About
The UK Human Rights Blog aims to provide a free, comprehensive and balanced legal update service. Our intention is not to campaign on any particular issue, but rather to present both sides of the argument on issues which are often highly controversial. We post on a huge range of legal issues, from human rights, to public, medical and environmental law.
Darragh Coffey and Jasper Gold are the Blog’s Co-commissioning Editors, and lead an Editorial Team comprising Rosalind English, Angus McCullough KC, David Hart KC, Martin Downs, Jim Duffy and Jonathan Metzer.
The Blog is written by members of 1 Crown Office Row. Its searchable archive of case reports and comments dating back to 1998 (when the acclaimed Human Rights Update service was launched) is freely available. The Blog also delivers a weekly Rights Round-up, written by our talented team of recent law graduates. We welcome posts from legal academics as well as practising lawyers.
In May 2017 the podcast series Law Pod UK was introduced alongside the Blog, featuring lively interviews with members of Chambers on caselaw and general legal developments.
Adam Wagner founded the Blog in 2010. The Blog has had over 6 million hits and averages well over 500,000 hits a year. The blog also has thousands of subscribers across email, Facebook and Twitter. It is regularly acclaimed by commentators and cited by leading lights in the legal community.
If you like the Blog, please do subscribe to our regular email updates. Law Pod UK episodes are freely available for download from Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Audioboom and many more platforms.
We would welcome your comments.
Editorial team
Darragh Coffey
1 Crown Office Row
Darragh Coffey accepts instructions in all areas of Chambers’ work and is developing a broad practice with a particular focus on public law. He appears in courts and tribunals on behalf of both Claimants and Defendants in a range of civil hearings.
Twitter: @darraghcoffey
Jasper Gold
1 Crown Office Row
Jasper is developing a broad practice and accepts instructions in all chambers’ practice areas. As well as clinical negligence, public law, discrimination, data law, inquests and tax, Jasper gained experience as a pupil in commercial disputes and is comfortable with cases containing contractual or other commercial elements.
Since joining 1COR, Jasper has undertaken advocacy in the high court, county court and coronial court. He has appeared in several inquests, including ‘Article 2’ and jury inquests. He is currently instructed as junior counsel to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in the Undercover Policing Inquiry, and is the Co-Commissioning Editor of the UK Human Rights Blog.
Twitter: @JasperSGold
Rosalind English
1 Crown Office Row
Rosalind English is one of the editors of the UK Human Rights Blog. She also presents Law Pod UK, a series of podcasts on legal developments relevant to Chambers work.
She teaches law at Cambridge University Institute of Continuing Education.
Twitter: @rosalindenglish
Angus McCullough KC
1 Crown Office Row
Angus McCullough has a varied practice which covers public law (including human rights), professional negligence, regulatory and disciplinary law, and the environment. He has acted as a special advocate in many of the most high profile national security cases in recent times (e.g. Abu Qatada, Ekaterina Zatuliveter, Al Jedda). Instructed by the Attorney General, he has appeared in contempt of court applications against the press and jurors (including the ‘Facebook juror‘ and the first internet press contempt case to be brought). He is also a recognised expert in medical law: complex and high value medical claims constitute a major part of his practice and in 2009, the year before taking silk, he was named ‘Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence Junior of the Year by Chambers & Partners. Before becoming a QC in 2010 he was on the panel of Treasury Counsel (A list from 2001-2010).
Twitter: @amccqc
Martin Downs
1 Crown Office Row
Martin Downs practises in the field of equality and human rights. He has co-authored two books about Civil Partnership and Same-Sex Marriage and is a regular contributor to Family Law and Tolley’s Employment Law. He lectures on employment, equality, education and family law amongst other subjects and has made a number of media appearances – particularly about radicalisation.
He is very interested in the history, culture and politics of South Asia as well as Ireland. He tweets on legal matters too.
Twitter: @MartinJDowns
David Hart KC
1 Crown Office Row
David Hart practises in environmental law, medical law (particularly clinical negligence), professional negligence and construction. He has also appeared at a number of major public inquiries. David has particular experience of group actions in the environmental field and in medical cases.
He has been Chair of the Environmental Law Foundation since 2016, and has done pro bono work for them. He sat on a Research Ethics Committee at St Thomas’ Hospital for 10 years, and he has a particular interest in genetics. He is an accredited mediator. He has been a regular contributor to the Blog for the last 5 years, on all subjects under the sun.
Twitter: @hart_david
Jim Duffy
1 Crown Office Row
Jim was the Blog’s Commissioning Editor in 2017. His practice spans human rights, inquests, clinical negligence and employment law. Before transferring to the Bar in 2012, Jim was a solicitor whose work involved human rights cases on behalf of Iraqi civilians, British soldiers, jobseekers and immigrants.
After becoming a tenant at 1 Crown Office Row, he acted as Judicial Assistant to Lord Reed and Lord Hodge at the UK Supreme Court in 2013-14.
Twitter: @JimDuffy12
Jonathan Metzer
1 Crown Office Row
Jonathan joined chambers as a tenant in September 2017 after completion of 12 months of pupillage. He has a broad practice across all areas of chambers’ work, with particular expertise in public and human rights law, asylum and immigration, clinical negligence and inquests. He appears regularly in the County Court, the Coroner’s Court and the Immigration Tribunals, and has also undertaken hearings in the High Court.
Before coming to the Bar, Jonathan undertook voluntary work at The Death Penalty Project, Simons, Muirhead & Burton LLP. He also worked on a pro bono basis for the School Exclusion Project, acting as lay legal representative for the parents of excluded pupils at hearings in front of school governors and independent review panels. Jonathan was the Blog’s Commissioning Editor from 2017-2022.
Twitter: @JonathanMetzer
Founding Editor: Adam Wagner
Adam was the founding editor of the UK Human Rights Blog. He was longlisted for the 2011 Orwell Prize for blogging. He is a tenant at Doughty Street, specialising in public law, human rights and medical law. In 2015 he set up RightsInfo, an innovative new website that aims to bring human rights to life using infographics, stories and social media.
Twitter: @adamwagner1
About 1 Crown Office Row
1COR is a leading set of civil law Chambers. We are recognised as having leading practitioners in all aspects of healthcare law, clinical negligence and personal injury, professional disciplinary proceedings, public and administrative law, human rights, employment, professional negligence, costs, matrimonial finance, VAT and environmental law. We also have a team of 15 accredited mediators. You can read more about 1COR by clicking here.
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