Category: News

Chambers congratulates Neelim Sultan on her election as Chair of the International Bar Association‘s Human Rights Law Committee (HRLC). The Committee aims to promote human rights in all areas of the legal profession, as well as in the broader community.

​On Saturday, 4th February 2017, Iain Edwards​ ​will be speaking at the annual conference presented by the International Bar Association’s War Crimes Committee at the Peace Palace in The Hague. He will focus on the subject of ‘Refugees as victims of slavery and other crimes’ as ​part of a discussion panel on the refugee crisis in international law.

Please click here for further details and to register.​

Iain Edwards​ ​has been assigned by the Registrar ​of the MICT for the defence of Jovica Stanišić. The client ​was the head of the Serbian state security service within the Ministry of Internal Affairs from 1991 to 1998. He is jointly charged with his deputy with persecution, murder, deportation and forcible transfer as crimes against humanity, and murder as a war crime.

The client is being retried after he was acquitted on all counts before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The ca​se is temporally and geographically broad in scope, involving alleged crimes committed against Croat, Bosnian Muslim, Bosnian Croat and other non-Serb civilian populations within large areas of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1991 and 1995. The trial is ​likely to start in the spring.

1MCB is very pleased to be supporting a fun packed music evening on Friday, 20th January 2017 to raise funds for Evolve – Foundation for International Legal Assistance.

Evolve’s aim is to improve access to justice; build capacity within the legal profession through education and training, and promote fairness, efficiency and integrity within the criminal justice system of Uganda.

The fundraiser will feature The Discount Orchestra, a seven piece speed-folk gypsy-punk band, and is taking place at The Water Rats, 328 Grays Inn Road, London, WC1X 8BZ (near King’s Cross station).

Tickets are £10 each and are available via EventBrite.

If you are able to support this charity or just enjoy a good Friday night music fest then we would very much love to see you there. 

Chambers are delighted to announce that Michael Sprack has joined us as a tenant. During his third six Michael worked on Chambers’ crime, housing and employment teams.

His work so far has included securing an acquittal for a vulnerable defendant in a five-day firearms trial, making urgent High Court injunction applications, advice and representation in homelessness appeals and a number of final hearings in the employment tribunal.

Iain Edwards is speaking as part of a discussion panel on the role of the defence before international criminal tribunals. This is being hosted by the International Bar Association and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon on 24th November 2016 at King’s College London. Iain will be speaking about day-to-day challenges for the defence before international tribunals.

Please click here for further details and here to register.

The event is free to attend.

We are delighted to congratulate David Stephenson on his listing in Chambers and Partners for his employment and discrimination work. David was recognised as “an expert in all manner of discrimination claims with impressive knowledge across the wider aspects of employment law. He is instructed by both employers and senior executives, representing his clients in both tribunal and appellate cases.  He is excellent with clients and he goes above and beyond”.

Iain Edwards‘ international criminal work has been recognised by his listing in this year’s Chambers and Partners as one of a small handful of leading juniors in the area. His entry describes him as an “international criminal law specialist who is praised for his approach with clients and his strong advocacy. He has spent a considerable amount of time representing individuals accused of genocide and crimes against humanity before the ICTR, and continues to be instructed by Rwandans facing similar charges. He has also appeared before the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in The Hague.”

Iain’s strengths have been identifed as ​”ethical and very meticulous in his cross-examination,” and “he is an excellent barrister, who is very hard-working and shows great initiative”.

​

Ariane Adam is currently working with Reprieve to lead their work on the re-sentencing hearings in Malawi following the abolition of the mandatory death penalty, and to pursue strategic initiatives to abolish the death penalty or restrict its application in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Discrimination Law Association conference ‘Discrimination Law Today – Threats and Opportunities’ will take place at Baker & McKenzie on Monday 14th November 2016, from 9.30am to 5.30pm, followed by a networking reception.

The event opens with keynote speaker Clare Moody MEP discussing ‘Europe and Equality after the referendum: A view from the inside’.

It then covers all aspects of discrimination and the latest developments and challenges in each area. David Stephenson is speaking on ‘What is new in race discrimination?’

To book to attend the conference, please go to www.discriminationlaw.org.uk.

Our Head of Chambers, John Benson QC, and Jemma Levinson secured acquittals for a Defendant on a charge of murder and four charges of attempted murder following a marathon twelve week trial at the Central Criminal Court.

John Benson QC stated: “This was a very challenging case. The defence maintained that many of the important eye-witnesses on whom the Crown relied had colluded to incriminate the defendant. To advance this in cross-examination it was necessary to examine and analyse the phone records of these witnesses and the mass of disclosed bad character evidence. I was immensely fortunate to have in Jemma a junior of such calibre and ability to work with me on this case.”

T was accused of making four maliciously defamatory statements when she was recruited as an independent HR consultant to investigate allegations of misconduct by F, a partner in a Law Firm.

In a case in which High Court proceedings commenced in 2014, an application was made on behalf of T in the High Court for summary judgment. During a two day hearing it was submitted that the statements were true, honestly held opinion, made with F’s consent, protected by qualified privilege, and were not malicious. Because there were concurrent Employment Tribunal proceedings it was also argued that the defamation action was an abuse of process.

The application was successful and F was ordered to pay all of T’s costs.

T was represented by Michael Chambers.