Calling all barristers and solicitor-advocates. If you are able to help with my PhD research on the jury, please do get in contact with me. Thank you in advance!

Jury-free trials recommended to save courts from ‘collapse’ - BBC News apple.news/AoA30iw_8Tba...

I am really excited about the publication of the 8th edition of my textbook, Criminal Law Directions. Thank you to the fabulous team at Oxford University Press for helping to get this edition over the finish line!

Court Usher vacancy Worcester, Kidderminster www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cg...

Great opportunity to become a Judicial Assistant with the UK Supreme Court and Privy Council: www.supremecourt.uk/working-for-...

More dispatches from the UK criminal justice crisis - experts having cases re-listed for July 2027 (they're often a few years old already). Will they even still be employed or working then? Who can possibly predict. How can this even pretend to be a functioning justice system?

In this new blog, Bar course student Olivia Hardiman shares her experience of volunteering with national education charity Young Citizens as part of The Big Legal Lesson – a campaign to start a conversation about rights, responsibilities, and the rule of law in schools. Read more⬇️ bit.ly/3EyCRla

Announcement: #PhD #Scholarhship in #Crimology @ @monashuniversity.bsky.social in #Melbourne, Australia Topics: #policing #punishment #restorativejustice #criminaljustice #hatecrime #genderbasedviolence #cybercrime Deadline 16 Feb 26. More details below careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...

Fabulous marshalling opportunity at Middle Temple for student members who have started the Bar Course. www.middletemple.org.uk/education-tr...

Fabulous marshalling opportunity at Middle Temple for student members who have started rhe Bar Course. www.middletemple.org.uk/education-tr...

Includes a just published online and open access piece by my UoPLaw colleague Prof Caroline Strevens (and Emma Jones) on perceptions of wellbeing among heads of UK law schools doi.org/10.1080/0306...

Interesting case on jury misconduct from New South Wales: R v Tembeleski (No2) [2024] NWSDC 504. Jury discharged after a juror brought a Law dictionary into the jury room & no other juror raised the judge's direction not to conduct research. www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/192...

Pleased to see that the Law Commission are looking at the law on homicide in 2025: lawcom.gov.uk/project/revi...

Your honor I know how this sounds but my dog literally tried to eat my jury duty summons

Watch our new Chair Barbara Mills KC on Channel 4 News. In her first broadcast interview, she spoke to Ayshah Tull about her priorities for the justice system and the year ahead. www.channel4.com/news/barbara...

Your reminder that the under-use of our courtrooms - at a time of record trial backlogs - is deliberate government policy. It began under the last government, and continues under this one. Because criminal justice only matters when there’s a cheap tabloid headline to be won.

Volunteering opportunities for both law students and academics available here: www.bvl.org.uk/volunteer-su...

⚖️Almost 2/3 of the UK don’t know their basic legal rights. Want to help change that? Young Citizens is looking for volunteers to deliver the Big Legal Lesson. Help those at your local schools and colleges engage in conversation about the law and human rights. Find out more⬇️ bit.ly/3BURRJr

a very mixed picture on open justice here from the excellent @kirkkorner.bsky.social www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/cour...

Interested in becoming a solicitor member of the Criminal Procedure Rule Committee? If so, see: apply-for-public-appointment.service.gov.uk/roles/8443 Application deadline: 11am on 4 February 2025 #UKlegal #CPRC

Great opportunity to join the Law Commission as a Research Assistant. Setpember 2025 start date. Details can be found here: lawcom.gov.uk/our-work/res...

So, 2025 is the year that I get to introduce/inflict my new pseudonymous pen name - S.J. Fleet. And send this little critter out into the world. August 2025 will be the debut of The Cut Throat Trial (although you can pre-order now). And good Lord I’m terrified. www.amazon.co.uk/Cut-Throat-T...

🚨NEW EPISODE🚨 Are our courts capable of dealing with vulnerable children? In this episode, Aika Stephenson and Danielle Manson join us to discuss which cases go to court, how children are treated and how courts could be more child friendly. 🎧Listen now! pod.fo/e/29bea1

Magistrates’ Association's response to the sentencing review consultation www.magistrates-association.org.uk/wp-content/u...

If you are currently formulating an idea for a book that engages with US Constitutional Law you might consider the Routledge Series I co-edit, ‘Controversies in American Constitutional Law’. Feel free to get in touch to discuss your book idea 😀 www.routledge.com/Controversie...

Sad story about the state of our courts www.nottinghampost.com/news/notting...

ChatGPT similarly makes things up for the hell of it. I tested it a while back with information I knew to be very much in the public domain. It’s basically just like that bad tutor you had at university who, instead of saying ‘I don’t know’ would say utter bollocks with an air of authority.

Free Therapy Pilot For Jurors Receives Little Take Up www.politicshome.com/news/article...

It is a pity the government had to be dragged kicking and screaming to this bare minimum. But it is at least a start. Now what about the chronic lack of criminal barristers causing serious trials to be delayed for years? Any ideas, Lord Chancellor? www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/justice...

A pleasure to be on Radio 4 recently. Speaking on court backlogs,delays of trials for 2-4 years.Called for a reversal of cuts to the court sitting days (days when courts are open). As did the Lady Chief Justice. Yesterday there was an increase of 2000 days.Scroll 21.08 www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

In our next post on criminaljusticetheoryblog.wordpress.com, coming Friday, Valerij Zisman considers the use of empirical research in human psychology on punishment theory. He say that it can be an important yardstick for ethical and legal theories, but we must use it more carefully. Watch for that!

MY ADVOCACY ADVENT CALENDAR Day 1 - Eye contact: Advocacy is not an exercise in projecting your voice whilst keeping your eyes firmly buried in your computer or notes. You should control your notes, not the other way round. Watching your judge, witness, listener is essential

Fantastic to see the 2nd book in the Routledge Studies in Law, Rights and Justice book series published. Congratulations to Anne-Marie Greenslade for the publication of ‘Modern Slavery Survivor Pathways: Policy, Legislation and Practice in the UK’. For more info: www.routledge.com/Routledge-St...

If you haven’t noticed yet the Criminal Justice System in the UK is broken. In every direction.