Middle Templar 2020

Page 82

THE SCHOLARS’ DINNER

JOSHUA JACKSON

Troubled Journeys on the

Path to Justice Joshua Jackson is the 2019 Queen’s Scholar with an LLB from the University of Birmingham and an LLM in Public International Law from the University of Amsterdam. He is due to become a pupil barrister at Cloisters, where he hopes to practise in public, human rights, environmental and employment law.

Joshua’s speech at the Scholars’ Dinner on Monday 14 October 2019. Each of our journeys will no doubt have been unique and diverse. My journey started in Northern Ireland; that place which is technically part of the United Kingdom and which some of you may not have known much about until it ruined Theresa May’s Brexit plans. Others may know of my home from its fractured past, three decades of civil war known as the Troubles. I was born during this period; its legacy shaped my upbringing. I would like to reflect on a few aspects of that legacy. The corrosion of the rule of law; the corresponding lack of access to justice for those who needed it most; and the consequent impunity that comes with unaccounted power. This manifested itself in different ways: Internment – This was a policy in which thousands of often innocent people were indefinitely detained without charge or possibility of appeal. An affront to any conception of the rule of law. The licence of state and non-state actors to kill civilians without legal reproach – This was most tragically demonstrated on Bloody Sunday. The families of victims are still seeking access to justice in our courts today. Kneecapping – In a functioning justice system, a sanction such as imprisonment follows the crime. But in many Northern Irish communities

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under the control of paramilitary groups, a bullet through the knee was the consequence for stepping out of line. In such communities, the rule of law gave way to the rule of fear. This chapter of Northern Irish and indeed British history can teach us something; the need for there to be people prepared to hold power to account. The importance of such ideals has echoed through British courts for centuries. Just two years ago, Lord Reed said the following in the UNISON Case: ‘At the heart of the concept of the rule of law is the idea that society is governed by law… In order for the courts to perform that role, people must in principle have unimpeded access to them. Without such access, laws are liable to become a dead letter’. A few decades earlier, Lord Denning poignantly spoke of the function of law in holding power to account, when he said ’be you ever so high, the law is above you’. The legacy of the Troubles grounded my desire to be a barrister. I would invite everyone to reflect on what first inspired them to become a barrister and hold on to that as we progress through our careers. While I doubt many of you grew up in Belfast, I am confident that there are many people that have been driven to this point in their journey by a deep-seated commitment to use law in furtherance of justice.

2020 Middle Templar

We do not have to look further than the walls of Middle Temple to find examples of impassioned advocates who have committed their careers to these ideals: 1. In October last year, Jennifer Robinson, a recent member of Middle Temple, successfully defended the right of anti-fracking campaigners to protest. The importance of such a right has been accentuated in the age of climate breakdown. 2. In February this year, Master Phillippe Sands appeared before the International Court of Justice and succeeded in securing a ruling that the United Kingdom was in violation of international law by displacing indigenous peoples from the Chagos Islands. 3. In June this year, Martin Chamberlain, a former Middle Temple scholar, appeared before the Court of Appeal as it held that UK arms exports to Saudi Arabia for use in Yemen were unlawful, thereby halting our contribution to a humanitarian catastrophe of immense proportion. 4. Seven years ago, Master Jessica Simor helped establish a precedent before the Supreme Court that required the State to investigate killings by the police and army during the Troubles. That case has opened the door for many families from my home to achieve some measure of access to justice for the loved ones that they have lost. We have big footsteps to follow. Let us dedicate our journeys to upholding the rule of law, fighting for access to justice for the vulnerable, and speaking truth to power – regardless of our practice area.


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Temple Church Weddings

0
page 145

New Masters of the Bench 2019-20

9min
pages 127-129

Middle Temple Students' Association

4min
page 126

Middle Temple Young Barristers' Association

7min
pages 124-125

Hall Committee

4min
page 123

The COIC Pupillage Matched Funded Scheme

3min
page 122

What Have the Bar Council and the Inn Ever Done for Me?

2min
page 119

Behind the Lens

8min
pages 116-118

Temple Residents' Association

4min
page 121

Valedictory: The Rt Hon. Lord Carnwath

7min
pages 114-115

Temple Church During Lockdown

7min
pages 112-113

Lent Reader’s Feast: The Highways, Byways and Blind Alleys of International Law

11min
pages 108-110

Temple Church Choir Summer Review

2min
page 111

Becoming a Barrister

15min
pages 103-105

Autumn Reader's Feast: Current Challenges in the Criminal Justice System

8min
pages 106-107

Talk to Spot

3min
page 102

The Divorce Blame Game is Nearly Over

6min
pages 100-101

You have the Right to Remain Unidentified

7min
pages 98-99

Levelling the Playing Field

8min
pages 96-97

A Day in the Country in Lockdown

9min
pages 92-93

Confronting the Challenges Presented by the Covid-19 Pandemic

8min
pages 90-91

Impeachment of a U.S. President

8min
pages 94-95

How Middle Temple Helped Me

3min
page 88

Don’t Let Commercial Awareness be a Bar to Success

4min
page 87

Student Life at the Inn

3min
page 86

In the Shoes of an Out of London Student

4min
page 85

The Inns of Court

3min
page 84

The ICCA Bar Course

3min
page 83

Troubled Journeys on the Path to Justice

3min
page 82

Turning the Tide against Corruption in the Congo

4min
page 81

My Journey to the Bar and Becoming the First Kurdish Iraqi Barrister

3min
page 80

Qualifying Sessions

4min
page 79

The Role of an Inn of Court

3min
page 78

Five Perspectives on Sponsorship

8min
pages 76-77

Advocacy at the Inn

7min
pages 74-75

Outreach

3min
page 72

Sherrard Conversations

3min
page 73

Mock Pupillage Interviews

7min
pages 68-69

Volunteering at Call Day

2min
pages 70-71

Mooting Trip to Cherokee

9min
pages 65-67

Education Update

4min
page 64

100 Years Since Helena Normanton's First Qualifying Session

2min
page 58

MTYBA & MTSA International Women's Day

2min
page 59

Créme de la Créme Climbing Rose

2min
page 62

Celebrating a Century of Women in Law

5min
pages 56-57

Circuit Societies

15min
pages 53-55

MTYBA Dark Waters Event

3min
page 63

The Rule of Law Under Attack

7min
pages 60-61

Working in the Seychelles

4min
page 52

An Increased Use of Technology in Gibraltar's Legal System

2min
page 51

Access to Justice during the Coronavirus Pandemic: The Malaysian Experience

8min
pages 48-49

Cross Border Practice in Europe and Brexit

4min
page 46

Business as Usual at the European Court of Justice Pending Brexit

7min
pages 44-45

Reflections on a Declaration of Friendship

7min
pages 42-43

Mind the Gap: The General Adjourned Period and the Coronavirus Pandemic in Hong Kong

4min
page 47

Amity Visit to Canada

6min
pages 40-41

Book Review: Equal Justice by Frederick Wilmot-Smith

3min
page 39

Book Review: Court Number One: The Old Bailey Trials that Defined Modern Britain by Thomas Grant

4min
page 38

Book Review: Simon Brown's Memoirs by the The Rt Hon The Lord Brown

4min
page 35

The Ceremonial Plate of the Middle Temple

4min
page 32

Lord Carson of Duncairn: Barrister, Statesman and Judge

11min
pages 27-29

Unshaken & Unshakeable

7min
pages 30-31

A Personal Collection of 15th Century Documents

17min
pages 23-26

Justiciability – A Forgotten Saga

9min
pages 33-34

Readers of the Temple: From the 16th to the 19th Century

9min
pages 20-22

A Potted History of the Office of the Under Treasurer

5min
pages 18-19

Equality and Diversity at the Bar Council

4min
page 13

The Spanish Influenza Pandemic

3min
page 17

Racial Equality, Inclusion and Anti-Racism Working Group

2min
page 12

Black Lives Matter

4min
page 11

BAME and the Bar

4min
page 10

From the Treasurer

6min
pages 8-9

Speech at the Inauguration of the Middle Temple LGBTQ+ Forum

11min
pages 14-16

Under Treasurers’ Forewords

8min
pages 6-7
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