Politically motivated attacks on the legal profession are irresponsible and dangerous. Legal organisations representing 250,000 lawyers have come together to express grave concern. Read the statement www.barcouncil.org.uk/resource/vil... Read the news www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

Recent media commentary has focused on members of Garden Court Chambers and others who sit as part-time judges. This is Garden Court's statement 👇 gardencourtchambers.co.uk/garden-court... #RuleofLaw #Judicialindependence #SeparationOfPowers #Constitution www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

superb - Robert Jenrick is supporting the case of asylum seeker, who is appealing against a public order conviction, using the ECHR bsky.app/profile/rola...

"The overwhelming majority of asylum seekers want to share in our standards and escape from persecution or civil war. To describe them as thieves or rapists is not just dishonest but encourages the worst sort of prejudice in our communities," writes Michael Heseltine. https://bit.ly/4mUIeM

Note how we’ve moved from concerns about people arriving irregularly in small boats to wrecking the lives of people who are by definition here entirely lawfully

🚨 Raise the alarm: While the Rwanda policy drew outrage, a new wave of harmful immigration policies is going under the radar. Detention + deportation changes are deeply damaging, and we’re urgently fundraising to provide free legal support. Read more & donate: www.biduk.org/articles/rai...

Much of the furore around the use of Article 8 ECHR in immigration cases is manufactured, as @alicedonald.bsky.social and co-authors highlight in this new, must-read report. The problem has been supercharged since Leveson LJ identified it a decade ago: www.law.ox.ac.uk/sites/defaul...

A new report from the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights at the University of Oxford examines how the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is represented in the UK media 📄 Read more 👇 www.law.ox.ac.uk/echr @ox.ac.uk @oxfordlawfac.bsky.social

'Analysis revealed frequent misreporting of immigration tribunal cases, as well as mischaracterisations of the UK’s system of immigration appeals and the role played by the ECHR in this context.'

The #LALY25 judges award for ⭐️⭐️Outstanding Achievement ⭐️⭐️- sponsored by Matrix Chambers – goes to Stephanie Harrison KC @gardencourtlaw gardencourtchambers.co.uk/barrister/st... She starts by thanking the crowd and the awards, saying this is the award that matters most

@stolenride.bsky.social my partner’s bike was stolen between 8-10pm this evening outside Westfield (1 Endeavour Square) - photo of bike below

I'm proud to be a member of @gardencourtlaw.bsky.social alongside some incredibly talented and dedicated barristers. But it is wrong and it undermines the rule of law to attack a set of chambers for the clients some members represent.

As you might have guessed, the article is actually an attempted hit job on us collectively. There's a serious point here, made very well by @joshuarozenberg.bsky.social in this article: open.substack.com/pub/rozenber...

The Spectator on @gardencourtlaw.bsky.social: '…lawyers of undoubted intellect and skill…’ ‘…idealists, gifted advocates and politically passionate…’ ‘…radically effective…’ ‘…no doubting the skill or zeal…’ ‘…Garden Court racks up victories…’ www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-...

6) the wider context of the Tories doxxing immigration lawyers is a backhanded swipe at Starmer (a lawyer) and the kind of far right populist bullying that has already led to attempts to kill and maim immigration lawyers and asylum seekers. Jenrick should be ashamed of himself.

5) I am not personally close friends with Greg or anything, but you can't be an immigration lawyer and not know of the absolutely sterling high quality of his work and of his generosity with his time and skills. He is funny and acerbic and he is a role model for many.

4) For someone like Greg, being a part time judge is a form of public service. He's earning less than he might doing other work when he's sitting as a judge, but when top lawyers sit as judges we are lucky to have their expertise contributing to the protection and development of the law.

3) Judges are recruited from a wide cross section of society. There are immigration judges who were Home Office employees before they became judges and there are immigration judges who have only represented individual immigration claimants in the past. That doesn't mean they won't apply the law.

2) When a lawyer becomes a judge they are from then on expected to present appropriately in their public communications. But that doesn't mean they can never in their lives have expressed a political opinion. Greg only recently became a judge and these tweets are more than 10 years old mostly.

1) When politicians and the media pick on judges like this it is simply bullying, because the judge is not permitted to respond or defend themselves. If Greg (an exceptionally bright, articulate and generous-spirited lawyer) could he would *wipe the floor* with a disingenuous weasel like Jenrick.

I have seen that Jenrick, the Times and Daily Mail have been targeting expert immigration lawyer Greg Ó Ceallaigh KC, who is also a part time immigration judge (a deputy Upper Tribunal judge). A couple of quick points about the misinformation involved in this.

“There are clear choices facing our profession. We can choose to remain silent and allow these acts to continue or we can stand for the rule of law and the values we hold dear. We call upon the entire profession, including lawyers who serve in elected positions, to speak out against intimidation.”

It's enraging & frightening to see friends & colleagues targeted for their #humanrights work - & their treatment only hints at the threats/punishment faced by those unable to speak out. Respect & solidarity to @caoilfhionn.bsky.social Tatyana, Jonathan & Jen www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...

Thank you @aoifenolan.bsky.social & everyone who sent such lovely, supportive messages this morning following this @theguardian.com piece. The ultimate target of these vile tactics is one man: our client, #JimmyLai. We’re not letting these threats silence us. And we hope others will speak out, too.

Solidarity with my excellent and brave @doughtystreet.bsky.social colleagues @caoilfhionn.bsky.social , Tatyana Eatwell, Jonathan Price & Jen Robinson in the face of this appalling and disgusting intimidation by the Chinese government

From yesterday: Court finds neo-Nazi planned terrorist attack at immigration law firm | Colin Yeo https://freemovement.org.uk/court-finds-neo-nazi-planned-terrorist-attack-at-immigration-law-firm/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=court-finds-neo-nazi-planned-terrorist-attack-at-immigratio…

Pointless, ineffective, cruel, legally offensive - and hugely expensive

If you want to know how your MP voted in the #AssistedDying debate, you can see here👇 votes.parliament.uk/votes/common...

Interesting letter in support of the Assisted Dying Bill , including noting in relation to the ‘slippery slope’ argument that both domestic courts and the ECHR have been reluctant to intervene in this area

this is very good

Can never understand the logic of "slippery slope" arguments when we have a system where the House of Commons decides nearly everything. It's only a slippery slope if in the future the Commons changes its mind on something- which guess what, it can do at any time.

Gisèle Pelicot addressing her choice to keep the surname "Pelicot": "When the trial began, my children were 'ashamed' of the name. I have grandchildren called that. I want them proud. My name is known worldwide now. They shouldn't be ashamed. Today we will remember Gisèle Pelicot." What a woman.

'Anywhere But Here' is now available to pre-order on Kindle, too. amzn.eu/d/cJVl80J

The grass is green and the sky is blue over here

People get recognized as refugees, but far from supporting them properly (as per its international obligations) government dumps them out of the asylum support system to, well, nowhere. A shameful piece of neglect.

Word of the Day, should you need it, is ‘latibulate’, a 17th-century verb meaning to find a corner somewhere and hide in it.