Prison and Police Law

Paula is interested in the intersections of criminal matters with all aspects of public and civil law, including inquests, judicial review and private claims.

She is regularly instructed in cases brought against prisons and the police, including by children, for unlawful arrest, false imprisonment, assault and human rights claims. She has also worked on several judicial reviews relating to prisoner categorisation and assisted in an inquest touching on a death in a prison.

During her LL.M. at Harvard Law School, Paula represented criminal defendants Boston courts and provided advice and advocacy to prisoners, including in parole proceedings. As a Judicial Assistant, she assisted in High Court trials concerning injuries sustained by the use of a taser during an arrest and a civil claim arising out of a criminal conviction for voyeurism, as well as applications for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division).

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Appointments

  • Attorney General’s ‘Junior Junior’ Panel
  • Board Member, The John and Pat Hume Foundation

Awards

  • Sir John and Lady Sophie Laws Scholarship (Bar European Group)
  • Dean’s Scholar Prize in Public International Law (Harvard Law School)
  • Kennedy Scholar (Kennedy Memorial Trust)
  • Opinion Writing Award for best performance in module (ICCA)
  • Winner of the Michael Corkery QC Criminal Law Moot 2021
  • Lord Justice Holker Scholarship (Gray’s Inn)
  • Residential Scholarship (Gray’s Inn)
  • Henderson Prize for best GDL coursework (City Law School)
  • William Charnley Scholarship (Gray’s Inn)
  • Academic Excellence Scholarship (City Law School)
  • Richard Titmuss Prize for graduating first in year (London School of Economics)
  • Clare College Prize for performance in Tripos

Education

  • LL.M., Harvard Law School (Kennedy Scholar)
  • PGDip in Bar Practice, Inns of Court College of Advocacy (Third in year)
  • GDL, City Law School
  • MSc Social Policy, London School of Economics (First in year)
  • BA (Hons) English, University of Cambridge

Memberships

  • Administrative Law Bar Association
  • Personal Injury Bar Association
  • Association of Child Abuse Lawyers

Publications

‘Attorney General’s refusal of a fiat to seek a fresh inquest is non-justiciable’ – UK Human Rights Blog

‘Paterson v UK: Parliament and Human Rights in Strasbourg’ – UK Human Rights Blog

‘Either not Neither: further consideration of non-binary identity by the High Court’ – UK Human Rights Blog

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