A round-up of news and events from Chambers
No images? Click here
Welcome back to Highlights - a curated selection of recent articles, news and events - keeping you up to date with the latest from 5 Essex Court. We hope you will enjoy reading it. If you’d like to subscribe to more of our content, please visit the preference centre.
Chambers News
5 Essex Court shortlisted in the Legal Cheek Awards
Chambers has been shortlisted for 3 categories in the Legal Cheek Awards 2023: Best Chambers for Training, Best Chambers for Quality of Work and Best Chambers for Colleague Supportiveness. The winners of the awards will be revealed at the Legal Cheeks Awards 2023 ceremony at The Banking Hall in the City of London on Thursday 16 March 2023. To read more about the awards, please click here.
Francesca Whitelaw soon to be appointed as King's Counsel
We are delighted to announce that Francesca Whitelaw will be appointed to King's Counsel at the official swearing in ceremony taking place at Westminster Hall on 27th March. Francesca commented "It is an immense privilege to have been appointed. I am hugely grateful to all those who have helped and encouraged me along the way. I feel particularly fortunate to have spent my career - since pupillage - in such a wonderfully supportive and happy set of Chambers." Read the full article here
Emma Price appointed as Assistant Coroner for the City of London
Congratulations to Emma Price who has been appointed as an Assistant Coroner for the City of London. As part of her new role, she will support the Senior Coroner in delivering the coroner’s service in the City of London, as well as conducting her own investigations and inquests. Click here to read more.
High profile misconduct hearing involving eight Metropolitan Police officers nears a conclusion
Dan Hobbs represented the Appropriate Authority at high profile misconduct hearing involving eight officers who were members of a Metropolitan Police Safer Neighbourhood Team. They face allegations of gross misconduct for the content of their group chat in a WhatsApp group.
Claim alleging reckless transmission of HIV
Anne Studd KC acted for Mr. Ian Baum, in a claim against Mr. Baum’s ex-partner and former Welsh Rugby and British & Irish Lions Captain, Gareth Thomas.
Appeal by almost 400 Royalty & Specialist Protection officers dismissed
An appeal by around 400 members of the Metropolitan Police Service’s Royalty and Specialist Protection command was recently dismissed by the Court of Appeal. Jason Beer KC and Jonathan Dixey acted for the Commissioner (as they did in the High Court).
For an overview of all the recent cases and news from Chambers, please visit the news page on the website.
Upcoming Events
Registrations are now open for our annual Police Law Conference
As part of our commitment to police law, and our clients, we offer an unparalleled range of training - the highlight of which is the 5 Essex Court Annual Police Law Conference. The next conference will take place on 22 June 2023 at the Walford Hotel in London. The conference is for those who work in the police forces and solicitors who work closely with the police. Click here to find out more.
AI and the future of the law
On Wednesday 3rd May we are hosting a breakfast briefing on Data Protection and Information Law at the newly refurbished meeting rooms of Inner Temple. The topic of the event will be 'AI and the Future of the Law' and our guest speaker will be Peter Jackson from Outra. Invitations will be sent out soon.
Judicial review claims involving the police
Leading members of 5EC’s public law team contributed a major new article to the Journal of Judicial Review, published by Taylor & Francis Group, in December 2022 containing a comprehensive update on the current jurisprudence emerging from public law decisions in the policing arena. The article covers four broadly drawn topic areas: 1) investigations and prosecutions (by Beatrice Collier); 2) police powers relating to search warrants and public protest (by Charlotte Ventham); 3) the management of police information (by Robert Talalay); 4) misconduct, employment and vetting (by Robert Cohen and Jennifer Wright). Click here to read it.
Inquest blog series - Interested person status: to be or not to be
We have recently launched the Inquest blog series, where members of our Inquests team will provide guidance and insight on common issues arising. In the first article, Olivia Checa-Dover delves into the topic of 'interested person status'. Click here to read it.
Keep in touch
Inquests and Inquiries LinkedIn group
Our exclusive 'Inquests and Inquiries' LinkedIn group gives you access to our regular updates and we hope it will become a forum for the exchange of ideas between the team at 5 Essex Court and lawyers who predominantly act for public bodies and private organisations. If you aren't a member yet, sign up today to read the latest posts which include commentary on key judicial reviews, Article 2 and police force issues. Click here to join
Newsletters
Newsletters round-up
We regularly produce newsletters from across our practice areas. Below is a summary of some of our recent publications. If you would like to receive any of these updates, please sign up here.
Inquests and Inquiries:
Data Protection and Information Law:
The Data Brief - February issue
The Data Brief - January issue
Employment Law
Police Law
The Beat (formerly known as Police Law Update) - available only to those in the police forces or who advise the forces on our secure portal. Click here to request to join our Police Law subscription list and get access to the new issue.
Visit our Publications page to view more newsletters
5 Essex Court is a top-tier civil law set of chambers recognised for exemplary client service, depth and breadth of experience in these specialist areas – police law, government, information law, healthcare sector and employment law – and the outstanding quality of our counsel.
