Activist Lawyer

Join award-winning barrister Oscar Davies and host Sarah Henry as they discuss Oscar's journey to their practice at Garden Court Chambers. Oscar shares personal insights into becoming a barrister and offers practical advice for aspiring legal professionals. They also address the lack of legal protections for trans and non-binary individuals, along with Oscar's upcoming book on non-binary recogniti...

Sarah is joined by a distinguished panel contributing to the conversation on a timely and critical issue: the campaign to recognize Gender Apartheid as a crime against humanity.    'United Against Gender Apartheid,' is discussed in detail by renowned journalist, author and campaigner, Robbyn Swan, Afghan lawyer and campaigner Mahbooba Faiz and Mahya Ostovar, a professor and long-time activist for...

Join us on the latest episode of the Activist Lawyer podcast as our former co-host, Jack McClelland, calls into the studio to share his travel adventures and offer insights into navigating a career in law. If you’re feeling uncertain about your career path, especially in human rights law, this episode is for you! Sarah and Jack will also revisit some standout episodes featuring recent guests who o...

In this week's episode, Sarah is joined by Daniel Machover from Hickman & Rose, one of the UK’s leading solicitors in inquests, public inquiry work, complex civil litigation, and human rights cases. Daniel has represented clients in high-profile cases, including the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, the Azelle Rodney Inquiry, and prisoners at Wormwood Scrubs Prison. Recently, he has also represented the...

Sarah is joined by barrister Franck Magennis from Garden Court Chambers.  Franck discusses UK asylum cases involving Palestinian applicants, his time working with Al-Haq human rights organisation as well as a swell in employment cases involving dismissals around a person’s activity in relation to what is happening in Palestine.  This is an interesting discussion on what could be described as a fre...

We pick up our discussion on legal developments impacting Palestine as we are joined by Miranda Cleland in Washington DC. As advocacy officer with Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P), Miranda touches on the significance of the case against the Biden Administration for complicity in genocide. The case, which was dismissed, was taken by the Center for Constitutional Rights who fil...

In this week's episode, Sarah is joined by Her Honour Wendy Joseph KC as she discusses her career in law, her role as a judge at the Old Bailey as well as her fascinating new book, ‘Rough Justice.’ Until March 2022 Her Honour Wendy Joseph QC was a judge at the Old Bailey, sitting on criminal cases, trying mainly allegations of murder and other homicide. She read English and Law at Cambridge, was c...

In this week's episode, Sarah is joined by Marc Willers KC who specialises in environmental law and climate justice, planning law, administrative and public law, civil liberties, human rights and discrimination law, and Gypsy, Traveller and Roma law.   Marc shares a number of climate justice success stories including the ground-breaking decision in KlimaSeniorinnen v Switzerland (ECtHR) as well as...

In this week's episode, Sarah is joined by traveller activist and aspiring barrister, Martin McDonagh. Martin is currently furthering his career in law through the University of Ulster, Access to Justice LLM hoping to work in human rights and social justice. He recently set up Northern Ireland’s first Traveller-led support group. Martin touches on some of the challenges faced by the Irish Travelle...

In this week's episode, our host, Sarah Henry, shares the latest updates to our website, our call for blog submissions, the launch of our brand-new newsletter, and our exciting new book club.  Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://ow.ly/IaFJ50SaZ94

In this week's episode, Sarah is joined in the studio by Immigration Solicitor, Úna Boyd who works with the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ).  CAJ is an independent human rights organisation based in Belfast and Úna discusses the role of the organisation in promoting justice and protecting rights.  She shares insights into her work centring around post-Brexit legislative changes, t...

In this week's episode, Sarah is joined by Harriet Wistrich  who is the founder and director of the  Centre for Women's Justice . Harriet previously worked as a solicitor with renowned civil liberties firm Birnberg Pierce for many years. Harriet talks about her work,  primarily focusing on violence against women cases including the case of Emma Humphreys and Sally Challen as well as victims of ser...

Sarah sits down with solicitor Ciaran Moynagh from Phoenix Law in Belfast.  Ciaran talks about how he became a lawyer specialising in human rights, equality, family law and specialist criminal defence.  Listeners might be familiar with some of Ciaran’s high-profile cases including Lee v Asher's Bakery Company (the ‘gay cake’ case) as well as his work around advancing same sex marriage and transgen...

Sarah is joined in the studio by solicitor Enda McGarrity who works with law firm P.A. Duffy & Co Solicitors. Enda talks about his work on the UK Covid-19 Inquiry and environmental actions arising because of the ecological disaster occurring in Northern Ireland’s Lough Neagh.    Enda joined PA Duffy & Company as a paralegal in 2018 having graduated from Queens University Belfast with honou...

In this episode Sarah meets Leslie Thomas KC with Garden Court Chambers and Professor of Law at Gresham College. We discuss some of Leslie’s impressive portfolio of work as a barrister taking on the state on behalf of his clients through inquests and public inquiries representing many bereaved families as a result of police brutality and deaths in custody. Leslie has expertise across a wide range...

As part of our series focusing on the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Palestine, Sarah is joined by Khaled Quzmar, human rights lawyer and General Director of Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P) .  The organisation has been working to promote and protect the human rights of Palestinian children for decades.  Khaled talks about the extreme challenges in documenting current viola...

Today’s episode features Executive Director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties , Liam Herrick.  Liam and Sarah discuss the history of the ICCL and its place in the development of human rights and social justice, not only in Ireland, but globally.  They look at the ‘Enforce’ unit within the ICCL which aims to challenge the ‘tech threat’ posed to democracy and human rights.  Liam Herrick is th...

To mark International Women’s Day 2024  we are joined by Dr Maebh Harding and Professor Aoife O’Donoghue to discuss the network Doing Feminist Legal Work. DFLW connects legal scholars across Ireland, Northern Ireland and Britain addressing emerging issues of gender and law. This is an exciting and innovative project and you can find out how you can become involved in the network.  We also discuss...

Continuing with our series focusing on events unfolding in Palestine we speak to Professor Shane Darcy, Nadeen Yousef and Ramez Hayek from the Irish Centre for Human Rights in the School of Law at University of Galway.   The panel discuss events subsequent to the ICJ ruling on provisional measures in the case of South Africa v. Israel in relation to the Genocide Convention, 1948.  We discuss the a...

This episode of Activist Lawyer sheds light on the horrific circumstances facing women in Afghanistan. As we approach International Women’s Day, we ask everyone to listen to this episode where our guest Maryam, explains what is happening in Afghanistan since the Taliban enforced their oppressive regime in August 2021. Maryam discusses education, employment, mental health and women in law. Afghan w...

Sarah is joined by Dublin based solicitor Cristina Stamatescu to talk about her unique journey to becoming a human rights practitioner. Cristina discusses the importance of balancing her day-to-day role as managing solicitor with networking, pro-bono work and opportunities to develop and learn more about the law and making change happen outside of the office!  

Human rights lawyer and law professor at Al-Quds University, Dr Munir Nuseibah shares his opinion on Israel before the ICJ, the importance of states joining South Africa's action under the Genocide Convention as well as activity (or lack thereof) at the ICC when it comes to prosecutions and accountability.  

Sarah is joined by renowned women’s activist and co-founder of the Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling, Palestine, Soraida Hussein to discuss the impact of violence on women and child victims of the ongoing aggression in Gaza and the West Bank. For more on the film Soraida: A Woman of Palestine : https://genderandsecurity.org/projects-resources/filmography/soraida-woman-palestine Donate:...

In this week's episode, Sarah is joined by Tamara Tamimi. Tamara is a Palestinian born in Jerusalem. Tamara holds an MA degree in Human Rights Law from SOAS, University of London and is currently pursuing her PhD from Queen’s University Belfast in international law and the Palestine question. Tamara’s research activity focuses on settler colonialism, transformative justice, forcible displacement,...

In this week's episode, Sarah speaks with Professor Donncha O’Connell, Established Professor of Law in the School of Law, University Galway.