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17 March 2023 / Dr Jon Robins
Issue: 8017 / Categories: Features , Criminal , Human rights
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Miscarriages of justice: The Birmingham 4

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Incriminating evidence & falsified notebooks? Dr Jon Robins recounts a deeply concerning jury verdict delivered at a time of heightened suspicion nationwide

‘Was it like this for the Irish?’ This was a question posed by Muslim clients of the human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce, as recounted in her 2010 book Dispatches from the Dark Side: On Torture and the Death of Justice. Reflecting on an earlier generation of clients, including the Guildford Four and Birmingham Six, the solicitor recalled how Irishmen and women the world over ‘knew and registered every detail of each injustice as if it had been done to them’ long before the British public became aware that ‘entire Irish families’ had been wrongly imprisoned. ‘[So] Muslim men and women… are registering the ill-treatment of the community here, and recognising, too, the analogies with the experiences of the Irish.’

Pierce argued that Muslims became ‘the new suspect community’ in the wake of 9/11. A new documentary tells the story of four young men from the Midlands

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

NLJ Career Profile: Daniel Burbeary, Michelman Robinson

NLJ Career Profile: Daniel Burbeary, Michelman Robinson

Daniel Burbeary, office managing partner of Michelman Robinson, discusses launching in London, the power of the law, and what the kitchen can teach us about litigating

Wedlake Bell—Rebecca Christie

Wedlake Bell—Rebecca Christie

Firm welcomes partner with specialist expertise in family and art law

Birketts—Álvaro Aznar

Birketts—Álvaro Aznar

Dual-qualified partner joins international private client team

NEWS
Cheating in driving tests is surging—and courts are responding firmly. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort Law School charts a rise in impersonation and tech-assisted fraud, with 2,844 attempts recorded in a year
As AI-generated ‘deepfake’ images proliferate, the law may already have the tools to respond. In NLJ this week, Jon Belcher of Excello Law argues that such images amount to personal data processing under UK GDPR
In a striking financial remedies ruling, the High Court cut a wife’s award by 40% for coercive and controlling behaviour. Writing in NLJ this week, Chris Bryden and Nicole Wallace of 4 King’s Bench Walk analyse LP v MP [2025] EWFC 473
A €60.9m award to Kylian Mbappé has refocused attention on football’s controversial ‘ethics bonus’ clauses. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Estelle Ivanova of Valloni Attorneys at Law examines how such provisions sit within French labour law

The Court of Appeal has slammed the brakes on claimants trying to swap defendants after limitation has expired. In Adcamp LLP v Office Properties and BDB Pitmans v Lee [2026] EWCA Civ 50, it overturned High Court rulings that had allowed substitutions under s 35(6)(b) of the Limitation Act 1980, reports Sarah Crowther of DAC Beachcroft in this week's NLJ

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