THE HUMAN RIGHTS LAW CONFERENCE 2010

Learn from the Experts

Benefit from the expertise of speakers with a wide range of perspectives.

CHAIRS

• Jennifer McDermott, Withers LLP
• Roger Smith, JUSTICE

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

• Lord Justice Sedley, Lord Justice of Appeal

PLENARY SPEAKERS

• Monica Carss-Frisk QC, Blackstone Chambers
• Dominic Raab MP, Joint Committee on Human Rights
• Professor Francesca Klug, LSE
• Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC
• Gareth Peirce, Birnberg Peirce

BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKERS

• Robin Allen QC, Cloisters
• Alex Bailin QC, Matrix Chambers
• Peter Binning, Corker Binning
• Ulele Burnham, Doughty Street Chambers
• Deborah Coles, INQUEST
• Stephen Cragg, Doughty Street Chambers
• Professor Paul Craig, University of Oxford
• Marie Demetriou, Brick Court Chambers
• Deborah Glass, Deputy Chair, Independent Police Complaints Commission
• Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC
• Alison Macdonald, Matrix Chambers
• Professor Aileen McColgan, King’s College London
• Angus McCullough QC, 1 Crown Office Row
• Helen Mountfield QC, Matrix Chambers
• Padraig Reidy, Index on Censorship
• Heather Rogers QC, Doughty Street Chambers
• John Wadham, Equality and Human Rights Commission

Jennifer McDermott is the Chair of the Executive Board of JUSTICE and a partner at Withers LLP specialising in media litigation, including defamation, confidentiality, privacy and contempt, press and broadcasting complaints, and commercial judicial review litigation. She has acted in many high-profile media and judicial review cases and was involved in lobbying for changes to the Defamation and Broadcasting Acts 1986 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000. She is also a member of the Media Society, the Royal Television Society and the Society of Editors.

Roger Smith is the Director of JUSTICE. His previous appointments include the Director of Legal Education and Training at the Law Society (1998-2001); Director, Legal Action Group (1986-98); Solicitor, Child Poverty Action Group (1980-86); Director, West Hampstead Law Centre (1975-79); Solicitor Camden Law Centre (1973-75); and Articled Clerk, Allen and Overy (1971-73).  He is an Honorary Professor with the University of Kent and author of various publications, particularly on publicly funded legal services. In June 2008 he was awarded an OBE for services to human rights.

Rt Hon Lord Justice Sedley became a Lord Justice of Appeal in 1999. He was called to the Bar by the Inner Temple in 1964, became a QC in 1983, and a judge of the High Court of Justice, Queens Bench Division in 1992. He is an honorary Professor of Law at Warwick University and the University of Wales at Cardiff, and the Judicial Visitor at University College, London. He chaired the Judicial Studies Board's working party on the Human Rights Act 1998, and has since 1999 been President of the British Institute of Human Rights.

Monica Carss-Frisk QC is a barrister at Blackstone Chambers and is recognised by both Chambers and Partners and The Legal 500 as a leading silk in administrative and public law, employment, immigration, and human rights and civil liberties. She was called to the bar in 1985, appointed Junior Counsel to the Crown (A Panel) in 1999 and appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2001. Her many notable cases include Chief Constable for Hertfordshire v Van Colle (House of Lords, 2008) Huang v Secretary of State for the Home Department (House of Lords, 2007)and Ghaidan v Mendoza (House of Lords, 2004). More recently she was instructed in Baiai and Trzcinska v Secretary of State for the Home Department (House of Lords, 2009), Beoku-Betts v Secretary of State for the Home Department (House of Lords, 2009), and appeared for the appellant in the ground-breaking case of HT (Cameroon) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Supreme Court, 2010).

Francesca Klug is a Professorial Research Fellow at the LSE based in the Centre for the Study of Global Governance, and a Senior Research Associate at the Centre for the Study of Human Rights. She is also an Academic Expert at Doughty Street Chambers and a member of the Editorial Board of the journal Political Quarterly. She has acted as a Specialist Adviser to the Joint Committee on Human Rights and was a member of the Bill of Rights and Responsibilities Reference Group at the Ministry of Justice. From 2006 to 2009, Francesca was a Commissioner on the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Her recent publications include The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: sixty years on (Public law, Spring 2009) and "Solidity or wind?" What's on the menu in the bill of rights debate? (The political quarterly, 2009). In the 2002 New Year's honours list she was awarded an OBE for services to human rights and civil liberties.

Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC is a practising member of Blackstone Chambers, and a Liberal Democrat Peer. He specialises in public law and European human rights law.  He introduced two Private Members’ Bills in the Lords to incorporate the European Human Rights Convention into UK law, as well as a Civil Partnership Bill, an Equality Bill, and most recently, the Defamation Bill, debated by the House of Lords in July 2010.  He has argued many leading human rights cases, not only before English courts, but also before both European courts and Commonwealth courts.  He is President of INTERIGHTS (the International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights), and has published numerous books and articles on constitutional law and human rights.

Gareth Peirce is a solicitor and partner at Birnberg Pierce, specialising in human rights law. Admitted as a solicitor in 1978, her clients have included members of the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four, David Shayler, Abu Qatada, Mozzam Begg, Bisher Amin Khalil Al-Rawi and the families of victims of the Marchioness river boat disaster. Her recent cases have included the House of Lords control order appeals and the inquest into the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes. She writes and speaks regularly on issues relating to human rights, including the use of control orders and Guantanamo Bay.

Robin Allen QC is Head of Chambers at Cloisters. He has appeared in many leading employment, discrimination, public and human rights cases, including reported cases every year since 1978. In the 2010 review of barristers' appearances in the Industrial Relations Law Reports, conducted by Equal Opportunities Review, he is listed as number one under "Stars of the 2000s" and number two under "All-Time Top 40 Advocates". His recent important cases include O'Brien v Dept of Constitutional Affairs (Court of Appeal, 2008), Bainbridge v Redcar (Court of Appeal, 2008), Coleman v Attridge (ECJ, 2008) and Heyday/Age Concern (ECJ, 2007). He is a Recorder, a Bencher of Middle Temple and a consultant to Age Concern. He is also a former legal adviser to the Disability Rights Commission (2002 -2007), former Chairman of the Employment Law Bar Association (1996 -1998) and a founder member of the Discrimination Law Association.

Alex Bailin QC is a barrister at Matrix Chambers specialising in crime, fraud, public law, human rights and public international law. Appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2010, he is recommended by the current legal directories in each of those five fields and has appeared in a number of leading cases in the House of Lords, Privy Council and the European Court of Human Rights. His recent cases include Gillan & Quinton v UK (European Court of Human Rights, 2010) and HM Treasury v Ahmed and others (Nos. 1 & 2) (Supreme Court, 2010). He is a member of the Bar Human Rights Committee and the Foreign Office pro bono lawyers’ panel.

Peter Binning joined Corker Binning as a partner in December 2001.He specialises in criminal and regulatory litigation - particularly cases involving extradition and mutual legal assistance - and was ranked as a leader in the field of criminal fraud by Chambers and Partners in 2010.  Having initially been called to the Bar, he was a prosecutor with the Serious Fraud Office and the Crown Prosecution Service until he joined Peters & Peters Solicitors in 1996. He is a regular speaker and writer on subjects related to international crime, fraud and regulation and is an editor of Fraud: Law, Practice & Procedure, published by Butterworths. He is a former Co-Chair of the Business Crime Committee of the International Bar Association and a member of the Council of JUSTICE.

Ulele Burnham is a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers specialising in employment and discrimination, mental health and public law. Her notable cases include R(B) v Ashworth HA and another (House of Lords, 2005), M v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (House of Lords, 2006) and R (Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre & another) v The Trustees of the Natural History Museum (2007). She is the co-author of Butterworths New Law Guide to the Mental Capacity Act 2005. She is also a member and former Chair of the Executive Committee of the Discrimination Law Association, a member of the Advisory Board of the AHRC Research Centre for Law Gender and Sexuality, and was an occasional tutor in labour law at the LSE between 2002 and 2006.

Deborah Coles has been the co-director of INQUEST since 1990. She undertakes policy, research and consultancy work on the strategic issues raised by contentious deaths, their investigation, the treatment of bereaved people and state accountability. Actively involved in many of the legally significant deaths in custody cases, she is a frequent media commentator and is consulted regularly by government and non-government bodies. She is co-author with Helen Shaw of Families Experiences of the Investigation of Contentious Deaths (INQUEST, 2007) and with Barry Goldson of In the Care of the State, Child Deaths in Penal Custody (INQUEST 2005). Deborah is on the Board of Directors of Women in Prison, and is a member of both the Independent Advisory Panel on deaths in custody and the BBC Charity Appeals Advisory Committee.

Stephen Cragg specialises in public, human rights and police law and has been listed for many years in Chambers and Partners as a leader in these fields. He is also a Special Advocate and has been appointed in a number of control order and SIAC cases. His recent cases include R (L) v Metropolitan Police Commissioner (Supreme Court, 2010), Marper v UK (ECtHR, 2008) and G v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire (Court of Appeal, 2008). Stephen is a consultant editor for the UK Human Rights Reports, legal update editor for the Community Care Law Reports, and the co-author of the Legal Action Group publication Police Misconduct: Legal Remedies (4th edition, 2005). Having been the first project solicitor to the Public Law Project (PLP) prior to his call to the Bar, he is currently Chair of the PLP. He also sits as a part-time Tribunal Judge of the Mental Health Review Tribunal.

Professor Paul Craig is Professor of English Law at St John’s College, Oxford University. He was previously an Official Tutorial Fellow at Worcester College, Oxford, CUF Lecturer in Law, and visiting Professor at Cornell Law School, the University of Connecticut and Indiana Law School. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, an Honorary QC and an Honorary Bencher of Gray’s Inn. His publications include EU Law, Text, Cases and Materials (4th edition, OUP, 2007) and EU Administrative Law (OUP, 2006).

Marie Demetriou is a barrister at Brick Court Chambers specialising in EU, public and competition law. Her recent cases include Christine Timbrell v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Court of Appeal, 2010) and R (EM and others) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Court of Appeal, 2010). She is co-author with David Anderson QC of References to the European Court (2nd edition, 2002) and she is a member of both the Attorney General's 'A' Panel and of the Treasury Solicitor's Freedom of Information Panel. From 1999-2002, she was référendaire to Judge Edward at the European Court of Justice and she is a visiting Fellow of the Centre for European Law, King's College London. 

Deborah Glass is the Deputy Chair of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). Qualified as a lawyer in Australia, she was previously Senior Director of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission and Chief Executive of the Investment Management Regulatory Organisation. Prior to the establishment of the IPCC, she was a member of the Police Complaints Authority from 2001 to 2004. She was an Independent Custody Visitor to police stations in her London borough from 1999 to 2005, chairing the local panel for two years.

Alison Macdonald is a barrister at Matrix Chambers, specialising in prison law, public law and human rights. Called to the Bar in 2000, she has been involved in high-profile cases before the House of Lords (including R (Roberts) v Parole Board, concerning the use of closed hearings and special advocates for the parole hearing of a mandatory lifer) and the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (including Ezeh and Connors v UK, regarding the status of prison disciplinary hearings under Article 6). She is co-author of Prison Law (OUP, 4th edition, 2008) and Human Rights and Criminal Justice (2nd edition, Sweet and Maxwell, 2007). Between 1999 and 2006, she was a fellow at All Souls, Oxford, and in October 2008 she was named as one of the ten ‘future stars of the Bar’ by Times Online.

Professor Aileen McColgan is a member of the Matrix Chambers and is Professor of Human Rights at King’s College London.  Her areas of expertise are discrimination, employment and human rights law. She is the British expert on the EU Commission's network of gender equality legal experts and Vice president of the Institute for Employment Rights. Aileen has conducted human rights training for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Turkish military and lay judiciary, as well as extensive training on human rights, employment and discrimination training for trade unions, LAG and other bodies. Aileen was legal adviser to the Forum on a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland (2007 - 2008) and a member of the Local Government Pay Commission (2002 - 2003).

Angus McCullough QC is a barrister at 1 Crown Office Row specialising in public law, professional negligence, and regulatory and disciplinary law.  He has particular expertise in the fields of health and the environment, and frequently appears in inquests.  In 2002, he was appointed a member of the Attorney-General’s ‘A’ panel of the Treasury Counsel. In 2009, he was named Personal Injury / Clinical Negligence Junior of the year, before being appointed QC in 2010. His significant cases include Secretary of State for the Home Department v AF, AN and AE (House of Lords, 2009), R (Baiai and others) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department (House of Lords, 2009)  and OO (Jordan) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department (House of Lords, 2009).

Helen Mountfield QC is a barrister at Matrix Chambers, specialising in public law, human rights, employment and EU law. Called to the Bar in 1991, she is a member of the Attorney-General’s ‘A’ panel of Treasury Counsel and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2010. She has been involved in many leading human rights cases, including R(E) v Governing Body of JFS (Supreme Court, 2009), YL v Birmingham City Council & Others (House of Lords, 2007) and Matthews v MOD (House of Lords, 2003). Helen is co-author of the Blackstone Guide to the Human Rights Act 1998 (5th edition, OUP, 2009) and edits the White Book on Human Rights. In 2009, Helen was appointed as a civil recorder on the Midlands circuit.

Padraig Reidy is the news editor of Index on Censorship and former deputy editor of the New Humanist. His work has also featured in the Guardian, the Independent, Tribune, the Irish Examiner and the Irish Post and he has made frequent appearances on BBC radio.

Heather Rogers QC is a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers specialising in media law, human rights and public law. Appointed QC in 2006, she is ranked in Defamation/Privacy by both Chambers and Partners and The Legal 500. Recent cases include Michael Napier & Irwin Mitchell v Pressdram Limited (Court of Appeal, 2009), Harper v Seaga (Privy Council, 2009) and Inner West London Assistant Deputy Coroner v Channel 4 Television Corporation (High Court, 2008). Notable cases include acting for Penguin Books in its defence against David Irving, and for libel claimants George Galloway MP and Roman Polanski. Heather is a trustee of ARTICLE 19 and co-author of Duncan & Neill on Defamation (3rd edition, LexisNexis Butterworths, 2009).

John Wadham is the Legal Director of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights. He was formerly Director of Liberty and the Deputy Chair of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). In his time at the IPCC, he chaired the cross-institutional Forum for Preventing Deaths in Custody, and was Convenor of the International Network for the Independent Oversight of Policing.  He qualified as a solicitor in 1989 and specialised in civil liberties cases. He was a member of the Government’s Human Rights Act Task Force set up to train public bodies and their staff on the Human Rights Act and the European Convention. John has produced many publications, including Blackstone’s Guide to the Human Rights Act 1998 (5th edition, OUP, 2009).