Laura is a Partner and Head of the Protest Team. She is a dedicated defence solicitor and Crown Court advocate who thrives on the legal and strategic challenge involved in preparing cases for trial. She fights on behalf of her clients to avoid prosecution wherever possible, whether by challenging the evidential basis of an investigation or prosecution or by challenging a decision that prosecution is in the public interest. She deals with protest cases from the initial contact at the police station, all the way up to the supreme court.

Laura begins by taking us back to basics, outlining key points to be followed carefully in police station cases that allow for individual circumstances. She identifies how protest cases can often differ to other police station cases, with clients already arriving with generic legal advice from various protest support organisations. She also notes how sometimes protestors may not get arrested for the offences they expect to be arrested for, highlighting the importance of legal advice in the station. She then outlines potential defences to advance in interviews, the implications of clients withholding information, and information regarding those detained under the Terrorism Act 2000.

Key words/topics:

Interview procedure

Disclosure

Footage

Health issues and vulnerabilities

Establishing client objectives

Risk of adverse interference

Drafted statements

Arrested for unexpected offences 

Trans-right clients

Children and young people

Advancing defences

Proportionality

Justification defences

Challenging lawfulness of police direction/condition

Disputing knowledge of police direction/condition

Factual disputes

Withholding details at station

Section 86A of the Courts Act 2003. 

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984

Terrorism Act 2000

Obstruct highway (section 137 Highways Act 1980)

Aggravated trespass (section 68 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994)

Breach of section 12 / 14 conditions (Public Order Act 1986)

Criminal damage (Criminal Damage Act 1971)

Public nuisance (section 78 Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022)

Locking-on / going equipped to lock-on (sections 1 and 2 Public Order Act 2023)

Interfering with key national infrastructure (section 7 Public Order Act 2023)