Pete Weatherby QC  and Kate Stone  are instructed by a number of Hillsborough families, including Anne Williams.

On this page are links to media interviews and articles relating to the Hillsborough Report (September 2012) and the subsequent investigations:

In a blog for online magazine The Justice Gap , GCN's Matthew Stanbury and Mark Newby of Quality Solicitors Jordans look at the mish-mash of provisions contained within the Antisocial Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill 2013-14 .

GCN's Sarah Daley has been shortlisted for the "newcomer barrister" category at the LALY (Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year) 2013 awards which take place on 2nd July 2013.

In a blog for online magazine The Justice Gap , GCN's Mark Barlow and Mark Newby of Quality Solicitors Jordans write that the legal and social issues that surround sexual offences are complex and, by their very nature, dependant upon their own particular facts

Commenting in a piece in the latest New Law Journal (issue 7558 3 May 2013) GCN's Sarah Daley has expressed concern over the new JR curbs which have singled out immigration-related applications for criticism.

Lord Justice Goldring has ruled today that the new Hillsborough inquests are to be held in the North West and confirmed in a further ruling that the new inquests should take place in early 2014, although no start date has yet been fixed.

Please see details below of a meeting which has been arranged to galvanise prison law practitioners across the north to consider the potential impact of and strategies / tactics for responding to the "Transforming Legal Aid" consultation which closes in just under a month on 4.6.13.

Please see details below of a meeting which has been arranged to galvanise immigration practitioners across the north to consider the potential impact of and strategies / tactics for responding to the "Transforming Legal Aid" consultation which closes in just over a month on 4.6.13.

Anne Williams - whose 15 year old son Kevin died in the Hillsborough tragedy - was a prominent campaigner on behalf of Hillsborough victims.  She died on 18th April 2013 after a long illness.

Solicitors for 19 of the Hillsborough families have publicised a call for witnesses who can give evidence as to what happened at Hillsborough on the day and also as to what happened afterwards.

Osborn and Booth is to be heard in the Supreme Court this week, commencing on Tuesday 16th April 2013.

There will be a preliminary pre-inquest hearing, held in public, on 25th April 2013 in London in the fresh inquests that were ordered into the Hillsborough disaster.

Please read the announcement below if you are interested in applying for Pupillage at GCN.

In the March 2013 edition of Inside Time, GCN's Matthew Stanbury and Anna O’Mara (of Quality Solicitors Jordans) consider a recent case in which it was held that the three days within which a sex offender has to comply with the notification requirements does not begin on the day of his release.

Unanswered questions still remain over the implementation of Universal Credit (UC), the government’s new benefits system which begins piloting in April. In an interview for Lexis Nexis Current Awareness (published 5.3.13), GCN pupil Tom Royston and GCN's Ben McCormack  discuss the implications for local authorities and claimants.

GCN’s Pete Weatherby QC  appeared on BBC Breakfast this morning to discuss the issues raised after the discharging of the jury in the Vicky Pryce trial, and the jury trial system generally.

The ECtHR Grand Chamber confirmed yesterday that they have declined the government's request to review the Court's judgment in the leading IPP case; James, Wells and Lee v UK. The unanimous decision of the ECtHR, which held there had been a violation of Article 5(1), therefore became final on 11 February 2013.

Mark George Q.C  from Garden Court North will be speaking on the US death penalty training programme organised by Amicus in March 2013.

Lord Justice Goldring has been appointed by the Coroners for the South Yorkshire (East) and the West Yorkshire (West) Districts as an Assistant Deputy Coroner for the purpose of conducting the inquests into the deaths of the 96 people in the Hillsborough disaster.

Gang injunctions - dubbed "Gangbos" - came into force in February 2011. As the rate of authorities seeking Gang injunctions increases, GCN's Brigid Baillie , part of the team at GCN who have contested a significant number of these applications, reflects on the team's experience to date in terms of the reality of these orders for respondents and on seeking guidance on what is reasonable and proportionate in these proceedings.

Mark Barlow has written an article for the Spring 2013 edition of INQUIRY, the quarterly newsletter of the Innocence Network UK providing an overview of investigating miscarriage of justice arising from historic allegations of sexual offences.

GCN pupil and award-winning campaigner Tom Royston is speaking on disability law and campaigning at the Access To Advice conference in Manchester on Saturday 9th February 2013.

From 31st January 2013 the basis on which Garden Court North Chambers accepts instructions changes to The (new) Standard Contractual Terms for the Supply of Legal Services by Barristers to Authorised Persons 2012. The current standard default terms on which barristers have offered their services for many years have been withdrawn by the Bar Standards Board (the regulatory body for barristers in England and Wales) and replaced by the new Standard Contractual Terms (NSCT).

The Administrative Court has this afternoon handed down its judgment which will affect the future of Miscarriage of Justice Compensation for future claimants. Of the 5 claimants including Barry George, Ali, Tunbridge Dennis and Lawless, only Ian Lawless succeeded.

GCN’s Ben McCormack has been invited to join an expert panel contributing to an ideas exchange round table on the Public Sector Equality Duties (PSED) organised by the CAB Equality Strategy team which takes place next week.

GCN's Mark George QC was one of the speakers at the KCL (Kings College London) Think Tank Society event which took place in London on 22nd January 2013. The theme of the talk was to discuss what can be done to prevent innocent people from ending up in prisons.

In an essay commissioned by the Justice Gap (published 19.12.12), GCN's Mark George QC enthuses about the passionate commitment of legal aid lawyers to the people they represent and to achieving their constitutional right to a fair trial. Despite being in an era of permanent cuts to the legal aid budget, legal aid clients should still expect a service "every bit as good as they would if they were paid privately" says Mark.

On 19th December 2012 the Lord Chief Justice granted the Attorney General's application to quash the original Hillsborough inquest verdicts. Mark George QC , in a blog for the Justice Gap, reflects on this development and where now for the Justice for the 96 families.

The Director of Public Prosecutions has today published interim guidelines setting out the approach prosecutors should take to cases involving communications sent via social media. GCN's Pete Weatherby QC was interviewed today for BBC Radio 5 Live to provide legal explanation of these guidelines.

In a momentus day for the Hillsborough families, the High Court has today allowed the AG's application and quashed the accidental death inquest verdicts on 96 Liverpool football fans who died at Hillsborough.

An application by the Attorney General to quash the original Hillsborough inquest verdicts was made on Monday (10/12/12) and is due to be heard at the High Court next Wednesday (19/12/12) by the Chief Justice Lord Judge and two other judges.

Mr Justice Hickinbottom today (10/12/12) granted permission for the New Sex Offenders Notification Regime to be challenged. The Case will now be known as X ( Birmingham ) v Secretary of State for the Home Department .

The Law Commission has launched a consultation addressing whether existing laws on contempt of court (which pre-date the internet age) are adequate enough to deal with the challenges being posed by new media, eg Twitter. (The consultation closes on 28 February 2013). Mark George QC was intereviewed for Lexis Nexis Current Awareness (published 28.11.12) and gave his views about this developing area.

The case of Vinter and Others v UK was referred to the ECHR Grand Chamber and the hearing took place on 28th November 2012. The cases concern the applicants' complaint that their imprisonment for life amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment as they had no hope of release.

David Cameron this week told the CBI of a "massive growth industry" of judicial reviews and argued that business and development and the chances of economic recovery is being stifled. In an article for the Justice Gap , Ben McCormack found this "latest assault on the rule of law is poorly conceived, badly targeted and inadequately evidenced".

Yesterday (14.11.12) the Court of Appeal quashed a sentence of life imprisonment in the case of X and substituted a hospital order under s.37 of the Mental Health Act 1983 with a restriction order under s.41. This Appeal was the result of a successful CCRC referral as the case had been considered before by the Court of Appeal many years ago.

Permission has been granted by the Court of Appeal to appeal against the a refusal of a judicial review of a decision to evict a disabled woman and her family from Ministry of Defence owned accommodation.

Mark Barlow of Garden Court North and Mark Newby of Quality Solicitors Jordans are widely recognised for their expertise in the field of historic sexual offences and miscarriages of justice arising from the same. Writing this week in the Justice Gap, their article looks at the dangers of a modern witch-hunt if there are to be renewed investigations into Bryn Estyn and other historic allegations of abuse triggered by the Jimmy Saville allegations.

Mark George QC from Garden Court North will be delivering a series of lectures on death penalty for Amicus at universities across the UK throughout November 2012. A list of the dates is below:

GCN has retained 1st tier ranking for Civil Liberties & Human Rights in the latest edition of Chambers & Partners. The Immigration team also continue to be 1st tier ranked on the Northern circuit. Additionally, the directory lists 17 recommendations for individuals as leaders in their field across all our practice key areas of administrative and public law, crime, employment, immigration and social housing. The directory states GCN's "civil liberties and human rights offering is founded on a strong commitment to the representation of disadvantaged and vulnerable individuals"

From 1st October 2012 CPR 81  and its practice direction came into force. In this article, GCN's Gary Willock  reviews the new CPR 81 from the perspective of housing lawyers defending respondents in committal proceedings for alleged breach of ASBIs, injunctions based on tenancy agreements of undertakings and looks at the procedural steps up to and including the making of a committal order.

Following the resignation of West Yorkshire Police Chief Constable Sir Norman Bettison earlier this week (24/10/12) the IPCC has said the resignation does not stop him being prosecuted should criminal offences be identified.

The IPCC is under pressure to widen its investigation into alleged fabrication of evidence by South Yorkshire officers in the 1980s as new allegations emerge of attempts to frame miners at the Orgreave coking plant clashes in 1984. GCN's Mark George QC has contributed to a BBC One Inside Out documentary (to be broadcast tonight in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire) for which he analysed 40 police officers' Orgreave statements, and found that many contained identical descriptions of alleged disorder by the miners.

The High Court today quashed a 10 year ASBO which was imposed by Hull Magistrates Court on Christopher Perry, 66, in relation to postings which he made on his blog 'Woldseye view' about the residents of Wetwang in Yorkshire.

The Case of Ian Lawless along with Barry George, Dennis Ali and Tunbridge commences today (17th October 2012) for 3 days before Irwin J . The cases have been selected as a Broad Spectrum of cases to assist the Court in giving guidance over the sort of cases which should be compensated on quashing and those which cannot fall within the guidance given by the Supreme Court in Adams.

On Friday (12/10/12), the IPCC police watchdog said it would look at whether there was a criminal cover-up by South Yorkshire Police of failings by the force in relation to Hillsborough.

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that detaining IPP prisoners post tariff without access to appropriate offending behaviour courses is arbitrary and breaches human rights. GCN's Sarah Daley and Tony Quinlan of Switalskis Solicitors have written an article for Inside Time, the national newspaper for prisoners, looking at what impact this ruling will have.

The High Court is today hearing from lawyers for radical cleric Abu Hamza who say that medical tests could establish that he is unfit to plead and should not be extradited to America to face trial. GCN's Brigid Baillie , a criminal practitioner with a particular interest in fitness to plead proceedings, has provided the following commentary on fitness to plead in extradition cases:

GCN's Ian Macdonald QC was interviewed for BBC Newsnight yesterday in relation to the UK Border Agency (UKBA)'s rejection of an Afghan interpreter's asylum bid.

Mark George QC from Garden Court North will be speaking on the US death penalty programme organised by Amicus in October and November 2012