Insights

I am delighted to announce that I will be appointed to the rank of Her Majesty’s Counsel (QC), with the official ceremony taking place in 2021.

I have just spent two days at the Inns of Court Advocate's Gateway Conference on Access to Justice for Vulnerable People, held at the Law Society headquarters in Chancery Lane, London.  The aims and objectives of the conference was to encourage development of a more profound understanding of national and international innovations in the area and to share and combine ideas with practitioners, intermediaries, researchers, academics; and judges from the UK and abroad.

I am extremely honoured to have the opportunity to be admitted onto the International Criminal Court List of Counsel. Those entitled to legal assistance can choose counsel from this List, or another counsel who meets the criteria and is willing to be included in the List. The Counsel members can be called upon at any time to provide legal assistance in relation to proceedings before the Court to the persons concerned, whether as duty counsel, ad hoc counsel, defence counsel or as defendant’s legal representatives.

It has been announced that a scheme which will allow people to plead guilty online will go ahead, despite criticism from access to justice campaigners. In the Ministry of Justice report ‘Transforming our Justice System’, published this month, the Government re-emphasised its message that the justice system must provide ‘better value’ and should be faster and easier to use.