Reproductive Decision-Making in the Court of Protection Wednesday, 8 February 2023  5.00pm Guildhall Chambers, Bristol

SWALA invites you to a lecture to be given by Professor McGuinness on 8 February 2023 at 5.00pm. Guildhall Chambers have kindly agreed to host as both an in-person and online event. The number of in-person spaces is limited so please book early. The lecture will be followed by a panel discussion. We hope to see you there.

Over the past few years, several cases concerning decision-making and consent in pregnancy and/or birth have come before the Court of Protection of England and Wales (CoP). They have generally involved women with either intellectual or psychosocial disabilities, with decisions being made in their ‘best interests’ where they have been found to lack decision-making capacity, in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). Drawing on research undertaken as part of the Wellcome Trust funded BABEL Collaborative Award Professor McGuinness will explore themes that emerge from the approach to decision-making in the CoP, including issues of time, foetal interests/ value, and prospective decision-making.

Our speaker is Sheelagh McGuiness, Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Centre for Health, Law and Society at the University of Bristol Law School. She has wide ranging interests in health law with a specific focus on the regulation of reproduction. You can find out more about her research here.

The talk will be followed by a panel discussion considering practical issues that can arise in CoP cases that involve these types of decisions.

Date: Wednesday 8 February 2023

Registration: 5.00pm

Lecture: 5.10pm

Drinks: 6.00pm

Venue: Guildhall Chambers 5-8 Broad Street, Bristol BS1 2HG

RSVP – Please register with David Gardner (dga@no5.com) indicating whether you wish to attend in-person or online. Instructions for online joining will be sent to you in advance of the lecture. There is no charge for attending either in-person or online.

SWALA invites you to a lecture to be given by Colin Yeo on 20 September 2022 at 5.00pm.  Bristol Law Centre have kindly agreed to host as both an in-person and online event. The number of in-person spaces is limited so please book early.

• Former Home Secretary Priti Patel claimed that the United Kingdom’s asylum system was broken. The only conceivable response to rising numbers of small boats crossing the Channel is supposedly to send new entrants to Rwanda. Her successor, Suella Braverman, herself a controversial former Attorney-General, seems likely to pick up where Patel left off. But what is really going on behind the headlines and spin?

• Our speaker is Colin Yeo, a barrister at Garden Court Chambers in London specialising in immigration, asylum and nationality law. In 2020 he published Welcome to Britain: Fixing Our Broken Immigration System, a book charting and examining immigration policy over the last thirty years and setting out some ideas for how to start putting things right. Colin also manages the Free Movement immigration law blog (freemovement.org.uk), which he founded in 2007. Colin will take a careful look at the reality of the current asylum system, in which almost all those claiming asylum are eventually recognised as refugees, but only after years of waiting in enforced destitution.

Date Tuesday 20 Sept 2022

Registration 5.00pm

Lecture 5.15pm

End 6.00pm

Venue Bristol Law Centre, 2, The Hide Market, West St, Bristol BS2 0BH

RSVP – Please register with David Gardner (dga@no5.com) indicating whether you wish to attend in-person or online. Instructions for online joining will be sent to youin advance of  the lecture.

There is no charge for attending either in-person or online.

Of cakes and balances: when rights collide  Wednesday, 16th March 2022  5.30pm – 6.30pm @ St John’s Chambers, Bristol

The South West Administrative Lawyer’s Association invite you to this lecture given by The Honourable Mrs Justice Steyn, Liaison Judge for the Administrative Court in Wales, the Midlands and Western Circuits. 

St John’s Chambers are kindly hosting the event:

5.00pm Refreshments

5.30pm Of cakes and balances: when rights collide

6.30pm Drinks and canapés

To book your place please visit: www.stjohnschambers.co.uk/seminars

We very much hope that you can join us in person, but, if that is not possible, we are also offering this as a hybrid event. If you wish to join remotely please register here.

** Postponed **

Regrettably we have had to postpone the Brexit Bitesize seminar due to a lack of take-up, possibly due to the ongoing pandemic.  The seminar was intended to be a free event aimed at providing an accessible overview of the current implications of Brexit and to provide an opportunity to catch-up with colleagues.   We would still like to gauge the level of interest in trying to re-arrange this event and, if you would be interested in attending such an event  in the new year, please let us know by registering your interest by replying to this e-mail at admin@southwestadminlaw.org

Speakers and topics 

• Procurement – Laura Wisdom (Burges Salmon)
• Environmental and Planning – Nina Pindham (No 5 Chambers)
• Immigration (EU Settled Status) – Ashley Norman (Bevan Brittan)
• Competition – Matthew O’Regan (St John’s Chambers)
• Subsidy Control – David Owens (Bevan Brittan)

If this event is re-arranged, registration will be required even if you have previously registered to attend either the online or in-person event.

SWALA has submitted its response to the Ministry of Justice Consultation on Judicial Review Reform. This may be downloaded here.

SWALA held a free webinar on 29 April kindly hosted and chaired virtually by Polly Sweeney of Rook Irwin Sweeney LLP.

Speakers and topics

• “Regulating Covid-19: the danger of messy lawmaking through the lens of the right to protest” – Adam Wagner, Barrister, Doughty Street Chambers

• “When can you claim for lost income under the Human Rights Act 1998?”- Guy Adams, Barrister, St John’s Chambers

Date

Thursday, 29 April 2021

The video can he viewed here:

The South West Administrative Lawyers Association (SWALA) held a webinar on the NHS in association with St John’s Chambers on 26 November 2020

• Rationing NHS Services in a pandemic – slides available here
  David Lock QC, Landmark Chambers
• The judicial reviews into the award of PPE contracts – procurement during a pandemic – slides available here
  Laura Brealey, Partner, Bevan Brittan LLP
• GP practices, legitimate expectations and goodwill – slides available here
  Guy Adams, Barrister, St. John’s Chambers
• Chaired by David Gardner, No.5 Chambers

A video of the webinar can be viewed here:

SWALA has submitted its response to the Independent Review of Administrative Law’s Call for Evidence. This may be downloaded here.

SWALA is keen to learn how it might do more to promote its objective of bringing together all practitioners with an interest in Administrative Law in the South West:

• To promote the development of specialist expertise in administrative and public law in the South West of England.
• To encourage and support the use of the local jurisdiction of the Administrative Court.
• To provide a forum for discussion.
• To encourage education and training.
• To protect and promote the efficiency and capacity of Courts in the South West of England to deal with administrative and public law matters.

We would therefore be very grateful if you could take few minutes to complete our short online survey.

The 2020 SWALA Annual Lecture was given online by Mr Justice Swift and HHJ Cotter QC on 30 September 2020 in association with Bristol Law Centre