Free Hybrid Seminar – Chambers at 50 – Celebrating our work on Human Rights Day

This Human Rights Day across the globe individuals and organisations will celebrate “our everyday essentials” to reaffirm rights as positive, essential and achievable.

What better way than to bring together Chambers, our solicitors and partners to celebrate our achievements in protecting, promoting and providing rights to enable people to live their daily lives.

Join us to look back on the past 50 years of Chambers with stories of our human rights cases and collaborations.

Event overview

Crime, miscarriages of justice and protest – Chambers and our solicitors have been at the forefront of ensuring the right to a fair trial day in, day out over the past 50 years of acting in criminal trials. More broadly, members work to overturn unfair convictions and have sought to challenge the compensation regime in place for those that are released. Protest rights have always been under challenge, but never more so than in the last couple of years. Henry Blaxland KC will chart these changes, looking back on the cases of Derek Bentley, which contributed to the abolition of the death penalty, and Ziegler, the high water mark in the protection of peaceful protest.

Children’s rights in the context of family proceedings – the Convention protects not only the article 8 rights of children in the context of preserving their familial relationships, but their right to life and protection from torture and inhuman treatment where those relationships may be dangerous. The family team at Garden Court regularly address these issues in their cases and Amanda Meusz will speak to successes in the cases of HW (clarifying the proportionality test in the context of care orders) and AB where it was held that his parents’ care had helped to prolong the life of child with life limiting disability.

Detention by the state remains one of the severest interferences with human rights, taking away liberty, home life, relationships and employment. This arises in the context of crime, immigration, mental ill health and care of children. Amanda Weston KC will review the provision of secure children’s homes in Re T as well as validity of bail orders in the Supreme Court’s decision of Majera.

In recent years, illegal entry to the country (for asylum or otherwise) has received intense scrutiny and continues to generate draconian policy curtailing migrant rights. The right to family life also remains a controversial aspect of how immigration rights are protected. Sonali Naik KC will chart the legal framework for court injunctions established in M v Home Office which paved the way for the Rwanda litigation and the rights of family members established in Beoku-Betts.

Find our 50 years, 50 cases publication here.

Speakers 

Jodie Blackstock, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers (Chair)
Jodie is a public law and human rights specialist, with extensive experience in justice system reform through policy, research and strategic litigation. Jodie’s particular interest is in challenging, through judicial review and civil actions, criminal justice system actors for violations of fair trial standards, abuse and death in custody. She is particular concerned for the effective participation rights of adults with disabilities and children accused of crime.

Henry Blaxland KC, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers
Henry specialises in criminal defence, acting for clients across the range of criminal law, including homicide, terrorism, fraud,  protest and national security. He is particularly known for his appellate practice and has acted over the years in many high profile appeals referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission. He has acted in cases concerning the application of the Human Rights Act to criminal law, including Davies, Johnson and Rowe (A.6), VCL v the UK (prosecution of victims of trafficking A.6 and A.4), Sam Hallam (compensation – A.6), ABJ (A.10).

Sonali Naik KC, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers
Sonali Naik KC is Joint Head of Garden Court Chambers. Sonali specialises in public law cases and in all aspects of immigration, asylum and nationality law and practice. She is ranked in immigration and public law in the Chambers & Partners and the Legal 500 Bar Guides. Sonali is a senior practitioner with over 30 years’ experience. She was appointed King’s Counsel in 2018 and conducts almost exclusively leading work at all levels: the European Court of Human Rights, the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the Administrative Court and in the Upper Tribunal in statutory appeals and judicial reviews.

Amanda Weston KC, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers 
Amanda is a leading public and administrative law silk. She co-authors Judicial Review: A Practical Guide (Lexis Nexis) and is a member of the ‘A’ panel of preferred Counsel who act for the Equality & Human Rights Commission. Amanda was shortlisted for ‘KC of the Year’ at the Family Law Awards 2024. Amanda Weston KC was shortlisted for ‘Human Rights & Public Law Silk of the Year’ at the Chambers UK Bar Awards 2021.

Amanda Meusz, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers
Amanda’s practice focuses on all areas of the law relating to children, including the provision of services to children and young people. She has extensive experience in public law matters and is regularly instructed in cases of the most serious and complex nature including cases involving fatalities, catastrophic injuries, poisoning, FII and sexual abuse. Amanda is often instructed in Deprivation of Liberty (DOLS) cases and other cases where the inherent jurisdiction is invoked, in particular those involving hospital trusts where medical treatment and/or end-of-life treatment and care are at issue.

Further speakers to be announced.

Reserve your in-person or online ticket
In-person tickets are limited by the venue’s capacity. After you have completed the form, we will be back in touch to confirm whether a place is available at the event.

If you have booked an online ticket, we will send joining details to all those who have signed up on the day of the event. If you have not received the link by 2pm on 10th December, and it is not in your junk inbox, please email webinars@gclaw.co.uk.