Gerry Conlon of the Guildford Four and Breeda Power, daughter of Billy Power of the Birmingham Six, together with the families of Jean Charles de Menezes and Alfie Meadows, led more…

REVIEW: ‘Clive Stafford Smith did a better job of defending Kris Maharaj in this book than his defence team ever did,’ according to HMP Wandsworth’s book club in their review more…

APPALLING VISTAS: This month’s Queen’s Speech presents the most appalling of vistas. The easy targets are legal aid and the rights of the unpopular, but the constitutional implications are dramatic. more…

The House of Commons’ Science and Technology Committee has been inviting some of the major players in forensics science to give evidence to it about how forensics science is developing more…

In the midst of the attack on legal aid, the plans for price competitive tendering and Save UK Justice campaigning, it is important that as lawyers working to preserve the more…

‘Reoffending rates in this country have been too high for too long,’ said the Justice Minister Chris Grayling in a statement to the Commons last week. ‘Almost half the number more…

EVENT: Join Clive Stafford Smith, John Podmore, and David Jessel  in the third annual Prisoners’ Advice Service/ JusticeGap debate  – hosted by the UCL Centre for Access to Justice. Book now. more…

  ‘It is important that tactical options other than sheer physical force, with inherent dangers, be explored as a matter of urgency… . The use of batons carries significant risk more…

On-the-spot fines were once reserved for minor procedural issues such as parking or failing to have a train ticket, writes Josie Appleton. Josie Appleton (below) is director of the civil more…

APPALLING VISTAS: Chris Huhne, the former cabinet minister jailed for eight months for perverting the course of justice, has found his experience of prison so far ‘fascinating‘, according to the more…

‘It was a lonely experience,’ said Hughes Cousins-Chang , describing being strip-searched and held in custody for over 12 hours, without being allowed to contact his mother. Hughes, a sixth-form more…

INTERVIEW: Michael Turner is fired up. He has just delivered a speech to a jury at Guildford Crown Court, and the sleet is lashing down outside as he sits in more…

Alfred Moore was ostensibly a poultry farmer living with his wife and four young children at a small holding known as Whinney Close Farm, at Kirkheaton, a small village on more…

Theresa May has agreed to act after a High Court ruling outlawing the Home Office policy of treating 17-year-olds in police custody as adults and denying them protections enjoyed by more…

INTERVIEW: There can’t have been many candidates less likely to make Queen’s Counsel, that most venerable rank of legal distinction, than Stefan Cross, writes Jon Robins. To say that the more…

  There is no longer any credible doubt that the Cardiff Five are innocent, but they always were, writes Satish Sekar. Satish Sekar is a journalist who has specialised since more…

  It was reported that earlier this year the Metropolitan Police are being kitted out with mobile fingerprint scanners that can detect suspects within two minutes, writes Nicholas Dent. According more…

JOIN US for a debate about what the law means to young people in 21st Century Britain at City Hall. The JusticeGap has joined forces with Hackney Community Law Centre, more…

On 4 April, a matter of days after the cuts to civil legal aid were brought into effect, Chris Grayling has announced the Government’s intention to cut legal aid for more…

INTERVIEW: James Saunders is one of the lawyers representing the Hillsborough Family Support Group. He speaks to Oliver Lewis. Oliver Lewis is a higher court advocate with 20 years’ experience as more…

Perhaps it isn’t surprising that many criminal defence lawyers are wary of journalists, writes David Rose. David Rose is special investigations writer for the Mail on Sunday and a contributing more…

APPALLING VISTAS: In 1980, West Midlands Police successfully appealed against a High Court ruling that civil action for assault brought by the men convicted of the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings more…

Many solicitors firms and chambers influential in criminal defence in the last few decades were founded by lawyers who cut their teeth in the Law Centre movement, writes Oliver Lewis. Oliver more…

As the dust settles in the wake of the Eastleigh by-election, the mainstream political parties, panicked by the apparent ascent of UKIP, have been engaged in a race to the more…

Writing this, it is difficult to know what identity I should use, writes the Chief Legal Ombudsman Adam Sampson. Half a lifetime ago, I used to be a probation officer in more…

REVIEW: A 13 year old boy is wrongly accused of a crime, writes Francis Fitzgibbon QC. His accuser is an unaccountable organ of the state, which finds him guilty without more…

The reaction of the mainstream UK press to Tuesday’s announcement of an agreement on regulation was as predictable as some of it was misleading, writes Juliet Shaw.  In 2003 Juliet more…

At the age of 24 years – and after having epilepsy since I was 16 years old – I had my first child. The pregnancy sailed along with less seizures more…

George Davis, a professional criminal and armed robber was at the centre of one of the highest profile miscarriage of justice cases of the post-war era, writes Brian Williams. Brian more…

WRONGLY ACCUSED: Show me a miscarriage of justice and, nine times out of 10, I will show you the blueprint that caused it, writes Eric Allison. Eric Allison is the more…

Last week a unanimous verdict of not guilty was delivered in the trial of Alfie Meadows and Zak King, writes Nadine El-Enany. Nadine El-Enany is Lecturer in Law at Birkbeck, more…

On 1st September 2012, section 144 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO) was passed into law, making squatting in a residential building in England and more…

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, today has delivered a speech calling for a national consensus on the investigation and prosecution of child abuse cases suggesting that the more…

Young people in detention are amongst the most vulnerable groups in society in terms of accessing justice, writes Laura Janes. They tend to have only come across criminal lawyers who more…

It was inevitable, and perfectly understandable, that the piece ‘Poor Defence’, written by Maslen Merchant for the Wrongly accused: who is responsible for investigating miscarriages of justice? collection of essays more…

You can now search some 2.5 million criminal records going back as far 1770 online at the National Archives. Click HERE to search Pic credit: findmypast.co.uk/National Archive. It shows the more…

Earlier this week it was ruled that the Government’s Work Programme was unlawful. The three judges who heard this case in the Court of Appeal ruled that the Secretary of more…

Legal systems lie in the vulnerable position between the rock of justice and fairness and the hard place of workability and social control. Defence lawyers may be motivated by the more…

‘Woefully underequipped and hamstrung’ was the frank assessment of the Independent Police Complaints Commission by the Home Affairs Select Committee. The police watchdog had ‘neither the powers nor resources’ required more…

Earlier this month defence lawyers called on its members to cite examples of ‘outrageous non-charging decisions where in the past on any sensible basis someone would have been put before more…

Blaming over-zealous police or irresponsible prosecutors for miscarriages of justice makes for a simple and straightforward narrative, writes Daniel Newman. As with most things, though, the reality is more complicated, more…

On 28 January 1896 the first ever speeding ticket was issued in Britain. Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent was fined a shilling (plus costs). He was travelling 8mph and more…

During his People’s Budget speech in 1909, then Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George said: ‘I cannot help hoping and believing that before this generation has passed away, we more…

More than a century ago, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle used the columns of the Daily Telegraph and other publications to campaign for the exoneration of George Edalji wrongly convicted on more…

The deadly cancer mesothelioma is the latest target of proposed Government changes to the finding of legal actions which it claims will streamline the claims process, but in fact could more…

ESSAY: The Special Patrol Group is arguably the most controversial unit in the history of British policing, writes Brian Williams.  From 1973 to its replacement in 1986 the unit became more…

The Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, today has unveiled radical plans to outsource large parts of the probation service to the private and voluntary sectors, writes Mhairi Aylott. This announcement has more…

I have never been able to view Hillsborough with the dispassionate eye lawyers are supposed to bring to bear, writes Mark George QC. That’s probably because long before I ever more…

Merry Christmas and a Happy New from the JusticeGap. Thanks also to Isobel Williams for the festive sketch (www.izzybody.blogspot.co.uk.). See you in the New Year.     Jon, Kim & more…

For over four decades Tony Stock protested his innocence and fought to overturn a conviction for his part in the brutal robbery of a Tesco store in the Merrion Centre more…

Most presume that the job of a defence lawyer ends when a magistrate or foreman of a jury announces that the defendant is guilty, writes Ian Brownhill. Or, when that more…

The Joint Committee on the Draft Communications Data Bill produced its report yesterday (available here) and it’s a devastating piece of work, writes Paul Bernal. It rips the bill, and more…

What works for men does not necessarily work for women – especially women with children, writes Mary-Rachel McCabe. The Prison Reform Trust has long been contending that this is what more…

As one of the 600 individuals and organisations who provided evidence to the Leveson enquiry, I was sceptical of the outcome, writes Juliet Shaw. I had first-hand experience of the more…

Two Newcastle fans in their late teens are watching their team play, writes Amanda Jacks. An equalising goal is scored and thanks to a surge of jubilant supporters – they more…

I was late, writes Ben Gunn. The iniquities of public transport coupled with my innate geographical deficits meant that I had to sneak through the doors and up to the more…

One of the many issues to emerge as a result of the McAlpine saga is the question of how vulnerable users of social media like twitter might be under defamation more…

Judicial review must be restricted. Not because it’s a bad thing, you understand. But because the economic imperative requires it – writes Ben McCormack. David Cameron’s argument is that business more…

ANALYSIS: The degree of British Government complicity in atrocities in Kenya during its Mau Mau rebellion against colonial rule only came to light in the spring of 2011, writes Brian more…

  When you think of a rough sleeper, do you think of a man or a woman? A new multimedia exhibition at the gallery@oxo this week will provide a unique more…

The Justice and Security Bill plans to extend the use of closed material proceedings to all civil trials – secret court hearings – allowing the government to present evidence behind more…

Many still argue that prison for profit is wrong in principle but the debate is over as jurisdictions across the world seek ever cheaper solutions to their obsession with incarceration, more…

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) recently announced that it will investigate the way in which the South Yorkshire Police handled the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster – writes Mark more…

ESSAY: Bent for the Job:  A short history of police corruption and miscarriages of justice 1963 to 1990, by Brian Williams. Brian Williams (below)  is a Police Constable of nine more…

This week an independent tribunal in The Hague will examine the massacre by the Ayatollah Khomeini’s regime of some 20 to 30,000 political prisoners, men and women, in Iran in more…

PCC elections: ‘A ‘relentless focus’ on cuts will be the number one priority for would be voters in the Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) elections. In one month’s time, voters more…

Regulation of the police station stage of the criminal process by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and the PACE Codes of Practice is rightly regarded as a major more…

I explore the gunge in the waste disposal to retrieve the tiny pipette I use to fill a plastic brush-pen with ink. I take the wrong bus. Then I miss more…

Chris Grayling, in his first speech as justice secretary today, is expected to give an indication as to where his priorities might lie by calling on all community sentences to more…

The question of who polices the police is more than rhetorical, writes Michael Etienne. It is a question posed in title of Ken Faro’s hard-hitting film documenting the death of more…

REPORT: Detention Advice Service’s (DAS) 20th anniversary conference, which took place last week, went ahead under the title of ‘Foreign national prisoners: Meeting the challenges ahead’, writes Gemma Lousley. From more…

I’m going to start this piece by making three straightforward propositions, writes Daniel Hoadley. The first is that the law of England & Wales is difficult to get your head more…

PHOTO ESSAY: I met Bruce (15) and his partner Amy (17) as they were sleeping on the floor of a house in Market Town. Bruce went to the same high more…

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has announced that it will issue guidance on criminal charges for people who posting abusive comments on social media networks following homophobic tweets about Olympic more…

ANALYSIS: In 2002 the Court of Appeal rejected 15 grounds of appeal presented by Jeremy Bamber in a challenge to his 1986 conviction for the murder of 5 members of more…

I once made a television programme about the phenomenon of the ‘Vexatious Litigant’, writes David Jessel. It was meant to be a sympathetic portrait, which made it all the more more…

FEATURE: There are over 6,000 people in prison who arguably shouldn’t be there and have no release date, writes Sophie Barnes. Of this number about half have already served their more…

PHOTO ESSAY: This is Amy – she is 17 years’ old – after a dispute with her mother five months ago over a desire to visit her father (serving 12 more…

An interesting video surfaced this week from the place where all interesting videos surface – Youtube from last Friday’s Critical Mass demonstration in London, writes Mike Etienne. Photo by biggerbyfar more…

Children were suffering as a result of family cases taking too long to go through court, the Lord Chief Justice said yesterday. Lord Judge, introducing a new report following on more…

I’ve just been to see Hamdy Shahein. He’s the Stoke Newington newsagent who was strong-armed by Hackney’s Trading Standards and Police officers to take down his Olympic Torch Relay (TM) more…

At the end of last year Tesco announced that it was going to re-submit its application for an out of centre supermarket in Holmfirth, writes Margaret Dale of Keep Holmfirth more…

‘Knives aren’t allowed so I forget about trying to sharpen charcoal pencils and end up smearing my face with burnt sticks as usual,’ writes Isobel Williams, about the perils of more…

ANALYSIS: Following the 2003 Home Office White Paper Respect and Responsibility: Taking a Stand Against Anti-Social Behaviour, and the 2008 Green Paper Engaging Communities in Criminal Justice, a greater emphasis more…

REPORT: Community justice: do we get it? Last week the JusticeGap and Hackney Community Law Centre hosted a debate on the House of Commons. Kim Evans reports.   ‘People should be more…

‘Blairism led to 21 criminal justice bills in 13 years,’ said justice secretary Ken Clarke on the Andrew Marr show last February  - and he didn’t mean that as a more…

REVIEW: Ken Clarke, the Talleyrand of early 21st century British politics, took part in a public ‘conversation’ with Roger Smith, the director of JUSTICE, on 10th July, writes Francis FitzGibbon more…

‘We’re back where we were in the late 1980s,’ argued Campbell Malone, the veteran defence lawyer and miscarriage of justice campaigner at a debate in Manchester last week.  ‘We have more…

The prospect confronting a courtroom artist is not that aesthetically pleasing: plastic water jugs, computers, suits, a far-away view of the subject – and you’re not even allowed to draw more…

The JusticeGap is joining forces with Hackney Community Law Centre and the University College London’s faculty of law to work on a major public legal education (PLE) project aimed at more…

My brother has just been handed a community sentence for a crime he committed last year, writes Kimberley Tew. Even though all of his friends and family have known about more…

The Equality and Human Rights Commission reported this week that the police were 28 times more likely to use stop-and-search powers against black people than white people. You can read more…

Until a few years ago the phrase ‘miscarriage of justice’ was rarely heard in the Netherlands, writes Gordon Darroch. But a handful of high-profile cases have put the country’s justice more…

‘I thought it was a beacon of light which would ensure those wrongly convicted got justice.’ Susan May talking about the Criminal Cases Review Commission earlier this year. Despite the more…

‘Prison is a society. It felt at times like we were prisoners of war and that there was an enemy outside. Perhaps that enemy was the media.’ Lord Hanningfield speaking more…

Business Secretary Vince Cable yesterday attacked ‘ideological zealots who want to encourage British firms to fire at will’.  He was speaking after a draft of the venture capitalist Adrian Beecroft’s more…

Last week, those of us involved directly or indirectly in the miscarriage of justice world were celebrating that rare event – the decision by the Court of Appeal to quash more…

Sam Hallam was freed on bail today after the prosecution said it would not oppose his appeal against the conviction. Pic: Sam Hallam leaving court today (Kim Evans) Read Kim more…

‘It made me feel furious and totally helpless that someone could easily take my photo and set up a fake account in my name pretending to be me. The reaction more…

The day before district judge Richard Chapman talks to the JusticeGap is a typically frantic day at Telford County Court. On his list, there were 12 ‘Children Act’ cases featuring more…

‘My brother, Eddie Gilfoyle has just spent 18 years in prison for something he didn’t do. 18 years is a long time in prison if you are guilty. If you more…

BBC, ITN and Sky are pushing to overturn the ban on cameras in courtrooms. The broadcasters are joint signatories to a letter calling for the provision to be included in more…

As Billy Mills stood on the steps of the Edinburgh Court of Criminal Appeal in March 2009, he was overcome with relief as the words of Lord Gill echoed in more…

ANALYSIS: The UK currently has the most privatised prison system in Europe, writes Michael Teague. Is privatisation the answer to our overcrowded prison system? Pic credit: Alberto. From April 2012, more…

GARETH PEIRCE: ‘It is not the first time in history that the Court of Appeal has been an impediment to cases being reopened. There have been battles in the past more…

ADVICE GUIDE: Rita Jackson advises you on what to do if you are struggling with your mortgage repayments and fear that you might lose your home. This guide relates to more…

‘Cost’ was the single most common cause of complaints from clients about their lawyers, according to a new report published Legal Ombudsman. It found that in ‘20% to 25%’ of more…

OPEN JUSTICE: You can read the JusticeGap guide to court reporting below. The guide was prepared to tie in with a Scottish initiative called Open Justice week  which aimed to more…

Last year, the legal action involving 100 families seeking compensation on behalf of their children against the anti-convulsant Epilim came to a premature end, writes Janet Williams. You can read more…

LATEST IN THE JUSTICE GAP SERIES OUT NOW: ‘Our system of criminal justice is not perfect,’ writes Mr Justice Sweeney in his introduction to a new collection of essays about more…

Next week marks the start of a potentially fascinating experiment that aims to shine some light on those under-exposed parts of the justice system. ‘Open Justice week’ is a Scottish more…

At 9.30am on Friday this week Christopher Tappin must report to Heathrow’s police station. Tappin (it was noted in this Saturday’s Times) makes ‘an improbable criminal’. Christopher Tappin is a more…

‘Society wants to know about prison life, an interesting place to visit but you wouldn’t want to live there.’ Frankie Owen, from The Little Book of Prison. You can read more…

The Prime Minister David Cameron launched his latest attack on the ‘compensation culture’ pledging to slash the £1,200 fee for lawyers on small personal injury claims. [Pic by Sehb Hundal]. more…

Judges this week retired to mull over whether a Twitter message threatening to blow up a snowbound airport ‘sky high’ was a ‘a menace to society’. Illustration by Sehb Hundal. more…

Ministers have backed a ‘presumption of shared parenting’ between fathers and mothers following a relationship breakdown, flying in the face of the views of an independent review of family justice. more…

Reforms of ‘no win, no fee’ will play into the hands of big business and media groups,  campaigners told peers as they debated the legal aid Bill in the House more…

Concerns are mounting over the closure of the Forensic Science Service scheduled for March 2012. In a letter to the justice secretary Ken Clarke, the Law Society predicted ‘a contraction more…

Up to four million library users will be able to access free legal advice via webcams. Birmingham and Westminster city councils are teaming up with Instant Law, which recently launched more…

The law on joint enterprise was ‘so confusing for juries and courts alike’ that legislation was necessary to ensure justice for both victims and defendants and end the high number more…

INTERVIEW: Michael Mansfield QC on Stephen Lawrence. Michael Mansfield’s CV serves as a reasonably exhaustive list of left wing causes célèbres spanning  three decades: miners’ strike, Birmingham Six, Jean Charles more…

Explosive new evidence has been uncovered by The Times in the case of Eddie Gilfoyle, jailed for murdering his pregnant wife Paula. He was jailed for life in 1993 for more…

The government’s proposed £350 million legal aid cuts will be a false economy, according to an report by the King’s College London. The report, Unintended Consequences: the cost of the more…

David Norris and Gary Dobson (left and right) have been ordered to serve minimum sentences of 15 and 14 years respectively for the ‘terrible and evil’ murder of the black teenager more…

FEELING FESTIVE? Season’s greetings from www.thejusticegap.com here. Check out Jules Carey’s blog and also read Citizen’s Advice’s Richard Dunstan’s blog.  Illustration: Sehb Hundal  

Whistle blowers in the NHS should be ‘championed’ and not served with gagging clauses, argued the doctor who blew the whistle on the inadequacies of the department in which Baby more…

The most senior judge in England and Wales this week made the case for reform of ‘fiendishly difficult’ murder law. The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge MPs urged to be more…

Pressure is mounting on the government to reconsider plans to start returning child asylum seekers to Afghanistan. The current situation is that unaccompanied asylum-seeking children from the war zone are more…

Vince Cable yesterday announced ‘the most radical reform to the employment law system for decades’ – as part of the Government’s plan for ‘cutting unnecessary demands on business while safeguarding more…

The justice secretary Ken Clarke has announced a last minute change of heart and decided to back the creation of the new office of chief coroner. It was the second more…

Only three things are wrong with the legal aid Bill’s approach to social welfare law: it is immoral, unconstitutional and crazy. ‘First of all it is immoral to pick on more…

‘Making the best of a bad job.’ That was the downbeat assessment of the independent judicial body, the Civil Justice Council on its own recommendations to secure access to justice more…

David Lammy, the Labour MP for Tottenham has renewed calls for the officer who shot Mark Duggan to be suspended. Speaking in a House of Commons’ debate yesterday, Lammy said more…

In 2003 Juliet Shaw received a request from a freelance journalist writing for the Daily Mail to take part in a feature about the benefits of moving from city to more…

We are very pleased to announce that www.thejusticegap.com is part of the Guardian Legal Network. The Guardian Legal Network (in its words) ‘brings together the best blogs and sites that more…

INTERVIEW WITH THE LEGAL OMBUDSMAN: Law firms and individual lawyers will be named and shamed where there is a pattern of complaints or when it is in the public interest more…

On Saturday 29th October I returned to Dale Farm as one of a small team of legal observers, writes legal observer Susannah Mengesha. There’s an ever-growing list of required safety more…

ANALYSIS: High profile miscarriage cases attract publicity because of corrupt police or dishonest or incompetent experts, writes Maslen Merchant; however, compare those relatively few cases with the number of cases more…

ADVICE GUIDE: Accidents happen but sometimes they happen not through bad luck, misfortune or ‘wrong place-wrong time’ but because somebody else made a mistake. If this should happen to you then you have the right to bring a claim for compensation for your injuries and other losses (lost income, damage to property damage, medical expenses).

Report from Dale Farm: Susannah Mengesha, a volunteer legal observer for the Dale Farm Solidarity campaign, reports on what’s going on to the residents and their supporters at the controversial travellers’ site, why it isn’t being reported by the press and why it’s important for legal observers to shine a light on what’s really happening.

Eagle-eyed shoppers on the high streets of England and Wales might have detected the first signs of a ‘revolution’ in legal services: the appearance of the first national chain of law firms.
Quality Act: The X-factor’s Stacey Solomon opens a new branch of Quality Solicitors (below).

The forgotten thalidomide: Karl Murphy’s long fight for justice against the drug company that he believes damaged him in the womb.

It was revealed that the number of babies adopted in England fell to just 60 last year  - compared to 3,660 under one year olds in care – according to more…

‘David Cameron talked about the 120,000 most dysfunctional families in the country in the wake of the riots. Well, we are tackling some of them and with some success,’ says more…

KIM EVANS: As I help my teenage children to tiptoe through the hormonal minefield that is their teenage years, I wonder if they’re lucky or not in their mother’s choice more…

The year that Tony Stock was convicted for his part in a brutal robbery of a Tesco store in the Merrion Centre at Leeds, Edward Heath became British Prime Minister more…

A motor insurer has claimed that some 300,000 drivers might have accepted penalty points on behalf of someone else in the last ten years. The research from LV= estimated about more…

Cutting legal aid is ‘a false economy’, according to the report of  a panel of three non lawyer experts . Unequal before the law? the future of legal aid sets more…

KIM EVANS: ‘I’d guesstimate that 90% of my clients have a personality disorder, mental health issues, and, or, serious substance addiction be it drugs or alcohol.’ Kim Evans has spent more…

Who said romance was dead? A legal expenses insurer has launched what it rather delicately refers to as ‘nuptial insurance products’. ‘As the first of their kind to hit the more…