Expert Comments

Opinion

Innocent until … you have to apply for an Enhanced Criminal Record Certificate

Yesterday the Supreme Court gave judgement in the case of R (on the application of AR) V Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police and another [2018] UKSC 47. The decision…

July 31, 2018

Blog

What is the Laser Misuse (Vehicles) Act 2018?

Tough new laws were introduced 10 July 2018 to specifically address the issue of shining a laser at an aircraft or other vehicles. This has been a growing problem over…

July 26, 2018

Opinion

Acknowledging our evidence to the Justice Select Committee about disclosure

Public trust in the CPS has been seriously undermined following disclosure failings that led to the collapse of a number of criminal trials. In spring 2018 parliament began an inquiry…

July 26, 2018

Opinion

Cliff Richard judgement about his right to privacy is good news for those accused of a crime

The recent decision in the High Court between Sir Cliff Richard OBE and the BBC is a stark reminder to the media that Article 8, a right to one’s private…

July 19, 2018

Opinion

sexual-offences

Changes to prostitution laws in the UK proposed

New proposals to the government have recommended decriminalising those who sell sexual services but to introduce new laws making it illegal to buy them, meaning that prostitutes would no longer...

July 4, 2018

Blog

A very bad case of brothel-keeping

The laws relating to sex often dominate headlines. Of late those sexual offences concerning the lack of consent are particularly under scrutiny. But the law can be broken even when...

May 11, 2018

Blog

“It was with wry amusement that I read of the new-found concern for the criminal justice system from the right-wing press.”

A non-lawyer friend once enquired of me as to whether I had proclaimed the end of the criminal justice system for the fourth or fifth time that year – the...

March 21, 2018

Raj Chada

Blog

Rose Heilbron and the Cameo Cinema murders

Rose Heilbron was one of the first female QCs. She was an extraordinary lawyer and her first murder case as leading Counsel, Rex v George Kelly was extraordinary too. As…

February 16, 2018

Opinion

The effect of the CPRs on alcohol related driving matters

We were recently reminded of the more rigorous regime of case management courtesy of the CPRs in connection with drink drive and failing to provide a specimen cases when faced...

February 2, 2018

Opinion

“In the criminal justice system, class still matters, perhaps even to defence lawyers.”

Lady Justice is often depicted wearing a blindfold. The blindfold represents impartiality – the ideal that justice should be applied without regard to wealth, power or other status. However, austerity...

August 31, 2017

Raj Chada

Blog

Grenfell – Corporate Manslaughter explained

As indicated in my previous blog, the Metropolitan Police have indicated that there is “reasonable grounds” for suspecting the TMO and the Council of committing the offence of Corporate Manslaughter....

July 28, 2017

Raj Chada

Blog

Grenfell: Corporate Manslaughter announcement – the push for justice must go on

The letter sent yesterday by the Met that the council and Tenant Management Organisation may have committed corporate manslaughter is significant, but bearing in mind what is in the public...

July 28, 2017

Raj Chada

Opinion

Grenfell Tower – sharing views on social media. The right to be heard v right not to be distressed

I write this in the days after the horror of the Grenfell Tower fire; the fact of the disaster is known but the amount of families and friends bereaved by...

June 19, 2017

Ruth Harris

Opinion

How do you deliver justice fairly?

If there is one quote that has remained with me, it is one from a foreign-language film. It broadly translates as "law and justice sit as slaves in the houses...

May 23, 2017

Blog

Compliance, Rolls-Royce, and DPAs—what went wrong?

Legal commentators have rightly hailed the announcement of a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) between the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and Rolls-Royce as a huge victory for the SFO. It signals…

May 12, 2017

Raj Chada

Opinion

“Sentencing now is a mechanical numbers game, with a much reduced role for judicial discretion and personal circumstances.”

The Age of Unreason is upon us. Brexit and the popularity of Trump and May are simply symptoms of a malaise that I struggle to understand yet fear greatly: Thatcherism…

May 4, 2017

Raj Chada

Opinion

Beware the new early guilty plea sentencing guidelines

Criminal defence practitioners this week will have approached the publishing of the new definitive guideline on reduction in sentence for a guilty plea, which becomes effective in June, with some...

March 9, 2017

Ruth Harris

Opinion

Getting to the heart of knife crime in the UK

Last night three prisoners were stabbed in Pentonville, one fatally, a tragic reminder that something must be done to address the prevalence of knife crime in the UK. That said,...

February 8, 2017

Opinion

Trump card in compliance

Are we about to undergo a fundamental sea change in how to approach anti corrupt practices with arrival of President Trump? As indicated in Bribery: A Compliance Handbook the inspiration...

January 20, 2017

Raj Chada

Opinion

A revolution in criminal law?

If asked what motivates me to do this work, there are two overriding emotion. The first, unsurprisingly as a lawyer, is a deep commitment to the rule of law. Not...

January 13, 2017

Raj Chada