Allen & Overy

Sonya Barcant

I’m a week and a bit into my secondment at Liberty

I’m a week and a bit into my secondment at Liberty and I’ve been involved in so much already! My first day was quite laid back as my trainer was away so I spent the day reading through and getting to grips with her current cases and reviewing applications to the Supreme Court to check whether there are any cases that Liberty would want to intervene in.

Then my next two days were spent at the Royal Courts of Justice at a judicial review where Liberty had intervened to raise and argue the human rights issues involved. The judicial review was against an Ofcom decision made in November 2008 that a particular radio presenter had breached the broadcasting code in using offensive language during an interview with a politician. As a result of Ofcom’s decision, the radio presenter was sacked by the radio station, and he challenged Ofcom’s decision by bringing a judicial review against it on the grounds of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the right to freedom of expression).

It was fascinating to listen to the barristers for each of the presenter, Liberty and Ofcom and to see how they each analysed the language used, the background law on restrictions to freedom of expression and how far it should go in the political arena. The main argument brought by the presenter’s legal team and Liberty is that Ofcom must balance its responsibility to enforce the broadcasting code with the right to free speech. They argued that, in the present case, Ofcom failed to take into account relevant considerations such as journalists having a duty to disseminate information to the public especially in the political context. Importantly, they argued that the offensive language used by the presenter was not a personal attack but an attack on him as a politician in that capacity. We’ve yet to receive the judgment and I’ll be interested to see which side the judges take!

 The rest of my week was spent researching various legal issues for my trainer’s cases and also for general queries that Liberty has received. For example, I was asked by my trainer to research into US laws regarding the use of secret evidence in legal proceedings and inquiries and whether the US government has the power to withhold evidence on the ground of national security, particularly in cases of extraordinary rendition. 

“We’ve yet to receive the judgment and I’ll be interested to see which side the judges take!”

So I guess you could say that my experience here has been completely different to that at A&O!! Perhaps I should have started with an introduction to Liberty but in case you don’t already know or haven’t guessed from the above, Liberty is an organisation that campaigns to protect basic rights and freedoms through the courts, in Parliament and in the wider community. They do this through a combination of public campaigning, test case litigation, parliamentary lobbying, policy analysis and the provision of free advice and information. I’m seconded (together with 3 trainees from other city law firms) to the legal department and we help with the litigation side of things as well as with the large amount of queries that Liberty receives online.

Right, back to the world of human rights…enjoy the sunshine that seems to finally be on its way! J

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