Allen & Overy

Sonya Barcant

I’m now extremely close to the end of my training contract (just 5 weeks left!!)

So this is my final blog! I can’t believe it’s been a year since I first attempted to write something interesting about my life as a trainee at A&O. I’m now extremely close to the end of my training contract (just 5 weeks left!!), to my wedding and to the beginning of 6 weeks qualification leave! That’s a lot to be counting down to but amidst all that excitement I’m also having a terrific time at Liberty. It’s been a real eye opener and the work has involved completely different types of law to those I’ve experienced at A&O.

One of the main cases I’m assisting my trainer with is challenging a scheme in Birmingham known as “Project Champion”. In two predominately Muslim areas, the West Midlands police erected over 200 cameras (of which 72 were covert and 169 were vehicle recognition) and it eventually came to light that this scheme had been funded entirely by the terrorism and allied matters division of the Association of Chief Police Officers – whereas the local councillors had been told that the primary purpose was the reduction of general crime and disorder. Liberty challenged the scheme on the basis that it was unlawful for several reasons. In summary (I could write an essay on this!) we argued that the scheme is not compatible with Articles 8 (privacy) and 14 (non-discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights, that the authorities did not comply with section 71 of the Race Relations Act 1976, that they failed to consult any of the residents prior to the implementation of the scheme and, finally, that the Data Protection Act would be likely to apply because the use of the cameras would involve the storage of personal information about identifiable individuals.

So as you can see a complex and interesting case! Just two days after we sent the letter to the authorities detailing our grounds of challenge, there was a public meeting where the West Midlands police apologised to the residents and announced that, in response to the concerns of the community, all of the 72 covert cameras would be removed and full consultation will now take place on the overt cameras (which will be covered up with bags in the meantime). So great news but we’ll have to wait and see what the outcome of the consultation is!

“It’s been a real eye opener and the work has involved completely different types of law to those I’ve experienced at A&O.”

I also promised you last time the outcome of a judicial review that Liberty had intervened in against Ofcom’s decision that a radio presenter had breached broadcasting regulations. For those who didn’t read about it in the papers, the presenter lost the judicial review but it was an interesting judgment. Although the Court accepted that the language used by the presenter was “political speech” and so deserving of the highest level of protection under Article 10 of the Convention, it found that Ofcom’s finding was justified because the presenter had “lost his rag” and the later part of the interview had become abusive shouting.

Work-life aside, wedding preparations are as you can imagine heating up. I have my first dress fitting next Friday so I’m trying very hard to stick to a strict gym routine whilst also finishing off final details such as the stationery, and liaising with the venue, florist, photographer and a million other people on a daily basis. It’s pretty hectic but getting very exciting!

So I guess all that’s left to do now is say goodbye, thank you for reading my blog and wish you lots of luck with your future careers in law, hopefully at A&O!

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