College Lecturer in Law and Fellow/Bye-Fellow at Fitzwilliam and King's Colleges
Interests
My research examines the ways in which public law impacts upon, and can provide protections for, especially vulnerable sections of society.
My doctoral research examined the implications of the ban on England and Wales on assisted suicide, through the prism of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). I subsequently published a monograph based on my doctoral thesis - Assisted Suicide and the European Convention on Human Rights (Routledge, 2021). My work has featured in the library of the European Court of Human Rights and was the catalyst for my invitation to provide evidence to the House of Commons Human Rights Committee on the human rights implications of the English ban on assisted suicide. In addition to speaking at various conferences on the issue of human rights and assisted suicide, I have also been interviewed by international news outlets on key end-of-life Strasbourg case law.
My research is not, however, limited to rights in the end-of-life context. I have expertise in human rights more generally, in particular the ECHR. This, in turn, has resulted in my researching, presenting and writing on a variety of issues including domestic abuse, reproductive autonomy and gender recognition.
Currently, I am completing a human rights book with two colleagues which will be published by Cambridge University Press in early 2025. The book arose as a result of our teaching the Human Rights Law elective on the undergraduate programme. Realising that there was no text that took an issues-based approach to human rights law, we found ourselves preparing extensive resources for students. We have subsequently developed those materials into a coherent text which covers key issues in human rights law in the UK including, for instance, hate speech, protest, privacy, abortion, assisted dying, terrorism and equality. Other projects involve a consideration of the rights of migrants, specifically those with serious medical conditions who are facing removal and a re-examination of the UK Supreme Court's landmark judgment in In the matter of an application by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission for Judicial Review (Northern Ireland) [2018] UKSC 27.
Research centres and interest groups
CV / Biography
LL.M (First) (Cantab); Grad Dip Legal Practice (Griffith University); LL.B (First) (Griffith University); BSc (Psychological Science) (Griffith University)
PhD in Law, Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge (2016-2019)
- Yorke Prize recipient (2021)
- Gonville and Caius Tapp Scholarship
- Cambridge Australia Scholarships Fulton Scholarship
LL.M (First), Trinity Hall College, University of Cambridge (2014 – 2015)
- Sir William Wade Prize for Civil Liberties and Human Rights
- Trinity Hall Bateman Scholarship
- Executive Member, Cambridge Pro Bono Project
- Editor, Cambridge Journal of International and Comparative Law
Queensland Bar Association Bar Practice Course (2014)
- Successfully completed March 2014
Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice (2012)
- Admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland
Bachelor of Laws (First Class Hons) / Bachelor of Psychological Science (Griffith University) (2004-2009)
- Law School Medal (awarded to the first-ranked graduate)
- University Medal (awarded for academic excellence
Publications
Books
- Human Rights Law in the UK: Themes and Principles (with Drs Kirsty Hughes and Stephanie Palmer) (CUP: forthcoming)
- Assisted suicide and the European Convention on Human Rights (Routledge: 2021)
Book chapters
- ‘Through the Looking-Glass: The Many and Multi-Faceted Human Rights Claims in the Assisted Dying Debate’ in Wicks and Papadopoulou (eds), Research Handbook on Human Rights Law and Health (Elgar, forthcoming)
- ‘Abortion and the “right to choose”: Roe v Wade and consumer rights’ in Ramsay and Gardner (eds), Landmark Cases in Consumer Law (Hart Publishing: 2023)
- ‘Real and immediate risk’, ‘Domestic violence’, ‘Life’, ‘Death Penalty’, ‘Preventive operational measures’, ‘Life, protected by law’ in Istrefi and Ratniece (eds), Companion to the European Convention on Human Rights (Brill) (forthcoming)
- ‘Assisted dying’ in Slokenberga, Garland and Singer (eds), Children’s Rights in Biomedicine in Europe: Protecting Children in Pursuit of the Highest Attainable Standard of Health (forthcoming)
- 'Registration of relationships in Australia', in Scherpe and Hayward (eds), The Future of Registered Partnerships (Intersentia, 2017)
Articles
- 'Mavericks or misconception? A reply to Campbell and Allan' (2021) 48 Journal of Law and Society 1, 106-119
- 'Public health emergencies and human rights: Problematic jurisprudence arising from the covid-19 pandemic’, (2020) 5 European Human Rights Law Review 488-498 (with Dr Stephanie Palmer)
- 'Declaratory misgivings: assisted suicide in a post-Nicklinson context' (2018) 2 Public Law 209
- 'Assisted suicide and the European Convention on Human Rights: A critical analysis of the case law' (2018) 21 Trinity College Law Review 244
- 'A human rights perspective of assisted suicide: accounting for disparate jurisprudence', (2018) 26 Medical Law Review 1
- ‘Sovereignty and the responsibility to protect: co-dependent or mutually exclusive?’ (2011) 20 Griffith Law Review 1
Case notes
- ‘Proportionality and protest-related offences’ (2023) 82 Cambridge Law Journal 2, 204-207
- ‘Mortier v Belgium: Assisted dying and the ECHR’ (February 2023) Medical Law International https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/09685332231172755
- ‘Tortious liability of government ministers for climate change: Aristotelian potential and the limits of negligence’ (2022) 81 Cambridge Law Journal 3
- ‘Mud sticks: Publication of information about pre-charge criminal investigations and the tort of misuse of private information’ (2022) 81 Cambridge Law Journal 2
- 'Deference, "fairness" and accountability in the national security context' (2021) 80 Cambridge Law Journal 2, 209-212
- 'Friends of the Earth: "Government Policy", relevant considerations and human rights' (2021) 33 Journal of Environmental Law 2, 449-454
- ‘False imprisonment vis-à-vis deprivation of liberty: Smashing the ossuary’ (2020) 79 Cambridge Law Journal 2
- ‘The meaning of “Public Assembly”: Policing Protest in the 21st Century’ (2020) 79 The Cambridge Law Journal 1
- 'Who Gets the Ventilator? Important Legal Rights in the Covid-19 Pandemic', Journal of Medical Ethics (2020) (with Drs Liddell, Skopek, Palmer and J Anderson and A Sagar)
Online (Westlaw entries, Blogposts etc)
- Insight, Medical Treatment of Children (Westlaw) (last updated: December 2021)
- 'Deciding who gets the ventilator: Will some lives be lost unlawfully?', BMJ Blog, 12 April 2020 (with Drs Liddell, Skopek, Palmer and J Anderson and A Sagar) (https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-ethics/2020/04/12/deciding-who-gets-the-ventilator-will-some-lives-be-lost-unlawfully)
- ‘Bullying, threatening and animus: what remains of the rule against apparent bias following the Supreme Court’s judgment in Serafin?’, U.K. Const. L. Blog, 22 July 2020 (https://ukconstitutionallaw.org/2020/07/22/stevie-martin-bullying-threatening-and-animus-what-remains-of-the-rule-against-apparent-bias-following-the-supreme-courts-judgment-in-serafin/)
- 'A Domestic Court’s Attempt to Derogate from the ECHR on behalf of the United Kingdom: the implications of Covid-19 on judicial decision-making in the United Kingdom', EJIL:Talk! (Blog of the European Journal of International Law), 9 April 2020 (https://www.ejiltalk.org/a-domestic-courts-attempt-to-derogate-from-the-echr-on-behalf-of-the-united-kingdom-the-implications-of-covid-19-on-judicial-decision-making-in-the-united-kingdom/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ejil-tal)
- 'Assisted Dying in Victoria – Part I: An Overview of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 (Vic)' (2018) ILA Reporter (http://ilareporter.org.au/2018/04/assisted-dying-in-victoria-part-i-an-o...)
- 'Assisted Dying in Victoria – Part II: Implications of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 (Vic) for Human Rights Protection Abroad' (2018) ILA Reporter (http://ilareporter.org.au/2018/04/assisted-dying-in-victoria-part-ii-imp...)
- 'The Charlie Gard case: behind the hyperbole', EJIL:Talk! (Blog of the European Journal of International Law), 21 July 17 (https://www.ejiltalk.org/the-charlie-gard-case-behind-the-hyperbole/)
- 'Assisted suicide and the right to private life: the enduring repercussions of Nicklinson', UK Human Rights Blog, 22 March 17 (https://ukhumanrightsblog.com/2017/03/22/assisted-suicide-and-the-right-...)
- ‘The role of legitimacy and proportionality in the (supposedly absolute) prohibition on inhuman and degrading treatment: the United Kingdom’s High Court decisions in DD v Secretary of State’, EJIL:Talk! (Blog of the European Journal of International Law), 22 December 2015 (http://www.ejiltalk.org/the-role-of-legitimacy-and-proportionality-in-the-supposedly-absolute-prohibition-on-inhuman-and-degrading-treatment-the-united-kingdoms-high-court-decisions-in-dd-v-secretary-of-state/)
Book reviews
- Book review: 'Medical decision-making on behalf of young children: A comparative perspective. By Imogen Goold, Cressida Auckland and Jonathan Herring (eds)' [Hart Publishing, 2020 pp 390, Hardback, ISBN 978-1-50992-856-9, Oxford, £80.00] (2021) 35 International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family 1
- Book review: 'Principled Reasoning in Human Rights Adjudication. By Se-Shauna Wheatle' [Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2017. xvi 234 pp. Hardback £64.99. ISBN 978-1-78225-981-7.] (2018) 77 Cambridge Law Journal (2) 435-438
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