment on costs (reported at [2006] Lloyd's Rep Med 193) formed part of the Family Division’s developing case law concerning the practice whereby the NHS trust in such an application pays one half of the Official Solicitor's costs.
Further unreported examples:
- Instructed by a police force in relation to the use of section 27 of the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 (direction to individual posing a risk of alcohol-related crime or disorder to leave a locality), both in judicial review proceedings and to advise upon and redraft the force’s policy.
- Urgent telephone conference with a force solicitor and a Chief Constable as to an appropriate response to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, concerning the type of investigation required where Article 3 ECHR (inhuman and degrading treatment) was in issue.
- Representing both an NHS trust and a local authority in urgent High Court habeas corpus proceedings concerning the local authority’s failure properly to consult the nearest relative before making an application for admission for treatment under section 3 of the Mental Health Act 1983.
- Drafted judicial review proceedings on behalf of a patient challenging a local authority’s deficient assessment of his care needs under section 47 of the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990, service of which prompted the local authority to agree to a reassessment.
- Drafted a judicial review pre-action protocol letter on behalf of a man whose wife had been taken hundreds of miles away for assessment under section 2 of the Mental Health Act 1983.
- Instructed by the Official Solicitor in Court of Protection proceedings before Munby J (as he then was), as litigation friend to a young mentally incapacitated adult, cared for by her parents at home, whose bedroom door was locked each night because this was the best way of managing her behavioural problems. The local authority made the application, concerned that this was a deprivation of liberty. Heard together with a similar case concerning a child. Issues included: whether this “detention” in a private setting constituted a deprivation of liberty under Article 5; local authorities’ powers and duties in relation to adults cared for at home; the impact of parental responsibility and Article 8 ECHR in the case of a child. Led by Alison Ball QC of 1 Garden Court. Judgment awaited.
- Advising the Official Solicitor on the definition of a “care home”. Considering the interplay between the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards under Schedule A1 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the regime for registration of care homes and domiciliary care agencies etc under the Care Standards Act 2000.
|