Activist Lawyer

In this week's episode, Sarah meets with solicitor Gavin Booth from Phoenix Law to discuss his views on the ongoing attacks on lawyers working on human rights cases.  

Sarah is joined by lawyer Christopher Stanley who is a litigation consultant with the law firm KRW Law.  Christopher is a widely published legal contributor and talks to Sarah about his legal journey from academic, barrister, NGO caseworker to legal consultant.  Aspects of Christopher’s work discussed includes immigration, Northern Ireland legacy cases and historic abuse.   

Please click on links below or check our blog for more of Christopher’s publications. 

1974 pub bombings: unanswered questions | Feature | Law Gazette

“I AM NOT NUMBER 54". By Christopher Stanley. - Village Magazine

Lessons from the Birmingham Pub Bombing inquest - Legal (legalvoice.org.uk)

I reject your apology. I cannot forgive you - Village Magazine

This episode of Activist Lawyer features Maria McCloskey and Hilary Perry from the PILS Project – Northern Ireland’s dedicated hub for public interest litigation.  Together with our host Sarah Henry, Maria and Hilary discuss membership, the aims of the organisation, current examples of strategic litigation and the importance of pro-bono work.

You can find out more about PILS project at www.pilsni.org

Welcome back to the Activist Lawyer podcast! We had a short break to get ready for our next series! Our host, Sarah Henry, will take listeners through season highlights and will touch on what we have coming up for you over the next few months.  Please share and review our podcast and let us know if you have any written pieces for our blog, feedback or suggestions.  You can contact us on [email protected]

Music by AlexiAction from Pixabay

It was an absolute pleasure to interview Ms Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders.  Mary discusses her fascinating career devoted to human rights and in particular, those defending human rights around the world.  An excellent listen for anybody interested in working in human rights on an international level.  We are very grateful to Mary for sharing insights into her fundamental work supporting ordinary people doing extraordinary things.    

Sarah is joined by lawyer India Fahy who is an advocate for Integrated Education in Northern Ireland.  India talks about the importance of moving on from segregated education in Northern Ireland. 

While India shares positive news stories and fantastic campaign success,  there is a long way to go if Northern Ireland is to fulfil the aspirations of the Good Friday Agreement in terms of education.   India discusses the challenges we still face as a society, supply and demand for integrated education and the new Integrated Education Act.  

She also highlights the valuable work of grassroots community activism around this pertinent issue and how important parents, teachers and the Integrated Education Fund have been in carrying this campaign forward! 

India is a competition litigation solicitor with BCLP in London and is secretary of the London Irish Lawyers Association.

Link to the Integrated Education Fund: https://www.ief.org.uk/

Link to London Irish Lawyers Association: https://www.londonirishlawyers.co.uk/

Link to the Integrated Education Act: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nia/2022/15/contents/enacted

Sarah is joined by Barrister Darren Lalor who specialises in criminal law in Dublin.  Darren talks about his unique journey into law which started in 2008 when Darren worked as a taxi driver in Dublin.

Darren will discuss the serious problems arising through the underfunded criminal legal aid system in Ireland, particularly in the District Court. Together with his colleagues across Ireland and further afield, Darren calls on everyone to support barristers on the 2nd May 2023 as they protest the abysmal legal aid rates outside courts around Ireland. 

Listen in to find out more about Darren’s work and his activism to improve legal aid funding for barristers.

This is a special episode of Activist Lawyer highlighting the fantastic efforts of Dublin-based Lawyer Edel Finn who set up a fundraiser to distribute Ukrainian books to children from Ukraine living in Ireland.  Please listen in for more information on this fantastic initiative and support Edel’s efforts if you can!

https://www.gofundme.com/f/books-for-ukrainian-children

Sarah talks with leading human rights solicitor, Kevin Winters of KRW Law in this slightly longer recording of Activist Lawyer.  Kevin has been at the cutting edge of niche criminal appeal work in Northern Ireland and further afield and was instructed in numerous high profile cases.  His work on both historical abuse cases as well as ground-breaking  litigation arising from the Troubles in Northern Ireland, is widely acknowledged on a global scale and challenges otherwise accepted  narratives informed by decades of conflict, inquests  and an ever-changing political climate across these islands over a number of decades.   Throughout this recording, Kevin importantly talks in detail about intimidation and harassment directed towards himself as well as his colleagues as they carry out their work in what continues to be, turbulent and emotionally charged times.   Listen in for excellent advice and practical tips for aspiring human rights lawyers and activist lawyers!

For more on this episode please see the following link where you will find an outline of Kevin’s work as well as a background to some of the particular challenges and legal issues his firm has worked on  https://krw-law.ie/kevin-winters/