Ashers Bakery case at UK Supreme Court – Sarah Crowther QC gets judgment

The long-awaited judgment in Ashers v Lee was today handed down by the UK Supreme Court, with OTC Silk Sarah Crowther.

More widely known as the ‘gay cake’ case, this is a landmark free speech victory for Ashers Bakery over whether Christian owners of a bakery can lawfully be required to ice a cake with a message promoting same-sex marriage.

The background: In 2015, Ashers Bakery was found to have discriminated against a customer on the grounds of sexual orientation and political opinion. The complicated case seemed to be nearing its conclusion, when the last-minute postponement of the hearing extended the appeal issues.

Then, the Attorney General intervened into the case claiming there was a potential conflict between Northern Ireland’s equality legislation and European human rights laws and, that the case raised constitutional issues arising from the devolution arrangements in Northern Ireland.

Further to this intervention, a special hearing took place in March 2016, and the appeal process started in May 2016.

A link to the full judgment may be found here.

Sarah Crowther QC has a practice with areas of focus in public law and discrimination cases.

Regularly acting for both claimants and defendants, Sarah balances a “commercial approach” with a “compassionate nature”.

To instruct Sarah, please contact healthclerks@outertemple.com.

News 10 Oct, 2018