News & Events
News & Events
John McKendrick has been instructed in a Court of Protection case where King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust made an application to provide life-saving treatment against a patient’s will. The patient’s daughter, John’s client, argued that her mother was able and entitled to make the decision to refuse the treatment, despite it being a difficult decision. The Hospital Trust attempted to show that the patient lacked capacity to decide on ending her own life. Following a ten hour hearing, the Judge dismissed the Trust’s application, as he was not persuaded by the hospital’s arguments, although he noted that it was right to make the application. Press coverage of the case can be viewed here. The court’s judgment can be viewed here.
News 20 Nov, 2015
John acted for the Secretary of State defending a challenge to the purported failure of the Secretary of State’s officials to provide the claimant with access to rehabilitative resources to permit his release from prison. Mr Justice Kerr dismissed all four grounds of challenge in the claim for judicial review (R ota Tait v SSJD [2015] EWHC 2952 (Admin)), applying the Supreme Court’s decision of R. (on the application of Kaiyam) v Secretary of State for Justice [2014] UKSC 66, [2015] A.C. 1344. The case can be found on Westlaw here (subscribers only).
News 4 Nov, 2015
John, instructed by Irwin Mitchell, Guile Nicholas, Steel and Shamash and O’Donells, represented 7 respondents in proceedings before the Vice President of the Court of Protection, Mr Justice Charles, in which local authorities sought relief by way of the authorisation of the respondents’ deprivation of liberty, occasioned by their restrictive care plans. These were the first such applications since the controversial decisions of the President in Re X [2014] EWCOP 25 and 37 and the Court of Appeal in Re X (Court of Protection Practice) [2015] EWCA Civ 599 in which the courts have grappled with the practice, procedure and resource implications of the Supreme Court decision in P (By His Litigation Friend the Official Solicitor) v Cheshire West and…
News 12 Oct, 2015
John, instructed by Christine Helden at Hempsons, acted for the NHS Trust seeking urgent declarations in respect of a 10 year old boy’s medical treatment. The boy, who cannot be named, needs urgent surgery to remove a cancer of the jaw. His parents oppose this and have returned to Poland. The case has attracted considerable media attention. The judgement of Mr Justice Mostyn can be found here. Press reports can be found on BBC, The Telegraph, The Guardian, MailOnline and Mirror.
News 11 Oct, 2015
The Spinal Injuries Association will hold its solicitors’ training conference on Thursday 22 October at Glazier’s Hall by London Bridge, SE1. Aimed at solicitors and barristers practising in personal injury work, the conference will include sessions on working with children and young people with SCI, and becoming spinal cord injured at an early age. The conference will be chaired by Christopher Wilson-Smith QC. Matthew Stockwell and Sarah Crowther will discuss selecting and managing expert witnesses, while John McKendrick and Katarina Sydow will make a presentation on education needs for children with a SCI. Delegate cost is £160 +vat for SIA Corporate Partners, and £220 + vat for non-Corporate Partners. Click here for the agenda and bookings.
News 27 Aug, 2015
John McKendrick has represented residents of a learning disabled community in North Yorkshire. For more than 60 years, the village of Botton has been home to people with learning disabilities who share accommodation with volunteer “house parents” and their families. The charity which manages the village, Camphill Village Trust, has proposed that “house parents” be treated as employees rather than volunteers, which the residents believe will gravely disrupt their lives. The three residents whom barrister John McKendrick has represented brought a challenge to the proposed plans, as a breach of their human rights. John told the court: “The claimants have enjoyed a private life both by way of developing relationships with others and also by respect for privacy in their…
News 16 Apr, 2015
John gave the keynote address at an anti bribery event at the Peruvian Congress in Lima on 23 March 2015. The event was organised by the Peruvian Congress and the High Level Anti Corruption Commission to reinforce Peru’s efforts to join the OECD. The event focused on designing new laws to deal with corporate liability in respect of bribery. John was invited to speak by Govrisk who played a major role in organising the event. John is also meeting with the British Embassy, the EU delegation and Baker McKenzie. John has many years experience of Latin America.
News 24 Mar, 2015
Permission to appeal to the Supreme Court has been granted in the case of Lee Hirons v Secretary of State for Justice [2014] EWCA Civ 553; [2015] 2 W.L.R. 256. John appeared at first instance in the Administrative Court and on appeal on behalf of the claimant. A panel of three Supreme Court Justices, chaired by Lady Hale, granted permission to appeal to the Supreme Court after consideration of the written grounds and argument, drafted by John. The appeal to the Supreme Court will consider the extent of the duty to give reasons when the Secretary of State recalls a restricted patient to a secure hospital, after being conditionally discharged by the First Tier Tribunal. John is instructed by Mosytn…
News 25 Feb, 2015
John, instructed by Laura Hobey-Hamsher of Bindmans, appeared for the father of a young man with cancer, in proceedings before the Court of Protection, in which a hospital trust sought declarations that it was lawful to cease the young man’s chemotherapy and other essential treatment. Mrs Justice Hogg began the hearing on Friday, around 16:00, and the hearing continued late into the night with judgment being given just before midnight. Evidence was given by a consultant neurosurgeon and oncologist and the young man’s mother. The hearing was heard in public throughout, with a reporting restriction order made. The court accepted the submissions that clinicians were required to continue to take steps to maintain the patency of the young man’s shunt…
News 16 Feb, 2015
John McKendrick, instructed by Hannah Taylor of Bevan Brittan, acted for two health authorities and the relevant local authority in complex proceedings, resolved by Mr Justice Cobb by granting the relief sought by the applicants, permitting the sterilisation of a learning disabled woman, referred to as DD. The proceedings began in May 2014 and have involved decisions by Mostyn J, Pauffley J and Cobb J and have been reported at Mental Health Trust & DD [2014] EWCOP 11; [2014] EWCOP 13; and [2014] EWCOP 44. Mr Justice Cobb’s decision in Mental Health Trust v DD & BC [2015] EWCOP 4 is the latest decision in these complex proceedings. He concluded the evidence powerfully demonstrated DD lacked capacity to make decisions…
News 4 Feb, 2015
John will give a presentation to 600 members of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners in Mexico City, on the 10th November 2014. John will discuss themes of transparency; the link between the rule of law and economic growth and how the UK Bribery Act 2010 can assist in strengthening the rule of law. In addition, John will meet with various stakeholders in Mexico as a guest of the British Embassy, including the national prosecution authorities. John is the author of the Latin American Chapter of Lissack and Horlick on Bribery and most recently has worked in Panama, El Salvador, Trinidad, Jamaica, Guyana in 2014. He will be working in Panama, Guatemala and Honduras in January 2015.
Events 10 Nov, 2014
John McKendrick, instructed by Hannah Taylor of Bevan Brittan, appeared for the applicant health bodies and local authority in complex proceedings before the Court of Protection to declare a patient lacks capacity to make decisions about the place and mode of delivery of her unborn baby and to declare that it is in her best interests to be the subject of a placental location scan, forced caesarean section and to receive contraception following the birth of her child. Mr Justice Cobb acceded to these declarations and authorised the applicants to use reasonable force and restraint to access the patient’s home. He also declared force could be used, in the exceptional circumstances of these proceedings, to grant the applicants authority to…
News 15 Jul, 2014
