Ocean Elliot was shaken by her father, Benjamin Curtis, in 2007 after he momentarily lost his temper.  He caused her severe brain damage.  In 2009 she died from swine 'flu, exacerbated by her neurological injuries.

Christopher Mellor acted for the Strategic Health Authority in the Mid Staffordshire NHS Public Inquiry.  In a podcast with Hill Dickinson he discusses the final report into this Inquiry and the proposal for a Duty of Candour.
 

In September, Lizanne Gumbel QC, David Balcombe QC, Iain O’Donnell, Matthew Donmall and our 2nd Junior Clerk  John Mclaren, will be taking part in the London Bikeathon in support of Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research.  The routes range from 26 miles, 52 miles and, the epic 100 miles, which includes the formidable Box Hill in Surrey.

The Mau Mau uprising, which took place in central Kenya between 1952 and 1961, was a rebellion against British colonial rule. Claims were brought by four Kenyans for serious personal injuries and torture suffered whilst in detention in Kenya during the uprising.

One Crown Office Row’s Public Law team have responded to the Ministry of Justice’s consultation on “Transforming Legal Aid”.

The full response can be read here

Amy was leading counsel for HMRC in this case of JMC Electronics Ltd v HMRC.  Dismissing the company's appeal after a hearing lasting 7 days, the Tribunal found that JMC had "colluded in contrived transactions designed to bring about the fraudulent loss of VAT".  The Tribunal  upheld HMRC's decision not to repay more than £400,000 in VAT reclaimed by the company. 

We are pleased to announce the launch of “Pupillage Inside Out,” a new book written by Isabel McArdle and former 1COR pupil, Daniel Sokol.

Sarabjit Singh, acting for the Secretary of State for the Home Department (SSHD), won in the Court of Appeal on the interpretation of a  Directive which requires Member States to facilitate the entry and residence of “other family members” of EU citizens.

Henry Witcomb represented the family of Diana Mager at the Inquest into her death.  She had a history of depression and suffered post-natal depression after giving birth in 2011.  She was admitted to Green Parks House in Kent.  During the course of her admission a number of incidents occurred in the week before her death including being found on the ledge of the fifth floor members’ balcony of the Tate Modern and then, on another day, being found with a knife which she had hidden in her room.  Monitoring during this period and during the night when she died continued to be intermittent and not on a one to one basis.

A woman with a bipolar disorder had planned a pregnancy with her husband. To protect her baby she ceased taking drugs to treat her disorder and then decided she wanted to terminate the pregnancy. Her husband and medical advisors believe she does not have capacity to take this decision because of paranoia stemming from her disorder. After sitting for 2 days the judge has decided that she does have such capacity. Sydney Chawatama was representing her husband in this case.

After a two week trial in the High Court, Marina Wheeler successfully defended the actions of an Integrated Health and Social Care Authority in the Southwest of England. The Authority had removed elderly residents from a Care Home where they were judged to be at risk of significant harm due to neglectful care and terminated their contract with the Home

Owain Thomas and Matthew Donmall have won for HMRC a test case on the VAT liability of private hospitals for supplies of prostheses and medication, overturning the Court of Appeal's decision in 1997 that these were separate zero rated supplies.

Alasdair Henderson represented the family of Sarah Mulenga in the inquest into her death. Ms Mulenga died after two student paramedics who attended her failed to conduct basic observations and refused to take her to hospital. The Coroner ruled that the failure to perform even standard monitoring meant that neglect contributed to Ms Mulenga’s death. The case has been widely reported in the media as highlighting growing concerns that health service cuts and reforms are leaving the emergency services over-stretched.

After a GMC Fitness to Practise Panel hearing (GMC v D) which lasted a total of 13 weeks (finishing in April 2013) and which involved twelve patient cases at the outset, with various allegations of misconduct and deficient professional performance, Richard Booth QC has secured a finding that the fitness to practise of Mr D, Consultant Breast Surgeon, is not impaired.

Philip Havers QC is representing “Martin” in his challenge against the refusal of the DPP to clarify the circumstances in which he will prosecute professional helpers in “right to die” cases.

Oliver Sanders and Andrea Lindsay Strugo are representing the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice in the high profile inquest into the death of Jimmy Mubenga

Adam Wagner was interviewed on BBC News on 10 May 2013 about the deportation of Abu Qatada.

Alasdair Henderson has appeared for the Claimant in a whistleblowing claim in the Cardiff employment tribunal

Kate Beattie acted as junior counsel for the appellant doctor in a successful challenge to the GMC in the Court of Appeal in Patel v GMC [2013] EWCA Civ 327.

A team of 21 walkers, including 5 QCs, from 1 Crown Office Row are taking part in the 9th Annual London Legal Walk which is a 10km walk around many of the London legal landmarks

Christina Lambert QC has been appointed as Lead Counsel to the new Hillsborough Inquests, with Matthew Hill appointed as Junior Counsel. 

Under authorisations in equality legislation, immigration staff are exempt from race discrimination rules if they give additional scrutiny to applicants from certain countries. Requests for disclosure of the list of those countries were refused.  The Information Commissioner ordered partial disclosure and the Home Office appealed. The Tribunal allowed the appeals accepting that disclosure would prejudice international relations which outweighed the public interest in disclosure.

Iain O’Donnell has successfully represented a former choirboy who suffered years of abuse in the 1970s by a Church of England priest resulting in an award of £200,000 in compensation.

On 16 April, David Manknell is appearing in the Supreme Court in the cases of Osborn, Booth and Reilly

Shaheen Rahman has appeared as Special Advocate on behalf of a Claimant subject to a TPIM (Terrorist Prevention and Investigation Measures) in CF v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2013] EWHC 843 (Admin).

Sarabjit Singh, acting for HMRC, has won an appeal brought by the British Association of Leisure Parks, Piers and Attractions (BALPPA) in the Upper Tribunal.

We are delighted to announce that Philippa Whipple QC has been appointed as a Section 9 Deputy High Court Judge.  This will enable her to sit and hear cases in the Administrative Court.  She will continue to practice full time from One Crown Office Row

We are delighted to announce that Paul Reynolds has accepted our offer of tenancy with effect from 27th March 2012 on the successful completion of his pupillage with us. Before joining us, Paul had completed a 12-month pupillage at Blackstone Chambers. Please see his CV for further details.

Chambers is delighted to congratulate Richard Booth on his appointment as Queen’s Counsel.

Robert Wastell is acting as junior counsel for the Treasury in the Supreme Court case regarding the Treasury’s action against Bank Mellat in response to the threat of Iranian nuclear proliferation.  The Iranian Bank is challenging an order made under the Financial Restrictions (Iran) Order 2009 which is an Order made under the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008.

For the third year running, One Crown Office Row has been given a “Platinum Friend in Law” award from both the Free Representation Unit and the Bar Pro Bono Unit. Philip Havers QC and Bob Wilson attended a recent event to receive this award which was presented to Philip by the Chairman of the Bar, Maura McGowan QC.  We are proud to support these organisations both financially and with free legal support.

Amy Mannion has been appointed to two of the Crown Prosecution Service's Specialist Advocate Panels, for Fraud (at Grade 3) and Extradition (at Grade 2). 

Amy continues to accept instructions for both sides in extradition and fraud (particularly tax fraud) matters.

Robert Seabrook QC and Iain O'Donnell have won an appeal in the Administrative Court that has established how the key sections of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 must be interpreted. Sections 4 and 9 of the Act are deployed by the RSPCA and public authorities to prosecute cruelty and duty of care offences in relation to animals protected under the Act. The appeal confirmed unequivocally that these sections are to be interpreted as imparting an objective test against which owners or custodians of protected animals who are charged with animal welfare offences are to be compared.

Amy Mannion wins for HMRC in Global Corporation Trading v HMRC.  The Tribunal found that the directors of Global Trading knew their trade in 2006 was connected with missing trader Intra-Community Fraud, and upheld HMRC's decision not to repay the company £327,995 in reclaimed input VAT.   Amy was junior counsel in the case

Joanna Glynn QC acted for the prosecution in a case in which it was alleged that Simon Hathaway lost his temper and shook his five week old son, causing a brain damage from which he died 90 minutes later.

Kate Beattie, led by Richard Drabble QC, appeared in the Court of Appeal challenge to the GMC’s refusal to accept a doctor’s overseas qualification obtained from the International University of Health Sciences, St Kitts.

David Hart QC has successfully represented The Environmental Services Association (ESA), the voice of the UK’s waste management industry, in a judicial review into domestic regulations about rubbish collections.  This ruling makes clear that mixing different types of recyclable material into one bin is permissible under EU law.

Philip Havers QC and Jeremy Hyam successfully represented the Save Our Surgery group in a judicial review challenge to 'Safe and Sustainable' paediatric heart reconfiguration by Primary Care Trusts represented by Marina Wheeler.

Oral hearings in the Al-Sweady Public Inquiry started on 4th March after more than 3 years of investigations. A team of eight members of chambers are representing several hundred military witnesses: Neil Garnham QC, Neil Sheldon, Adam Wagner, Isabel McArdle, Matthew Hill, Alasdair Henderson, Matthew Flinn and Karwan Eskerie. Peter Skelton is also involved as counsel representing four Iraqi witnesses.

Justin Levinson has been instructed to represent a number of children and young adults in Uganda regarding allegations of abuse in orphanages and youth clubs by missionary priests.

Neil Garnham QC and Neil Sheldon are representing the Government and in particular the Home Secretary, at the Inquest into the death of Alexander Litvinenko, a former employee of the Russian Security Services who died in a London hospital in November 2006, apparently as a result of poisoning with polonium 210.

We are pleased to announce that our UK Human Rights Blog has been shortlisted for the Legal Journalism Award at the Halsbury Legal Awards.  Since its launch in 2010, the blog has continued to be at the forefront of commentary and opinion on topical human rights stories.  The blog has now achieved nearly 2 million page hits, is attracting around 100,000 page views per month and has thousands of subscribers across email, Facebook and Twitter.  You can view the blog here

John Whitting QC represented the MPS in the case of Thomas v Curley [2013] EWCA Civ 117’.

Chambers is delighted to congratulate Richard Booth who has just been informed of his appointment as Queen’s Counsel. He was called to the Bar in 1993, started as a pupil at 1COR and has spent his career here ever since. This will bring the total number of QCs at 1COR to 23.

Christina Lambert QC has been appointed as lead Counsel to the Dame Janet Smith Review.  She will be assisted by Kate Beattie also of One Crown Office Row. This review “was established by the BBC to conduct an impartial, thorough and independent review of the culture and practices of the BBC during the years that Jimmy Savile worked there.” The Review is chaired by the former Court of Appeal judge, Dame Janet Smith DBE and the review website is at - http://www.damejanetsmithreview.com/.

This case concerned whether BAA Limited could claim back input tax paid by a special purpose vehicle (ADIL) during the hostile takeover of the UK airport operator, BAA Plc.

We are delighted to announce the following new appointments to the Attorney General's Panels – Owain Thomas to the A Panel (a re-appointment), Amy Mannion and John Jolliffe to the B Panel and Caroline Cross and Matthew Hill to the C Panel (effective 1st March 2013).

Members of One Crown Office Row have been instructed to act for many of those allegedly abused by Jimmy Savile.

Lizanne Gumbel QC, Justin Levinson and Peter Skelton have been instructed by firms representing in total nearly one hundred claimants who have so far come forward.

On 12 February 2013 Adam Wagner was interviewed on Newsnight (from the start) on Reilly and Wilson -v- Secretary of State, the Court of Appeal judgment on back-to-work schemes, and also commented on the case in today's Times (£).

Members of One Crown Office Row were involved in this inquiry, drawing on their combined expertise in clinical negligence and public law. The hearings took place from November 2010 until December 2011and the Inquiry Report was published on 6 February 2013.