The Stefan Cross Centre for Women, Equality and Law’s annual lecture will be given by Harriet Wistrich on Thursday 27th February 2025 at 18:00 on Highfield Campus, and via Zoom. This year’s talk is entitled “Challenging Sex Discrimination Within the Criminal Justice System.”
Register now
The Stefan Cross Centre for Women, Equality and Law’s annual lecture will be given by Harriet Wistrich on Thursday 27th February 2025 at 18:00 on Highfield Campus, and via Zoom. This year’s talk is entitled “Challenging Sex Discrimination Within the Criminal Justice System.”
Harriet Wistrich has recently published her memoir “Sister in Law: Fighting for Justice in a System Designed by Men,” in which she shares her extensive experience of representing women let down by the justice system.
Using examples from her work she will illustrate how the law and its interpretation have been based on a male experience which often does not work for women, whether they are victims or suspects.
Harriet is the founder and director of the Centre for Women’s Justice, a multi-partner organisation aimed at bringing cases holding the state to account in relation to violence against women and girls. She is also a solicitor working with the renowned civil liberties firm Birnberg Peirce and Partners. Harriet won the Liberty Human Rights Lawyer of the Year award 2014, she was named Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year 2018, and Law Society legal personality of the year 2019. She founded the campaign group Justice for Women, and is trustee of the charity The Emma Humphreys Memorial Prize.
She acted for DSD and NBV in the Supreme Court case against the Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis, which has established a duty to investigate under Article 3 ECHR. She also acted for the same claimants in a successful judicial review challenge of the parole board decision to release John Worboys. Harriet acted for the claimants, young women formerly pimped into prostitution, in a challenge of the Disclosure and Barring Scheme requirement that they disclose criminal convictions for soliciting.
She has also acted for a number of women in appeals against convictions for the murder of their violent partners, most recently Sally Challen, relying on new evidence of coercive and controlling behaviour. She also represented women who were deceived into relationships with undercover police officers, obtaining an unprecedented apology for a group of eight women.
The Stefan Cross Centre was launched in 2018 with a generous donation from Southampton Law School alumnus, Mr Stefan Cross KC. The purpose of the Centre is to raise awareness of discrimination against women and girls, investigate the causes of this discrimination and seek effective solutions.
Those interested in attending may reserve a ticket through Eventbrite. There is a choice of attending in person, or via Zoom.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the centre by email using scclaw@soton.ac.uk .
Register now