Public Lectures from the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge

The Cambridge Pro Bono Project (CPP) is delighted to welcome Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC, Barrister at Doughty Street Chambers who spoke on the topic 'The Value of Pro Bono Work'.Caoilfhionn has acted in many of the leading human rights cases in the UK in recent years, including acting for bereaved families and survivors of the 7/7 London bombings and the Hillsborough disaster.For more information about the Cambridge Pro Bono Project, see https://www.cpp.law.cam.ac.uk

The Cambridge Pro Bono Project (CPP) is delighted to welcome Sir Jeffrey Jowell KCMG QC, Barrister at Blackstone Chambers; Emeritus Professor at UCL who spoke on the topic 'Is the UK Constitution Fit For Purpose?'.For more information about the Cambridge Pro Bono Project, see https://www.cpp.law.cam.ac.uk

The Parole Board recently hit the headlines after the Government announced a Root-and-Branch Review of the parole system to explore a number of areas including potentially opening hearings up to the public. The review will build on recent reforms but will also look at more fundamental changes.So, what does the future hold for the parole system? What are the problems faced by the current system and what are the solutions?The Parole Board, together with the Cambridge Centre for Criminal Justice and the Institute of Criminology of the University of Cambridge, invite you to join them for two webinars on the topic.There were two webinars: 2 hours each, 8-9 December 2020, 5–7pm.The second seminar, on Wed 9th December, focused more on appropriate reforms.Chair: Professor Loraine Gelsthorpe, Director of the Institute of CriminologyA Parole Board for tomorrow: how further reform could improve the parole system: Faith Geary, Chief Operating Officer, Parole Board. Respondent: Simon Creighton, Bhatt Murphy, solicitorsThe relative importance of ‘transparency’, ‘independence’, ‘accountability’ and ‘public confidence’ Professor David Feldman. Respondent: Martin Jones, CEO, Parole BoardUnderstanding the place of parole within and without a root and branch review of sentencing and of the penal system: Professor Rob Canton. Respondent: Professor Nick HardwickConclusions: Dr Harry AnnisonFurther details: The Government has now published more details of its long-awaited “root and branch” review of the parole system. The Consultation “on making some parole hearings open to victims of crime and the wider public” acknowledged that “the question of whether to allow public hearings is only one aspect of the root and branch review which will look at four broad areas: i) an evaluation of the parole reforms to date, ii) the constitution and status of the Parole Board, iii) improving public understanding and confidence in the parole system, and iv) measures to improve openness and transparency” (para 12).For more details see the Cambridge Centre for Criminal Justice website: https://www.cccj.law.cam.ac.uk/

The Parole Board recently hit the headlines after the Government announced a Root-and-Branch Review of the parole system to explore a number of areas including potentially opening hearings up to the public. The review will build on recent reforms but will also look at more fundamental changes.So, what does the future hold for the parole system? What are the problems faced by the current system and what are the solutions?The Parole Board, together with the Cambridge Centre for Criminal Justice and the Institute of Criminology of the University of Cambridge, invite you to join them for two webinars on the topic.There were two webinars: 2 hours each, 8-9 December 2020, 5–7pm.The first webinar, on Tuesday 8th December, focused on critiques of the current system, identifying ‘problems’.Chair: The Chairman of the Parole BoardThe context of the Government’s root and branch review: Professor Nicky Padfield. Respondent: HH Peter Rook QC, Deputy Chair of Parole BoardWhat measures actually increase public safety? Measuring ‘effectiveness’: Dr Jo Bailey, HMPPS Head of Psychology. Respondent: Professor Fergus McNeillIncreasing public understanding of parole: Professor Julian Roberts. Respondent: Angela Cossins, Deputy Director, National Probation Service.Conclusions: Tom Hawker-DawsonFurther details: The Government has now published more details of its long-awaited “root and branch” review of the parole system. The Consultation “on making some parole hearings open to victims of crime and the wider public” acknowledged that “the question of whether to allow public hearings is only one aspect of the root and branch review which will look at four broad areas: i) an evaluation of the parole reforms to date, ii) the constitution and status of the Parole Board, iii) improving public understanding and confidence in the parole system, and iv) measures to improve openness and transparency” (para 12).For more details see the Cambridge Centre for Criminal Justice website: https://www.cccj.law.cam.ac.uk/

Speaker: Professor Saul Lehrfreund MBE, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of The Death Penalty ProjectThe Death Penalty Project is an international legal action charity based at Simons Muirhead & Burton LLP. It aims to use the law to protect prisoners facing execution and achieve fairer and more human justice systems around the world. Saul Lehrfreund MBE has dedicated his career to representing prisoners facing the death penalty in criminal and constitutional proceedings around the world and before human rights courts and other international bodies. He has also participated in expert delegations to Japan, China, Taiwan and India focusing on criminal justice reforms and the potential for restriction and abolition of the death penalty. Saul Lehrfreund MBE is a leading authority on capital punishment and international human rights law and has published and lectured extensively on these topics.The video featured in the presentation is available at https://deathpenaltyproject.org/knowledge/failed-justice-innocent-on-death-row/For more information about the Cambridge Pro Bono Project see https://www.cpp.law.cam.ac.uk

Speaker: Davide Luca, Department of Land Economy, Cambridge UniversityThe adoption of low-carbon energy sources is considered as one of the key policies to tackle climate change and, to this aim, many European governments have been supporting the transition to renewable energy through subsidies. Growing anecdotal evidence suggests that the generosity of incentives has attracted the interests of corrupt politicians and criminal organisations, as the sector offer attractive opportunities for mafias to benefit from generous public grants and tax subsidies and to launder illegal money via legal business structures. Yet, no academic research has systematically explored the link between organised crime and the renewable energy sector at the local level. In ‘Gone with the wind’, Dr Davide Luca and Alessio Romarri aim to fill this gap. The analysis features innovative GIS data on the geo-location of wind farms across Italy and on the local presence of mafia groups. Preliminary findings confirm how, in mafia-ridden regions, local criminal presence is strongly associated with a higher likelihood of hosting at least a plant.The Cambridge Socio-Legal Group is an interdisciplinary discussion forum promoting debate on topical socio-legal issues and empirical research methodology. It is affiliated with several departments across the University, including the Faculty of Law, the Institute of Criminology, the Centre for Family Research and Physiology, Development & Neuroscience (PDN). The Group serves to bring together people from within Cambridge and farther afield from different disciplines, including Law, Criminology, POLIS, Sociology, Psychology, Psychiatry, PDN, Biology, Economics, History and Social Anthropology.For more information see: https://www.law.cam.ac.uk/researchfaculty-centres-networks-and-groups/cambridge-socio-legal-group

Speaker: Adam Wagner, Doughty Street ChambersThe coronavirus pandemic has driven liberal democracies to forfeit individual liberties of citizens in benefit of the collective well-being of society, thereby giving new colours to fundamental debates long entrenched in the human rights movement worldwide. In the UK, the most relevant corollary of the current crisis for the domestic legal sphere is that the provisions of the Human Rights Act (1998), much attacked by conservative leaders in the past decade, will from now on be discussed in a new light. From anti-vaxxers' freedom of choice to the government's enactment of confusing laws and beyond, the human rights dimensions of the COVID-19 crisis are multiple and far-reaching.To discuss the most salient human rights aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK, the CPP has invited the leading human rights barrister Adam Wagner to participate in our new (virtual) Speaker Series. Adam Wagner is a member of Doughty Street Chambers and has been appointed as Specialist Adviser to the Joint Committee on Human Rights new Inquiry into the government’s Covid-19 response. He will be giving a talk for 40 minutes and the remaining 20 minutes of the webinar will be dedicated to Q&A.For more information about the Cambridge Pro Bono Project see: https://www.cpp.law.cam.ac.uk/

On 27 October 2020 Lord Sumption delivered the 2020 Cambridge Freshfields Lecture entitled "Government by decree - Covid-19 and the Constitution".The disputes over Brexit last year saw an attempt to make the executive, not Parliament, the prime source of authority in the Constitution. The coronavirus crisis has provoked another attempt to marginalise Parliament, this time with the willing acquiescence of the House of Commons. Is this to be our future?Lord Sumption is an author, historian and lawyer of note. He was appointed directly from the practising Bar to the Supreme Court, and served as a Supreme Court Justice from 2012-18. In 2019, he delivered the BBC Reith Lectures, "Law and the Decline of Politics", and is now a regular commentator in the media. He continues to sit as a Non-Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. Alongside his career as a lawyer, he has also produced a substantial and highly-regarded narrative history of the Hundred Years' War between England and France (with volume V still to come).More information about this lecture, including a transcript, is available from the Private Law Centre website: https://www.privatelaw.law.cam.ac.uk/events/CambridgeFreshfieldsLecture

In these two public webinars from the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge, the panels explore the enormous additional pressures that the pandemic has imposed on the criminal justice system. In this second webinar we look at the current conditions in English prisons and explore why more has not been done for those in custody throughout the pandemic. At the beginning of April, the government announced plans for the early release of up to 4,000 prisoners in England and Wales, to reduce prison overcrowding and to slow the rate of infection among prisoners and staff. The Prison Governors Association and Public Health England argued that releasing 10,000 - 15,000 prisoners was needed. By late April, though, a mere 33 prisoners had been released. What went wrong? What has happened throughout May? What have been the implications for the welfare/health/progression of both prisoners and staff? What are the lessons to be learnt now, and for the future - within the prison and probation systems? Discussing the issues: Chair: Nicky Padfield, Professor of Criminal and Penal Justice Nicky is joined by a panel of experts: - Andrea Albutt (President, Prison Governors Association); - Richard Garside (Director, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies); - Laura Janes (Legal Director, Howard League for Penal Reform); - (Retired) Judge John Samuels QC (ex-Parole Board and President, Prisoners' Education Trust); and - Jessie Smith (Cambridge PhD candidate in Law, solicitor, formerly specialising in national security). This entry provides an audio source.

Professor Rochell C Dreyfuss was the Arthur Goodhart Visiting Professor of Legal Science for the academic years 2019-20. She was interviewed by video from the Goodhart Lodge on 28th April 2020.For more information, see the Squire website at http://www.squire.law.cam.ac.uk/eminent_scholars/