We are delighted to announce that Emma Sutton has decided to move to Serjeants’ Inn Chambers, expanding and enhancing our Court of Protection, Public and Administrative Law, Education and Inquest and Inquiries teams.

Emma, described by The Legal 500 as “a tough negotiator, who is excellent with lay clients…[with] an impeccable court manner”, is the ninth established practitioner to join us in the last ten months. Her arrival reflects our ongoing commitment to building the expertise and service we offer to our instructing solicitors and lay-clients.

Catherine Calder, Joint Chief Executive, comments “Emma’s addition to our first-class Court of Protection team further expands our expertise in this field and substantially advances our ability to represent clients in Property and Affairs cases, as well as Health and Welfare. Together with the recent arrival of Dijen Basu QC and Matthew Holdcroft, it gives Chambers’ solicitors greater public law expertise to call on, as well as significantly strengthening our Education and Inquest and Inquiries teams”.

Emma’s profile, setting out full details of her practice, will be available shortly.

We are delighted to welcome Matthew Holdcroft and Amardeep Dhillon, following the earlier arrival of His Honour Brian Barker CBE QC, Dijen Basu QC, Rachel Spearing and Ian Skelt over the last six months, with a further established practitioner recruit to be announced very shortly.

Please see Mat’s profile here and Amardeep’s here. Their arrival allows us further to enhance our service to our clients, strengthening our core expertise in police and medical law and building our ability to represent them in commercial cases too.

“The ‘Deepcut Inquest’ into the death of Sean Benton has adjourned today until closing legal submissions are heard in May. The inquest has heard evidence from over 130 witnesses since it began in January 2018. Bridget Dolan QC and Jamie Mathieson are Counsel to the judge Coroner. John Beggs QC, Cecily White and Paul Spencer of Serjeants’ Inn represent interested persons.

Read press coverage of the case here.

On 20th March 2018, the Supreme Court refused the parents of Alfie Evans permission to appeal against the decisions of the Court of Appeal and Hayden J regarding the withdrawal of Alfie’s ventilator support.

Alfie was born in May 2016 and is now 22 months old.  By the time of his four month check Alfie’s parents and health visitor had noticed that he was not meeting his developmental milestones.  By December 2016 Alfie had lost some of his previously learned skills and was admitted to Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool – a tertiary unit and centre of excellence for the treatment of severely ill children.

During 2017 Alfie’s condition continued to deteriorate and he was given ventilator support.  Initially it was possible to wean him from the ventilator support but that ceased in May 2017 and he has required constant and increasing support with his breathing ever since.  Serial MR imaging demonstrated progressive destruction of Alfie’s brain matter and both his treating and the visiting clinicians concluded that he was suffering from an untreatable neuro-degenerative disorder.  In addition to the underlying condition, Alfie also suffers from uncontrollable seizure activity.

The treating team at Alder Hey obtained external reviews and also provided facilities for the family’s independent experts to assess.  All the treating clinicians and medical experts were unanimous in agreeing that Alfie’s condition was untreatable and that his seizure activity could not be controlled.

In those unusual and tragic circumstances the Trust and the UK independent experts concluded that continued active treatment provided no benefit to Alfie.  His parents did not accept the medical evidence and the case was brought before Hayden J.  After a seven day hearing in which he carefully considered all the evidence he concluded that, in view of Alfie’s condition and the unanimous medical evidence, continued treatment was not in his best interests.

Alfie’s parents unsuccessfully appealed that decision to the Court of Appeal who handed down judgment on 6th March.  Alfie’s parents then sought permission to appeal from the Supreme Court.  Their primary argument was that the Court  should not intervene in a parent’s choice as to medical treatment unless a threshold of significant harm had been established.

This echoed the basis of the appeal in the Gard case in 2017.  In Alfie’s case the argument was advanced on the basis that his parents were victims of discrimination contrary to Article 14 ECHR.  In refusing permission to appeal, the Supreme Court confirmed that the test in medical treatment cases was the child’s best interests, describing this as “the gold standard”.

It is possible that Alfie’s parents will now seek to bring the matter before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg alleging that the actions of the UK Courts in rejecting their case on discrimination is an infringement of their rights by the state.

Michael Mylonas QC has represented Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust throughout.  Susanna Rickard was instructed as junior on the appeal to the Supreme Court. Sophia Roper was instructed by CAFCASS to act for the Child’s Guardian appointed by the Court.

Please click here for a copy of the judgment.

“The judges felt that this leading set particularly stood out as a result of its involvement in many of the high-profile cases of the past year and for its deep commitment to client service”:  we were delighted to win both the Chambers of the Year and the Best Client Focus awards at the LexisNexis Legal Awards 2018, as well as being shortlisted for the Wellbeing award.

This brings us to 22 awards in the last three years: many thanks to our clients for all their support and congratulations to the other winners, in particular to Dana Denis-Smith as Legal Personality of the Year.

Many congratulations to Jon Holl-Allen for his appointment as Queen’s Counsel. We are very grateful to all those who were good enough to participate in the selection process by acting as assessors, as well as the many solicitors who have instructed and supported Jon in the course of his career.

Jon is the 10th Queen’s Counsel that Serjeants’ Inn has gained since 2016: our QC team – now comprising 20 silks – has doubled in two years.

Serjeants’ Inn is delighted to announce two further top-tier lateral recruits: His Honour Brian Barker CBE QC and Dijen Basu QC.

Described by Chambers & Partners as “a creative thinker and an absolutely outstanding cross-examiner”, Dijen has worked on a variety of high profile cases, including the first 12 pre-inquest review hearings in relation to the inquest into the death of Russian whistle-blower Alexander Perepilichnyy, in which he represented the Surrey Police, and the recent Court of Appeal case concerning the right of Forces to charge for the policing of events. His arrival is testament to Serjeants’ Inn’s standing at the pinnacle of the police law field: members act in the cases which shape police law in this country. Read his profile here.

Serjeants’ Inn also welcomes His Honour Brian Barker QC CBE who joins Chambers as an associate member.  Following a distinguished judicial career, His Honour Brian Barker QC now chairs high-profile inquests and inquiries, a key practice area for Serjeants’ Inn.

These additions follow fast on the arrival of three other established practitioners – Rachel Spearing, Ian Skelt and Andrew Perfect – over the last six months.

Serjeants’ Inn is delighted to win Chambers of the Year and to be Highly Commended for Client Care at the recent Modern Law Awards. Congratulations in particular to Katie Gollop QC as Barrister of the Year.

Thanks to all our clients for their support which has enabled us to receive industry recognition both for our legal expertise and client care.