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Borderline Justice: The fight for refugee and migrant rights
by Frances Webber,
Published by Pluto Press, October 2012
ISBN 0745331637
£19.99
Asylum and immigration law was described late last year, by one of its current leading barristers Colin Yeo, as “the hardest and most bitterly fought, most controversial, most convoluted, perhaps most poorly funded and surely most tilted legal battlegrounds between the individual and the state”. Practitioners nodding in agreement would do well to pick up Frances Webber’s lucid, compelling and often angry book.
Formerly a barrister at Garden Court, she was part of a generation of activist lawyers who, since the 1970s, expanded the reach of public and human rights law into an area characterised by ever more restrictive decision-making and regressive politics. Whether battling the “culture of disbelief” in tribunals or arguing points of law before the House of Lords, she maintains that real advocacy means putting “the reality of clients’ lives into focus to judges inevitably insulated by their position of privilege and under political, bureaucratic and time pressure to see cases as purely intellectual exercises”.
It is an account which ranges fluidly from the minutiae of individual cases and immigration rules to the socio-economic trends that are shaping patterns of migration beyond governments’ control. It also serves as warning and manifesto to the present generation of barristers hoping to cope with the legal aid cuts in immigration from April 2013. The fight to ensure migrants can seek economic opportunity or physical protection in the UK has never been more fraught or unfair.
Taimour Lay is a 2nd six pupil at Garden Court Chambers focusing on asylum and immigration. He was a print journalist for eight years covering conflict, corporate abuses and political-economy in Africa.
It is an account which ranges fluidly from the minutiae of individual cases and immigration rules to the socio-economic trends that are shaping patterns of migration beyond governments’ control. It also serves as warning and manifesto to the present generation of barristers hoping to cope with the legal aid cuts in immigration from April 2013. The fight to ensure migrants can seek economic opportunity or physical protection in the UK has never been more fraught or unfair.
Taimour Lay is a 2nd six pupil at Garden Court Chambers focusing on asylum and immigration. He was a print journalist for eight years covering conflict, corporate abuses and political-economy in Africa.
Borderline Justice: The fight for refugee and migrant rights
by Frances Webber,
Published by Pluto Press, October 2012
ISBN 0745331637
£19.99
Asylum and immigration law was described late last year, by one of its current leading barristers Colin Yeo, as “the hardest and most bitterly fought, most controversial, most convoluted, perhaps most poorly funded and surely most tilted legal battlegrounds between the individual and the state”. Practitioners nodding in agreement would do well to pick up Frances Webber’s lucid, compelling and often angry book.
Formerly a barrister at Garden Court, she was part of a generation of activist lawyers who, since the 1970s, expanded the reach of public and human rights law into an area characterised by ever more restrictive decision-making and regressive politics. Whether battling the “culture of disbelief” in tribunals or arguing points of law before the House of Lords, she maintains that real advocacy means putting “the reality of clients’ lives into focus to judges inevitably insulated by their position of privilege and under political, bureaucratic and time pressure to see cases as purely intellectual exercises”.
Update from the Chair of the Bar
By David Green
Mário Barroso, Head of R&D and Method Development at AlphaBiolabs, examines the forensic science underpinning hair drug testing, its evidential scope and limitations, and why it remains the gold standard for evidencing patterns of drug use in family proceedings
Unlocking your aged debt to fund your tax in one easy step. By Philip N Bristow
Clement Cowley, Partner at The Penny Group, discusses the upcoming changes to pensions and Inheritance Tax and the potential impact on your financial future
Save the Children UK is the latest charity to benefit from a £500 donation from AlphaBiolabs via the company’s Giving Back initiative
The Chief Legal Officer to the Metropolitan Police, barrister Brett Welch, tells Anthony Inglese CB about his mission and the work to turn the Met around
Barrister apprenticeships – shortly to provide the fourth pathway to the Bar – are an ideal opportunity to support local talent and ‘grow your own’, say Tim Coulson and Dr Jane Dennehy
Born from a grievance, their research project grew into a book and is now challenging the status quo. Emma Price and Emma-Louise Fenelon reveal the key findings – and the critical next steps
Grok around and find out – or not? Mariya Peykova investigates the nudification scandal, what the law has to say about sexually explicit deepfakes, and whether stronger regulation is needed
Oliver Lewis spotlights an overlooked yet rapidly evolving area of law – coercive and controlling behaviour within care contexts
