Criminal Appeals Resources

Newsletters

• The Appeal Brief – Issue 1
• The Appellate Brief – Issue 1 (Caribbean)
• The Appeal Brief – Issue 2
• The Appeal Brief – Issue 3
• The Appeal Brief – Issue 4

Articles

• 5KBW’S Response to the Law Commission’s “5KBW Criminal Appeals Consultation Response”
• Horizon, the Post Office and free pardons: Paul Taylor KC asks whether the issuing of a free pardon under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy a potential remedy to the Horizon / post office scandal. [First published on Passle in December 2023]
• Renewed Applications for Leave to Appeal and Loss of Time Orders: Paul Taylor KC analyses the decision in Tamiz and Tamiz [2024] EWCA Crim 200, the CACD’s guidance on advising on renewing an application for leave, the risk of loss of time orders and whether the time has come to abolish them.
• Potential grounds of appeal (1): Criticism of Trial Lawyers. In this article Paul Taylor KC analyses the approach of the CACD generally to complaints against trial lawyers, lists some practical tips for preparing this ground, and seeks to identify some of the factors that may determine the outcome.
• Potential Grounds of Appeal (2). In this article Paul Taylor KC looks at grounds based on fresh evidence, lists some practical tips for preparing this ground, and identifies some of the factors that may determine the outcome.
• Andrew Malkinson, the CCRC, the Henley Report and public funding: “The test of a country’s justice is not the blunders which are sometimes made, but the zeal with which they are put right.” (Cyril Connolly). Paul Taylor KC considers the Henley Report into the CCRC’s handling of Andrew Malkinson’s applications, and the need for a properly funded criminal justice system.
• Attorney-General’s references — are they always fatal? Paul Taylor KC analyses the approach of the CACD to AG references and the factors that may affect the decision to intervene. [This article originally appeared in LCCSA The London Advocate, Autumn 2024.]
• Potential grounds of appeal (3): Jury irregularities. This article looks at grounds based on jury irregularities.

Seminars

The Inaugural 5KBW Criminal Appeal Unit seminar

On 22nd May 2024 we were delighted to host the first in a series of seminars on criminal appellate issues introduced by Mark Heywood KC.

The Criminal Appeal Office and Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) [CACD]: A practical approach to CACD procedure: Master Alix Beldam KC, Registrar of Criminal Appeals discussed the work of the Criminal Appeal Office and the CACD, the procedural framework for launching and pursuing an appeal and the practical issues that often arise.

Fresh evidence as a ground of appeal (now and in the future): Paul Taylor KC, General Editor of Taylor on Criminal Appeals and Head of the 5KBW Criminal Appeals Unit analysed the CACD’s current approach to grounds of appeal based on fresh evidence, and considered potential changes in this area that may follow the recommendations of the Law Commission’s Criminal Appeal Project (expected in 2025.).

The video presentations are available here, and the Powerpoint slides are available here.

Podcasts

Time for Change…The Law Commission Criminal Appeals Project

The Law Commission has been tasked with making recommendations for changes to the criminal appeal system.
Paul Taylor KC discusses the project with Professor Penney Lewis (Law Commissioner for the Criminal Appeals Project), Matt Foot (co-director of APPEAL), and Dr. Hannah Quirk (Reader in Criminal Law at Kings College London, and editor of the Criminal Law Review.)

Topics discussed include the safety test, the CCRC, substantial injustice, and compensation for miscarriages of justice.

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paul-taylor-kc/episodes/Time-for-change–The-Law-Commissions-Criminal-Appeals-Project-e2oaq5q/a-abh9ohp

Statutory Interpretation and Criminal Appeals: Daniel Greenberg CB

On 6th June 2024 5KBW were privileged to have an in-house training session from Daniel Greenberg CB, looking at the principles of statutory interpretation. Listen here. Daniel Greenberg CB took up appointment as Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards on 1 January 2023. He is a lawyer specialising in legislation and the legislative process. He served in the Lord Chancellor’s Department (1988-1991), as Parliamentary Counsel (1991-2010), as a consultant at Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP (2010-2016) and as Counsel for Domestic Legislation in the House of Commons (2016-2022). He was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the New Year Honours List 2021, for services to Parliament. He also serves as the General Editor of Westlaw UK Annotated Statutes and Topics Encyclopaedia. From 2010 to 2022 he provided drafting and training services on legislation in the UK and around the world. He is the Editor of Craies on Legislation, Stroud’s Judicial Dictionary and Jowitt’s Dictionary of English Law. His book Laying Down the Law was published by Thomson Reuters in 2011. He holds a number of academic appointments and interests.