THE 22ND ANNUAL JUDICIAL REVIEW CONFERENCE

CONFERENCE CHAIR

Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC, Blackstone Chambers

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

The Right Hon. Dominic Grieve QC MP, Attorney General

SPEAKERS

David Anderson QC, Brick Court Chambers

Jessica Boyd, Blackstone Chambers

Philip Coppel QC, 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square

Monica Carss-Frisk QC, Blackstone Chambers

James Eadie QC, Blackstone Chambers

Melanie Field, Head of Equality Bill Team, Government Equalities Office

The Right Hon. Dominic Grieve QC MP, Attorney General

John Halford, Bindmans

Brian Kennelly, Blackstone Chambers

Maya Lester, Brick Court Chambers

James Maskell, Head of Government Equalities Office Legal, Treasury Solicitor’s Department

Heather Rogers QC, Doughty Street Chambers

Dinah Rose QC, Blackstone Chambers

Hugh Tomlinson, Matrix Chambers

BREAKOUT SESSION CHAIRS

Sir Henry Brooke, Fountain Court

Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC

Sir Brian Neill, Retired Court of Appeal Judge

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC practises public law and human rights law at Blackstone Chambers. He is a Liberal Democrat Peer, and a Member of the Joint Parliamentary Select Committee on Human Rights, and President of INTERIGHTS (International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights). Lord Lester is Co-Editor of Lester, Pannick & Herberg: Human Rights Law and Practice (3rd ed. 2009) and is on the Editorial Board of Public Law. He is also Honorary Professor of Public Law at University College London.

The Right Hon. Dominic Grieve QC MP, Attorney General, has been Member of Parliament for Beaconsfield since 1997. He served as Shadow Attorney General from 2003 to 2009, Shadow Home Secretary from June 2008 to 2009 and Shadow Secretary of State for Justice from January 2009. His areas of strong political interest include Law and Order, Constitution, European Union, Defence, Environment and Foreign Affairs.

David Anderson QC is star-rated by Chambers & Partners Directory in the field of EU Law, with more than 120 appearances in the European Court of Justice. His English practice includes Public Law, often with an international or commercial flavour. He is Visiting Professor of Law at King's College London, a Recorder and the author of References to the European Court (2nd edn. with Marie Demetriou, 2002)

Jessica Boyd is in her third year of tenancy at Blackstone Chambers and is developing a broad public law practice. She acted as junior counsel for the claimants in R (Equitable Members Action Group) v HMT Treasury [2009] EWHC 2495 and R(March) v Secretary of State for Health [2010] EWHC 765 and as junior counsel for the Intervenors, Liberty and Justice, in Al Rawi & Ors v Security Service & Ors [2010] EWCA 482.

Philip Coppel QC, 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square, has a varied practice that embraces all aspects of public law. He has written extensively, including on freedom of information, election law and the new tribunal structure.

Monica Carss-Frisk QC, Blackstone Chambers, deals with a wide range of public law cases, including regulatory work and Judicial Review with a commercial aspect, as well as human rights cases and cases under the Freedom of Information Act. She frequently acts for regulators and other public authorities, but also for claimants.

James Eadie QC, Blackstone Chambers, a specialist in commercial and public law, was appointed to the highly influential position of First Treasury Counsel on 1 January 2009. He is the most senior barrister advising the government on all civil law matters. He is recognised by the independent legal directory, Chambers UK 2010, as a leading silk in administrative and public law, human rights and civil liberties, and financial services. Recent work includes advising the then Secretary of State for Children, Ed Balls, in relation to the removal of Sharon Shoosmith from her post following the Baby P tragedy; for the Ministry of Defence over the conduct of British troops in Iraq; for the Financial Services Authority over Northern Rock; and, for the Treasury defending a claim for Judicial Review concerning the lending behaviour of the Royal Bank of Scotland

Melanie Field, is Head of the Equality Bill Team at the Government and Equalities Office. She is a civil servant who has worked in a number of policy areas, including equality and the justice system. Melanie leads the policy team responsible for delivery of the Equality Act 2010.

John Halford is a Partner in Bindmans’ Public Law and Human Rights Department. He acts for individuals and groups to challenge discrimination, human rights violations and abuse of power. He has experience of bringing cases against a wide range of public bodies and organisations, and also of advising national charities, NGOs and regulators. Recent litigation highlights include R(E) v JFS in the Supreme Court, R (Lunt and another) v Liverpool City Council (both concerning the interface between public and discrimination law), S of S for Work and Pensions v Bradley and others (enforceability of Ombudsman reports) and R (E, T and Morris) v Chief Constable of Kent Police (legality of blanket stop and searches at a Climate Camp demonstration). In 2007 he won the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Award for Social and Welfare Law.

Brian Kennelly, Blackstone Chambers, specialises in EU Law and regulatory Judicial Review. In Administrative & Public law, Legal 500 2010 calls him "a star performer" and Chambers & Partners 2010 says that "he excels in regulatory matters". Brian is a member of the Attorney General’s “B” Panel of Counsel. Brian has appeared in many of the leading Judicial Review cases in the regulatory context involving telecoms, broadcasting, utilities and pharmaceuticals. Brian appeared for one of the successful pharmaceutical company appellants in the leading case on consultation in a regulatory context (Eisai). Brian also appeared (in the Admin Court and the ECJ) in the mobile companies’ recent challenge to the EU mobile roaming regulation (Case C-58/08 Vodafone). Brian has appeared in the leading case on Judicial Review in the Competition Appeal Tribunal (H3G MCT) and in the leading case on Ofcom’s regulation of global satellite services (ICO).

Maya Lester, Brick Court Chamber, is recommended in the principal legal directories as a leading junior in the field of Administrative & Public Law, Competition and European Law, and Civil Liberties. She was selected by The Times as one of the 10 Future Stars of the Bar in 2008. She regularly appears for and advises individuals, companies, government departments, regulators and public interest groups. She is a member of the Attorney General's B Panel of Junior Counsel to the Crown and was on the founding committee of the Human Rights Lawyers Association. Her recent cases include appearing for the Chagos Islanders in their Judicial Review of the removal of their right of abode on the islands (Bancoult) and for the Claimants in the challenge to the decision to slaughter Shambo the temple bullock.

James Maskell is a Treasury Solicitor at the Treasury Solicitor’s Department. He is a Government Lawyer of many years’ experience across a number of departments. James is head of the legal team that took the Equality Bill through Parliament.

Heather Rogers QC, Doughty Street Chambers, specialises in media law, human rights and public law. Recent cases include British Chiropractic Association v Singh (2010) (for BCA), Michael Napier & Irwin Mitchell v Pressdram Limited (2009) (for Private Eye), Harper v Seaga (Privy Council, 2009), and Inner West London Assistant Deputy Coroner v Channel 4 Television Corpn (2008). Notable libel cases include defending Penguin Books against David Irving and acting for George Galloway MP and Roman Polanski. She is a trustee of ARTICLE 19 and co-author of Duncan & Neill on Defamation (3rd edition) (LexisNexis Butterworths 2009).

Dinah Rose QC practises at Blackstone Chambers, specialising in public law, human rights and regulatory law. Her particular interests in the regulatory field include telecommunications and broadcasting (acting for Ofcom, telecommunications providers, and the BBC), fertility and medical ethics, utilities (water, gas and electricity, and postal services), and professional regulation.>

Hugh Tomlinson, Matrix Chambers, has a wide-ranging practice in both private and public law. He is a noted specialist in media and information law including defamation, confidence, privacy and data protection. His practice also includes advisory work and litigation in the freedom of information field. He is joint author of the leading practitioner texts on the law of human rights and on civil actions against the police. Hugh is highly rated by the directories in libel and civil liberties. He is a regular participant in Council of Europe human rights judicial training seminars. In addition to his media and human rights work, Hugh is regularly instructed in substantial commercial, professional negligence and construction disputes. He acts as an ICC arbitrator and is an accredited mediator.

Sir Henry Brooke, Fountain Court, was a Lord Justice of Appeal between 1996 and September 2006, a High Court Judge (1988-1996) and Chairman of the Law Commission (1992-1995). He is concerned with many public law cases at first instance and on appeal, and is also an authority on costs issues. Henry is now an accredited mediator.

Sir Brian Neill was appointed a High Court judge in 1978 and until the end of 1984 sat regularly in the Queen's Bench Division and in the Commercial and Admiralty Court, as well as a judge of the Employment Appeal Tribunal. He was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal in 1985 and sat in the Court of Appeal until 1996. Following his retirement he sat from time to time in the Court of Appeal as a retired Lord Justice and also at as a member of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. From 1998 to 2003 he sat on a part-time basis as the President of the Court of Appeal for Gibraltar.