ssm41@cam.ac.uk
Ph.D (Cantab) (forthcoming); LL.M (First) (Cantab); Grad Dip Legal Practice (Griffith University); LL.B (First) (Griffith University); BSc (Psychological Science) (Griffith University)
Fixed-term Lecturer in Law; Tutor in Constitutional and Tort Law and Fellow/Bye-Fellow at Fitzwilliam and King's Colleges
Interests
My primary interest is human rights law, in particular the European Convention on Human Rights and its intersection with medical law, especially as it pertains to end-of-life care.
My recent research has examined assisted suicide, medical treatment of children and the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment from patients in persistent vegetative states and minimally conscious states.
CV / Biography
- Westlaw Insight, Medical Treatment of Children, 25 July 2018
- 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 The Cambridge Law Journal (2) 435-438
- '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...)
- '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
- '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-...)
- 'Registration of relationships in Australia', in Scherpe and Hayward (eds), The Future of Registered Partnerships (Intersentia, 2017)
- ‘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/)
- ‘Sovereignty and the responsibility to protect: co-dependent or mutually exclusive?’ (2011) 20 Griffith Law Review 1
Education CV
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-forthcoming)
- 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)
- Griffith Award for Academic Excellence (2005 – 2009)
- Top Student Award for Research Extension (Honours Thesis) (2009)
- Top Student Award for Innocence Project II (2009)
- Top Student Award for Law of Politics (2009)
- Social Justice Award (2009)
- Top Student Award for Evidence Law (2008)
- Top Student Award for the Innocence Project I (2008)
Teaching experience
- Teaching Associate, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge (2015 – ongoing). Includes overseeing LL.M workshops in Civil Liberties and Human Rights and running the case law analysis seminars in the Legal Skills and Methodolgy undergraduate course
- Guest lecturer, Kings College London, Professor Penney Lewis's 'Medical Ethics and Law' seminar (7 November 2017)
- Tutor: Villiers Park ‘Inspiring Excellence Programme’ in Law (March 2016; March 2017)
- Sessional Lecturer: Griffith Law School (2013)
- Tutor: Department of Politics and Public Policy, Griffith University (2008-2009)
- Tutor: Griffith University, GUMURRII Student Support Unit (2007-2009)
Research experience
- Headnoter for ‘European Human Rights Reports’: 2016 – ongoing
- Provision of research assistance to Dr Kristy Hughes (University Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge): 2015 – ongoing
- Provision of research assistance to Dr Kathleen Liddell (University Senior Lecturer; Director Centre for Law, Medicine and Life Sciences): 2016
- Provision of research assistance to Dr Stephanie Palmer (Senior University Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge): 2015 – ongoing
- Provision of research assistance to Professor Dapo Akande (Professor of Public International Law, University of Oxford): 2015 – 2016
- Provision of research assistance to Ms Jo Miles (Fellow and Director of Studies (Trinity College); University Senior Lecturer in Law): 2016
- Provision of research assistance to Dr Veronika Fikfak (Lecturer and Fellow in Law, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge): 2015, 2017/18, including assistance with the preparation of a research memorandum for use in litigation before the United Kingdom Supreme Court concerning withdrawal of CANH of patients in a PVS
- Research Assistant to Head of Griffith Law School Griffith University: 2008-2009
Other experience
- Presenter, Trinity College Law Student Colloquium, 3 February 2018
- Presenter, Second International Conference on End of Life, Law, Ethics, Policy, and Practice, Halifax NS, 15 September 2017
- Declarations Human Rights Podcast, Centre for Governance & Human Rights (University of Cambrige), 'Is there a right to die?'
- Presenter, Cambridge Cancer Centre Early Detection Programme Annual Symposium, 16 January 2017
- Presenter, The Future of Registered Partnerships (a Durham-Cambridge Family Law Conference), 11 & 12 July 2015
Fields of research
- Civil liberties and human rights
- Medical law
- Constitutional law
- Family law
- Criminal law
Summary
Assisted suicide in England and Wales and the European Convention on Human Rights
The focus of my docroral research is the human rights implications of the blanket ban on assisted dying in England and Wales. My research revisits the existing jurisprudence (both domestic and Strasbourg) concerning the compatibility of the ban on assisted suicide with the European Convention on Human Rights ('ECHR'). The objective of my thesis is to examine the normative, doctrinal and empirical validity of the findings of the domestic and Strasbourg courts that s 2(1) of the Suicide Act 1961 does not violate the right to life (article 2), the right to freedom from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment (article 3), the right to private life (article 8) and the right to enjoy those rights free from discrimination (article 14) enshrined the ECHR.
Supervisors
- Dr Kirsty Hughes
- Dr Stephanie Palmer
Representative Publications
- Insight, Medical Treatment of Children, 25 July 2018 <https://login.westlaw.co.uk/maf/wluk/app/document?&srguid=i0ad6ada700000...
- 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 The Cambridge Law Journal (2) 435-438
- '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...)
- '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
- '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-...)
- 'Registration of relationships in Australia', in Scherpe and Hayward (eds), The Future of Registered Partnerships (Intersentia, 2017)
- ‘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/)
- ‘Sovereignty and the responsibility to protect: co-dependent or mutually exclusive?’ (2011) 20 Griffith Law Review 1
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