In association with Prospect Magazine, the 'Matrix Pod: The Rule of Law' will addresses how law, courts and the rule of law are holding up in the UK and abroad.
Advocates of geoengineering claim that these technologies provide a potential solution to climate change, but many question their feasibility and harmful impacts and see them simply as a means to prolong the life of the fossil fuel industry. This two part episode looks at the evidence and the law in relation to geoengineering. In the first part of this episode, Kate Cook and Mary Church of CIEL discuss the specific potential environmental, economic and social impacts of the various technologies referred to as geoengineering and the approach taken by the IPCC.
Climate related displacement is already occurring and likely to increase significantly in the next few decades. In this episode of A Common Concern: the Climate Justice Podcast, Kate Cook is joined by Alex Randall, founder of the Climate and Migration Coalition and by Raza Husain KC and Sam Knights KC from Matrix to discuss current legal protections under international refugee, climate and human rights law and the risk that increasingly large numbers of displaced or vulnerable people will fall through gaps in protection. What can be done to close these gaps?
In episode 4of A Common Concern: The Climate Justice Podcast, Emma Foubister discusses the role of criminal law in the context of climate impacts on human health and life with Florence Iveson and Professor Cindy Cho.
In this episode of A Common Concern: The Climate Justice Podcast, Kate Cook discusses workers' rights and climate change with Kalina Arabadjieva of the European Trade Union Institute. From the principles and standards of the International Labour Organisation to the provisions of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, from the rules of the EU Green Deal to the three pillars of the Aarhus Convention, there are many points of intersection between international labour law and climate law. Kate and Kalina discuss the potential for mutual reinforcement in relation to the protection of workers both from the direct impacts of climate change, including heat stress, and in relation to securing a just transition for the workforce in the context of decarbonization. Is closer integration between workers' rights and climate law a key way to secure climate justice in the face of colossal challenges across the world?
In this episode, Florence Iveson discusses the Omnibus Proposal issued by the European Commission on 26 February 2025 with business and human rights experts Olivia Windham Stewart and Daniel Schonfelder. The episode provides first takes on 5 of the major changes to the CSDDD that have been proposed by the Commission and on the next stages to any amendment process.
In this week's episode Helen Mountfield KC discusses recent legal developments in the US and the UK with Professor Jonathan Marks and David Wolfe KC. Discussion ranges from US cases on the right to a clean and healthy environment, to the legal implications of a new Executive Order on Unleashing American Energy. Across the Atlantic, we hear about recent judicial reviews scrutinising delivery of carbon budget obligations under the 2008 Climate Change Act and the consequences of scope 3 emission reporting for oil and gas licences. In all of this, the role of litigation is itself coming under the spotlight.
In A Common Concern, the Climate Justice Podcast we will be looking at the ways in which the law can, or might, address the urgent threat posed by climate change. We will look at the protection of the rights of those most impacted, including displaced people, workers and those most vulnerable due to current levels of poverty. We will also consider legal developments in other jurisdictions around the world, starting with the United States. Throughout the series, we will try to answer one key question, what role can the law play in closing the gap between where we are and where we need to get to, to avoid global environmental destruction and catastrophic loss of life and wellbeing. In that regard, we will also look at the legal implications of the science informing our understanding of climate change, bearing in mind that while governments may come and go, the laws of physics will continue to govern our world. In this first episode, Kate Cook is joined by Dr. Erik Mackie and Dr. Luke Kemp. Together, we will discuss the science behind climate tipping points and cascade risks.
In this episode, Jamas Hodivala KC discusses with Giles Crown, Partner at Taylor Wessing, greenwashing in marketing claims and current consumer protection legislation applying to such claims. They examine the recent Advertising Standards Authority's decision in Virgin Atlantic Ltd. and discuss key takeaways for businesses looking to advertise their green credentials, before looking at impending changes in EU greenwashing laws.
In this episode, Jamas Hodivala KC discusses with Laura Middleton the results of PWC's first survey into where businesses see their ESG fraud and misconduct risks, and where this overlaps with its annual Economic Crime Survey. They also consider PWC's ESG Fraud taxonomy and whether the survey results evidence that companies are currently identifying the relevant risks.
In this podcast, Jamas Hodivala KC discusses with his guests Théa Bounfour and Jean-Philippe Fogle a money laundering complaint filed with prosecutors by the French NGO, Sherpa, alleging that banks are laundering the proceeds of environmental crimes committed by large Brazilian cattle companies.
As the Safety of Rwanda Bill returns to Parliament, Helen Mountfield, Murray Hunt and Richard Hermer discuss the myriad ways it breaches international law and undermines the rule of law.
How do we begin to understand the events in both Israel and Gaza from a legal perspective? In this short podcast Richard Hermer KC talks to Professor Andrew Clapham about the relevant international law framework
In Season 2 Episode 4 of the Matrix Pod: The Rule of Law, Richard Hermer KC, Zoe McCallum and Dr Tim Lillicrap (Research Director at Google DeepMind) discuss Artificial Intelligence and the future of law and humanity. This episode examines fast-moving developments in Artificial Intelligence technology, “the existential threat” that AI is said to generate and its implications for the rule of law. The discussion focuses on two areas - the impact of AI on the justice system and the need to regulate AI on a domestic and international level.
Richard Hermer KC, Jessica Jones and Martha Spurrier (Director at Liberty) discuss the new Public Order Act 2023. The episode analyses the legislation including its connection to the recent Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and what the new Act means for trust in policing - seen within the context of the current problems faced by the Met Police.
This episode examines the events unfolding in Israel over the past weeks in which tens of thousands of citizens have taken to the streets to protest against legislation designed to increase governmental control over the appointment of judges and to limit the powers of the judiciary.
Richard Hermer KC speaks with Raza Husain KC (Matrix Chambers) and Sile Reynolds (Freedom from Torture) about the pressing Migration Bill being pushed through UK Parliament. The bill is designed to deter refugees arriving into the UK on small boats. Richard, Raza and Sile discuss the role of the courts and whether the bill can be overruled by the ECHR or the Refugee Convention.
Richard Hermer KC and Helen Mountfield KC discuss colonialism and the rule of law with Professor Caroline Elkins. They explore how law can be used as a weapon and how it might be utilised to seek redress and accountability.
Richard Hermer QC, Helen Mountfield QC, Murray Hunt and Adam Wagner dissect the last three years of rule under Boris Johnson. How has it fared, what have been the points of concern and what should the new leader do to restore any damage done? Later this year, Adam's will publish his latest book “Emergency State” which will exam examining how, from a rule of law perspective, the country's response to Covid measures up.
Richard Hermer QC and Professor Andrew Clapham discuss the current crisis occurring on the Russia Ukraine border including the international legal obligations to offer assistance should a threat be recognised. For those interested in learning more about the legal framework governing war, we recommend Andrew's latest book “War”.
Richard Hermer QC and Helen Mountfield QC talk to Tatiana Glushkova, member of the Council of Memorial Human Rights Centre, and Jess Gavron, the Legal Director at European Human Rights Advocacy Centre regarding the recent events in Russia and the wider context of the rule of law. Many would agree that our global judiciaries should remain apolitical however in many authoritarian states there have been continued abuses of basic Human Rights. Richard and Helen also briefly comment on the UK Government's compliance with the rule of law and touch upon the rights to an abortion in the USA and Poland.
The Elections Bill - how worried should we be? by Matrix Chambers
This week, we speak to Lord David Neuberger about the rule of law and the role of courts and judges. Together with Helen Mountfield QC and Murray Hunt, Richard Hermer asks what are the essential ingredients that determine whether a judicial system is able, or willing, to protect the rule of law and fundamental rights? What role, if any, have judges to play when the rule of law is at risk and what are the principles that should govern the behaviour of judges in such circumstances? Lord Neuberger was the second President of the Supreme Court having previously served as Master of the Rolls and in both capacities delivered very many landmark judgments concerning the rule of law and the protection of fundamental rights. Since retirement from the English judiciary his varied activities have included chairing the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom and serving as a non-Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal.
Richard Hermer QC speaks to fellow Matrix barrister Raza Husain QC and Sile Reynolds the Lead Asylum Policy Advisor at Freedom from Torture about the Nationality and Borders Bill currently being steered through Parliament by the Home Secretary, Pritti Patel. The Bill, at least on its face, appears to be a radical redrawing of domestic law application of our commitments under the Refugee Convention and is described by Raza as "...the biggest legal assault on international refugee law ever seen in the UK” in a recent legal opinion commissioned by Freedom from Torture.
This week Samantha Knights QC talks to Rahela Sidiqi, Director of the Farkhunda Trust, and Michael Ryder CMG, CEO of the Royal Society of Asian Affairs, about the current situation in Afghanistan. Together they explore what should and can be done to provide practical assistance for Afghans whose lives are in mortal danger, and what the recent Taliban takeover means for the future of the country.
This week Samantha Knights QC is joined by Masha Karp and Owen Matthews to speak about curbs on free expression, protest, political opposition and together they look at what is happening right now in Russia. Masha is a London-based freelance journalist and writer, trustee of Rights in Russia and for many years she worked with the BBC Russian Service, Radio 4 and the BBC World Service. Owen Matthews is a writer, historian and journalist, and is the former Moscow and Istanbul bureau chief for Newsweek magazine.
Karon Monaghan QC and Professor Carrie Bettinger-Lopez, University of Miami School of Law join Samantha Knights QC to talk about violence against women in both the US and UK. Together they explore what has happened over the past year during the pandemic, gaps in policy and practice, reform and the new domestic abuse act in the UK, and the scope of the duty on police to protect victims of domestic violence.
This week's episode focuses on Gaza and the current conflict in the region from an international law perspective. Richard Hermer QC speaks to Professor Andrew Clapham, to provide an overview of the legal framework that governs not only the current hostilities but the overall legal context of the conflict between Israeli and Palestinian people.
This week the Matrix Law Pod returns to India to speak with Colin Gonsalves, a prominent human rights lawyer, focusing not only on the emergency on the ground but the impact on the rule of law. Together with Richard Hermer QC and Helen Mountfield QC, they explore what role the courts have had to play in ensuring that the state acts to protect the life and health of its population, the response of the Government in India and what it reveals about their agenda, and whether there are any discernable trends about how different countries have fared in the face of the virus.
Following the verdict in the George Floyd court case in the USA, Richard Hermer QC and Helen Mountfield QC speak with Prof. Craig Futterman, a Professor at the University of Chicago and the founder of the Civil Rights and Police Accountability Project of the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic, and Raju Bhatt, a leading civil rights lawyer in the UK and a founding member of the Police Action Lawyer Group. Listen as they draw parallels with the UK experience of race and policing and ask the question: is this a pivotal moment in policing in the USA and how the country deals with race?
The Matrix Law Pod is back for a third season. This week Samantha Knights QC and Raza Husain QC are joined by Maya Goodfellow, author of 'Hostile Environments: How Immigrants Became Scapegoats'. Together they cover the history and origins of Hostile Environment, the broad consensus between Conservative and Labour parties on being tough on immigration, the Windrush scandal and the limits of the Courts to temper the harsh effects of the laws and policy in this area.
This week Samantha Knights QC is joined by Christina Lamb OBE (Chief Foreign Correspondent of Sunday Times) and Caroline Buisman (International Criminal Defence and Human Rights Lawyer at Stapert Advocaten). Based on Christina Lamb's new book 'Our Bodies Their Battlefield: What War Does to Women', together they discuss how and why in modern warfare rape is used by combatants as a weapon of war, why this aspect of conflict has been largely untold, and assesses how it has been treated by international law and tribunals.
This week's podcast follows a panel discussion event organised by Hickman and Rose and Matrix Chambers. Since the virus arrived in the UK in February the Government has introduced a number of new criminal offences seeking to ensure compliance with its public health policies. Listen to our panel of the UK's leading legal and political minds as they discuss the true impact of the Government's legal response to the pandemic. Chaired by Matthew Taylor (Chief Executive, RSA), we hear from Lord Macdonald QC (Barrister, Matrix Chambers and former Director of Public Prosecution), Lord Neuberger (Former President of the Supreme Court), Lord Blunkett (Former Home Secretary)and Jenny Wiltshire (Head of Serious and General Crime at Hickman & Rose).
This week Richard Hermer QC, Murray Hunt and Helen Mountfield QC speak to Lisa Nandy, Labour MP for Wigan. Listen as they discuss topics including the results of the US election, the UK's international reputation and influence, when it is appropriate for the UK to intervene militarily overseas to prevent crimes against humanity and much more.
The US presidential election is fast approaching and the result could have wide-reaching consequences, not only for the citizens of the US but for all of us. Topics relating to the future of climate change action, the international legal order, the promotion of international human rights, press freedom and indeed the future of truth and decency in public discourse are all on the table. This week we speak to David Cole, the National Legal Director of the ACLU and the George Mitchell Professor of Law and Public Policy of Georgetown University in Washington. We avoid the temptation of focusing on the campaigns itself but on the implications of the election for the rule of law in the USA and in particular trying to make sense of the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett to fill her place.
Join Richard Hermer QC, Helen Mountfield QC and Murray Hunt for the first episode of season two this week, in which they discuss the rising ‘R' rate; rights restrictions imposed without Parliamentary oversight; the government seeking to pass legislation in violation of international law obligations; judicial review under review and the death of one of the great liberal jurists in America. This episode is a discussion of current issues and is a taste of what's to come over the coming weeks and months, with the help of expert guests.
This week we are joined by Bill Browder, the driving force behind the Magnitsky Act, the legislation being adopted in countries across the globe enforcing sanctions against foreign state officials involved in grave human rights abuses and systemic corruption. Bill is a financier by trade, and in the years spanning both sides of the turn of the millennium his business, the Hermitage Fund, was a major investor in Russia. The Fund's business model, of taking on large, former state-owned Russian entities, made it deeply unpopular with the State. In 2007 the Moscow offices of Hermitage were raided, and the business found itself the victim of a state orchestrated fraud. By this time Bill had been expelled from Russia and he appointed Sergei Magnitsky, a tax advisor at his lawyers, to investigate the fraud. Sergei provided testimony about his investigations that implicated senior Interior Ministry officials in a vast tax fraud. This work led to his arrest and over the course of pre-trial detention lasting almost 12 months he was kept in ever increasing conditions of squalor, was mistreated and received grossly inadequate medical care. In November 2009 he died in prison. Since the death of Sergei, Bill has been a tireless campaigner for ensuring that legal frameworks exist to ensure accountability for those involved not only in Sergei's death but other cases of state sanctioned human rights abuses. This led to the enactment of the ‘Magnitsky Act' in 2012 in the US which barred those with suspected involvement in Sergei's death from entry into the country. Similar legislation has followed in a raft of countries from Canada, to Estonia to Jersey, including most recently the UK.
Do Covid, Brexit And Black Lives Matter Present A Moment Of Constitutional Opportunity For The UK? In this week's podcast, Murray Hunt and Helen Mountfield QC are joined by Kate O'Regan, former Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, and Alan Miller, Co-Chair of the Scottish National Taskforce on Human Rights Leadership, to discuss whether the concurrent crises of Covid, Brexit and Black Lives Matter provide an opportunity for the UK to “Build Back Better”, by reframing constitutional conversations which have been stuck in a rut for years. Does the newly revealed national consensus on matters such as the importance of the right to health, acknowledging historic injustice, and addressing systemic inequality create opportunities for constitutional transformation, and, if so, what should be the priorities of the Government's proposed Commission on Constitutional Reform?
This week's podcast explores some of the wider themes exemplified by the Black Lives Matter protest through the lens of transitional justice. Transitional justice is a phrase used to describe how societies once torn apart by conflicts of many sorts, can deal with past legacies and move forward, whether through truth commissions, national apologies, compensation, monuments or a range of other mechanisms of accountability and redress. In this podcast we explore what lessons, if any, can be drawn from the experiences of transition in other societies that have been riddled with injustices be it apartheid in South Africa, or under repressive dictatorships across the globe. We also explore, in the context of protest, the points at which it ever becomes acceptable to break the law. Richard Hermer QC, Murray Hunt and Helen Mountfield QC are joined by one of the most prominent thinkers on transitional justice, Paul Van Zyl. Paul is the former Executive Secretary of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission where he served between 1995 and 1998 before moving to the US where in 2001 he co-founded the International Centre for Transitional Justice, a not for profit organisation working in over 40 countries that have experienced human rights abuses under repressive regimes in order to help secure accountability for crimes and also put in place structures for peaceful co-existence. Paul has crossed the Atlantic again in recent years, to found the Conduit Club in London.
The brutal killing of George Floyd has led to a chain reaction in many countries not simply of protest but an increasing acknowledgement of the need to address the persistent and pervasive impact of systemic racism. This week we speak to David Lammy MP, one of the most prominent and thoughtful public figures on questions not just of the manifestations systemic racism on both sides of the Atlantic but someone who come the next election may be in a position to effect change as head of the justice system. Reading Recommendations - Windrush lessons learned review by Wendy Williams - Lammy review - Tribes: How Our Need to Belong Can Make or Break Society by David Lammy MP - White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
This week we return to Hong Kong to examine the human rights implications as China moves to implement new national security law. We speak to Patricia Ho about the recent developments and ask, what does this mean for the rule of law in Hong Kong?
The importance of the powers of the devolved administrations of the United Kingdom became clearer following the Prime Minister's announcement that we were to begin relaxing the lockdown restrictions and each of the administrations adopted a slightly different approach. This week we speak to Prof Aileen McHarg, Dr Evelyn Collins CBE and Prof Daniel Wincott about the differing responses to the virus across the UK and about the potential effects that these responses might have on a further devolution of power in the future.
In this week's podcast, we speak to Professor David Cole, Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, about human rights and the rule of law in the USA. We examine the USA's response to the Covid crisis and what it tells us, not simply about the strength of the rule of law there but what the consequences of the US experience might be for the rest of us and the international legal order.
This week the Matrix Law Pod addresses the human rights implications of how Governments are increasingly turning to technology, not least data tracking, to help ease us out of lockdown. In countries such as South Korea and Taiwan, the authorities have been using location data from peoples phones to identify all those who have been in the close vicinity of a person diagnosed with Covid in order that they can be isolated before they infect others. Contact tracing has long been a feature of public health – for example, doctors would sit down with those diagnosed with TB or HIV and discuss who they might have had been in relevant contact with – and then try and track those persons down – a slow and inefficient task that even when it identified contacts might do so long after they had in turn infected many others. Technology offers the promise of doing those tasks in fractions of seconds with far greater efficacy. This is a subject of great interest to the UK authorities and to the data companies who advise them, or would like to advise them. In this episode we explore not just the benefits that this tech might bring but what the dangers and downsides might be. To what degree can law, or should law, provide a means for balancing the benefits that tech can bring with its dangers – and how can that be achieved? Richard Hermer QC, Murray Hunt and Helen Mountfield QC are joined by Cori Crider, a US qualified lawyer and the co-founder of Foxglove which is an NGO created to address the threat of the misuse of mass data collection.
This week we speak to Afua Hirsch and Martha Spurrier about the impact on existing inequalities within our society, most particularly race, gender and poverty, in times of crisis. It is becomingly increasingly clear that whilst the coronavirus itself does not discriminate, its effect does and is cruelly amplifying existing inequalities. Afua is a barrister and well known author, journalist and broadcaster, for amongst others the Guardian, LBC and Sky News. Her new book Brit(ish): Race, Identity and Belonging is a Sunday Times bestseller. Martha Spurrier is a barrister who has enjoyed a successful career both at the Bar and in house at Mind and then Public Law Project, and is currently the Director of the prominent civil liberties organisation, Liberty.
The Sound Of Silence: The Vacuum In International Leadership And Its Impact On The World's Poorest This week we are continuing to look at the international response to the coronavirus crisis but turning from examining the impact on wealthy, albeit troubled nations, to those toward the bottom end of the economic scale or at least in which a significant proportion of populations live in extreme poverty. Richard Hermer QC, Phillippa Kaufmann QC and Murray Hunt talk to the Open Society's Foundations Africa Director, Muthoni Wanyeki about the impact not only in her home country Kenya, but across the African continent more generally, and to Colin Gonsalves, one of India's most prominent human rights lawyers, on the challenges thrown up or amplified by the state's response to the virus.
This week's podcast focuses on how other countries are reacting and in particular how regimes governed by populist governments are coping. Richard Hermer QC, Phillippa Kaufmann QC and Murray Hunt are joined by human rights activists from around the world to discuss the situation in Hungary, Israel and the OPT, and Hong Kong.
Launching with ‘Public Emergencies and the Rule of Law', Phillippa Kaufmann QC, Murray Hunt and Richard Hermer QC will discuss the UK's approach to the Covid Crisis including whether all the government's measures are lawful and whether human rights are being sufficiently protected.
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