Part 1 - From Mangrove to Black Lives Matter Protests

Part 1 will explore the question: what has changed from Mangrove to Black Lives Matter? And how can we protect our right to protest. Black communities in the UK have been protesting police brutality long before the events of last summer. The recent BBC film, Small Axe: Mangrove, brought to focus the trial of nine people charged with riot and incitement to riot, & other charges, following a demonstration against police harassment of the Mangrove restaurant in Notting Hill, London in 1970. 

Today, we continue to witness overwhelming police presence at Black Lives Matter protests and police aggression against Black and brown protesters. Last year has brought additional challenges/threats to protests through Covid-19 regulations, and the use of facial recognition technology, Criminal Behaviour Orders and licence conditions to control protesters, all of which disproportionately affect Black communities.
 

Recording

Speakers

Fatima Jichi, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers (Chair)
Fatima has a broad civil and criminal defence practice, with a focus on state accountability and youth justice. Fatima is also building a practice in protest law and has represented individuals charged with a range of criminal offences. She is a founding member of Black Protest Legal Support (BPLS) who support protesters and activists in the Black Lives Matter movement. Fatima is part of the group’s strategic litigation team.

Professor Leslie Thomas QC, Garden Court Chambers
Leslie Thomas QC joined Garden Court Chambers in 1990 and is the former joint head of Garden Court Chambers.  Leslie is a leading expert in claims against the police and other public authorities, and claims against corporate bodies, with expertise across the full spectrum of civil wrongs, civil litigation, human rights, data and privacy claims. Professor Leslie Thomas QC has spent his entire career representing clients from diverse backgrounds, acting for vulnerable, marginalised and disadvantaged people, who seek justice and accountability from the state and others. 

He has appeared in many landmark cases such as: representing bereaved families at the Grenfell Public Inquiry; high-profile death in custody cases representing the families of the deceased such as Kevin Clarke, Christopher Alder and Sean Rigg; the inquest into the death of Mark Duggan, who was shot dead by police sparking national riots; the inquiry into the death of Azelle Rodney, who was unlawfully killed by the police; the Hillsborough inquests for 11 families; and the inquest that followed the Birmingham Pub Bombing.

Professor Leslie Thomas QC won the Outstanding Contribution to Diversity and Inclusion Award at Chambers UK Bar Awards 2020.  Leslie has advanced the careers of a generation of lawyers and students through mentoring and training over many years. Leslie has emerged as one of the strongest legal voices in the country on Black Lives Matter protests, contextualising it around its racialized policing dimensions and lack of diversity in the legal profession. In June 2020, Leslie became the first Black Professor of Law at Gresham College. His inaugural lecture series is taking place in the current academic year, examining Death, the State and Human Rights. In October 2020, Prof Leslie Thomas QC became a Visiting Professor in Law at Goldsmiths.

Michael Etienne, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers
Michael has a broad public law and human rights practice encompassing actions against the state in various forms but with a focus on cases involving detaining authorities, particularly police forces and prisons. He is frequently instructed on cases that give rise to issues of systemic discrimination, whether in the detention context or in his education law work. He takes an active interest in issues of diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. As such, he is a member of the Steering Committees for the Black Barristers Network, the Black Men in Law Network and the recently launched “Bridging the Bar”. He won the 'Future Leader: Diversity and Inclusion' Award in the Chambers Awards 2020 and was shortlisted in the 'Young Pro Bono Barrister of the Year' category in the Advocate Pro Bono Awards 2020.

Dave Neita - Renowned TEDx Speaker, Lawyer and Poet
Dave Neita is a celebrated lawyer, with expertise in human rights and is widely regarded as an engaging and informative social justice practitioner. He is also a published spoken word poet who has performed and led poetry workshops for a range of groups. He is dedicated to the mission of advancing empowerment through poetry, politics and public service. Called to the Bar of England & Wales in 2000, Dave was a member of the legal team, which brought the largest group action claim in the UK on behalf of thousands of South African asbestos miners.

Ife Thompson - Founder of Black Protest Legal Support
Ife is a community- based activist, writer, Human Rights Defender and Barrister and the founder of two civil society organisations; BLAM UK and Black Protest Legal Support UK. Ife is also a United Nations Fellow for the International Decade for People of Africa Descent 2015-2024. Ife works on projects that centre and improve the outcomes of people of African descent in the UK. She is also passionate about supporting young people and giving them the holistic tools to navigate within society.
 

Event Series (Further details to be announced)

Part 1 - From Mangrove to Black Lives Matter Protests
5pm-6:30pm, Tuesday 26 January 2021

Part 2 - From Newbury to Extinction Rebellion
5pm-6:30pm, Tuesday 9 February 2021

Part 3 - From Stansted 15 to Jamaica 50
5pm-6:30pm, Tuesday 23 February 2021

Part 4 - From Then to NOW
5pm-6:30pm, Tuesday 16 March 2021