Law and Justice – A Vexed Relationship

When: Wednesday, 12 April at 4pm

Where: G.O. Jones Lecture Theatre, G.O. Jones Building, Ground Floor, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, E1 4NS (Building number 25 – view campus map here)

Format: In-person

Abstract:

Those in authority over us have been found to be culpable in wrongdoing repeatedly over the years. On each occasion, we have heard a lot about how they may, or may not, be accountable to the rule of law in the interests of justice.

In this talk, Raju Bhatt will look at this issue of accountability from the eyes of those most directly affected by the wrongdoing – its victims, witnesses, and survivors– drawing on his experience of working with them in their use of the law in order to achieve some semblance of justice.

Bio:

Raju Bhatt is a founding partner of Bhatt Murphy, a London-based team of lawyers working together to protect civil liberties. He specialises in providing help to those seeking accountability from the state and its officers, with a focus on the treatment of individuals by the criminal justice system. Over more than 35 years of legal practice, he has been responsible for many significant legal and policy developments, not least in his work with families who have lost their loved ones through the use of force in custody. His experience and authority have long been recognised. He received the Legal Aid Practitioners Group’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013, and has also been appointed to several public roles: as a member of the Hillsborough Independent Panel (reporting to the Home Secretary in 2012), as an adviser on the Reference Group for the Independent Review of Deaths and Serious Incidents in Police Custody (reporting to the Home Secretary in 2017), and as an assessor to assist the ongoing public inquiry into the 2015 police restraint-related death of Sheku Bayoh in Scotland.