Black History Month: ‘Black Silk’ Legacy Event

As part of Black History Month, we are excited to welcome you to an hybrid legacy event, entitled ‘Black Silk’, aimed at supporting and encouraging the ongoing efforts to promote Black excellence across the legal profession and beyond. The event will feature snippets of the first episode of the TV film ‘Black Silk’, which is loosely based on Rudy Narayan’s life as a barrister, and stars Rudolph Walker CBE.

Rudy Narayan was a barrister and civil rights activist in Britain. He was a compelling, rigorous, and eloquent advocate who specialised in trials arising from police violence against ethnic minority communities. His trials included the Black Star Club, the Bristol Twelve, the murder of Donat Gomez, the Cricklewood Twelve, the Leeds Bonfire Eight, the Metro Four, the Newham Seven, the Scarman Inquiry and the Thornton Heath Sixteen. He defended some of the Black Panthers and defendants accused in the riots of Handsworth, Brixton, and Bristol in the 1980s. Michael Mansfield KC once stated that Narayan “should have been the first Black QC”.

The event will include a question-and-answer session, as well as a recording of an interview conducted with Rudolph Walker CBE, by Laurie-Anne Power KC, on his role as Rudy Narayan in ‘Black Silk’. Rudolph Walker CBE is a Trinidadian-British actor, known for his roles as Bill Reynolds in Love Thy Neighbour (1972–1976) and Constable Frank Gladstone in The Thin Blue Line (1995–1996), as well as his long-running role as Patrick Trueman on the BBC’s EastEnders (2001–present), for which he received the 2018 British Soap Award for Outstanding Achievement. He runs The Rudolph Walker Foundation, a charity that helps disadvantaged young people find careers in entertainment and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2021.

Speaker Bios

Laurie-Anne Power KC, 25 Bedford Row (Host)
Appointed Silk in 2022, Laurie-Anne has acted on cases of varying size and complexity including murder, kidnap, firearms offences, sexual offences and complex fraud and associated offences including hidden asset recovery and confiscation. She has appeared before the Court of Appeal, Courts Martial and the International Criminal Tribunal. Laurie-Anne spent considerable time at the United Nations supported Special Court in Sierra Leone. In this International Criminal Tribunal, she appeared as a consultant for a defendant charged with mass genocide and allied crimes against humanity. She specialised in forced marriages/sexual slavery and child slavery in Sierra Leone, Liberia and other parts of West Africa. Laurie-Anne is ranked as a leader in Crime in the Legal 500 and Chambers UK and is recognised in Doyles Leading Criminal Law Counsel – London 2024 list.

Leslie Thomas KC, Garden Court Chambers
Leslie is a leading expert in claims against the police and other public authorities, and claims against corporate bodies, with expertise across the full spectrums of civil wrongs, civil litigation, human rights, data and privacy claims. He is an expert in all aspects of inquests and public inquiries. Leslie acts for claimants in judicial review proceedings and other public law proceedings. He regularly acts for clients in the Caribbean region on constitutional law challenges. He has represented claimants in clinical negligence and personal injury claims for the last 20 years. Leslie is ranked in Band 1 in Chambers & Partners and Tier 1 in Legal 500 for Inquests & Public Inquiries and Police Law (Claimant). He is also ranked by Chambers & Partners and Legal 500 in Civil Liberties & Human Rights. Leslie is the former Professor of Law at Gresham College and a current visiting Professor of Law at Goldsmiths University. Leslie’s biography, Do Right and Fear No One, was published in 2022.

Keir Monteith KC, Garden Court Chambers
Keir Monteith KC is a leading Silk who represents clients facing heavyweight criminal allegations. Keir is ranked for criminal law in Chambers UK and the Legal 500. He is also ranked in Tier 1 for Fraud in the Legal 500 2024 and was shortlisted for Financial Crime Silk of the Year at the 2024 Legal 500 Bar Awards. Keir sits as a Recorder [part-time Crown Court judge], is a training tutor for the Judicial College and is an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Manchester. Keir co-authored the report ‘Racial Bias and the Bench’ with Professor Eithne Quinn of the University of Manchester, which concluded that there was evidence of institutional racism in the justice system.

Keir is a founding member of the Art Not Evidence campaign which advocates for a restriction on the use of creative expression as evidence in criminal trials and against the increased criminalisation of rap music. He currently represents a total of four defendants who are appealing convictions for murder or conspiracy to commit GBH. In each case the prosecution relied on rap or drill music to help prove gang membership [further information on the cases are available here and here]. Keir is also a trustee of the charity SHIFT and he regularly writes, speaks and campaigns on the topic of anti racism in the legal system, most recently he was interviewed for Radio 4’s Law Show.

HHJ Judy Khan KC, Senior Circuit Judge, Central Criminal Court
HHJ Judy Khan KC was appointed a Senior Circuit Judge at the Old Bailey in September 2023. She was called to the Bar (Middle Temple) in 1989 and took Silk in 2010. She was appointed as a Recorder in 2007. Whilst in practice, Judy was an experienced criminal defence Silk. Her practice crossed a spectrum of serious crime cases, predominantly instructed in murder cases, often involving young defendants. She also spent two years representing a number of families at the Hillsborough Inquests; which included leading a team of barristers who dealt with the medical and pathology evidence. She won Crime Silk of the Year at the Chambers Bar Awards 2019 and is a former Joint Head of Garden Court Chambers.

Kevin Metzger, Great James Street
Kevin’s practice, spanning 40 years, comprises Serious Crime, Private International Law, Human Rights Law, Matrimonial & General Common law. He has appeared as Lead Counsel in numerous serious criminal cases, trials involving juveniles and adult defendants, complex civil matters, immigration, human rights violations, matrimonial and child custody. Kevin is a Middle Temple advocacy trainer, a member of the Bar Human Rights Committee since 2001, is registered as an expert on Human Rights for the United Nations and was part of a fact-finding mission in Lebanon in September 2006 which published a report raising concerns about the use of ‘cluster bombs’ in armed conflict. Kevin has contributed to seminars and conferences on youth crime and the effect of the Convention on Human Rights on the criminal justice system.