Thursday 01 November 2012
Before I settled on law I wanted to be a conservationist. I had read Peter Matthiessen’s book The Snow Leopard, in which he diarised his journey through the Himalayas, and wanted to follow in his footsteps.
I’ve always been a worker and couldn’t wait to qualify. I can remember in my final year at university thinking I still had two years before I could put the law into practice.
My first case against the police was quite serious. It involved a guy who lived next door to the firm and had been targeted because of the colour of his skin.
When I was at Imran Khan & Partners I dealt with so many different cases in my first month.
Every day people would call with enquiries – taser cases, judicial
reviews, assaults, human rights cases, breaches of privacy, search
warrants. At the moment I’m representing a blind man tasered because it
was thought his stick was a samurai sword.
The respect that the police need to give communities has vanished. The police have to deal with that urgently or they won’t receive the respect they in turn need to do their job.
It’s changing, but a lot of lawyers are still scared of saying anything on Twitter.
But a tweet is personal, and people see it that way. So long as you’re
not breaking a client confidence, affecting a case or making, say, a
racist comment, I can’t see the problem. I have 1,012 followers.
My first appearance in court I found quite natural.
Provided you know the law and your client’s case, you’ll be fine. You
just have to remember that you’re in front of a judge or recorder who
was once in your position.
Solicitor-advocates are the future. When you look at
what’s happening to legal aid it’s clear that both barristers and
solicitors will not be able to survive on those rates. Solicitors are
involved from day one, solicitors know what their client really needs
and wants. That can be missed by barristers who are more narrowly
focused on the law.
I launched the Police Action Centre in August this year as a non-legal forum and information centre for people who faced an issue with the police.
I’m a campaigning lawyer using the legal side of issues to further the campaign through the courts.
The community and activist groups I’m part of, such as the Stop and
Search Legal Project and Stop Criminalising Hackney Youth, means I have
people’s confidence. A lot of my cases come from the campaigns I’m
involved with.
Sophie Khan is solicitor-advocate at McMillan Williams Solicitors
Saturday, 10 November 2012
Saturday, 3 November 2012
My Legal Life -The Law Gazette 1 November 2012
My interview in the Law Gazette -On the beat for Justice
http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/features/my-legal-life-sophie-khan
My Legal Life: Sophie Khan
http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/features/my-legal-life-sophie-khan
My Legal Life: Sophie Khan
Blind man Tasered by police threatens legal action -30 October 2012
Interviewed by Elaine Willcox, Granada Reports
http://www.itv.com/news/granada/update/2012-10-30/blind-man-tasered-by-police-threatens-legal-action/
http://www.itv.com/news/granada/update/2012-10-30/blind-man-tasered-by-police-threatens-legal-action/
The Lawyer - 23 October 2012 By Sam Chadderton
I'm in The Lawyer!
http://www.thelawyer.com/mcmillan-williams-represents-blind-stroke-victim-tasered-by-police/1015121.article
McMillan Williams represents blind stroke victim tasered by police
Solicitor
advocate Sophie Khan, head of claims against police at South East-based
McMillan Williams Solicitors, is representing Colin Farmer, who was
stunned by Lancashire Police after they mistook his white stick for a
samurai sword.
Khan, whose expertise includes taser-related injuries, moved from London-based GT Stewart Solicitors in August to head the department at McMillan Williams.
A civil claim for damages is expected to be lodged with
the courts next month. Farmer, who is partially sighted, registered
blind and has suffered two strokes in the past, is seeking compensation
from the force.
Officers mistook Farmer’s white walking stick for a weapon as they responded to reports of a man carrying a samurai sword in the street. The stun gun used on Farmer is capable of discharging 50,000 volts.
As a solicitor advocate Khan will hope to do most of the casework herself and if counsel are instructed it will be at a later date.
A statement from the firm said: “The Independent Police Complaints Commission has indicated that they are conducting an investigation and McMillan Williams will be writing to the IPCC to find out what steps it is taking regarding this serious incident.”
Sophie Khan, the solicitor leading the case, last night told Legal Cheek:
“The incident which involved my client is just one in a long line of disproportionate uses of the taser stun guns on vulnerable and disabled people. It raises serious questions about the quality of training that is provided to police officers and whether steps need to be taken to address the lack of training. In the absence of any action by the police service it is likely that such incidents will continue to happen.”
http://www.legalcheek.com/2012/10/morning-round-up-wednesday-24-october/
http://www.thelawyer.com/mcmillan-williams-represents-blind-stroke-victim-tasered-by-police/1015121.article
McMillan Williams represents blind stroke victim tasered by police
A lawyer specialising in actions against the police has been instructed for a blind stroke victim who was tasered by mistake.
Sophie Khan
Khan, whose expertise includes taser-related injuries, moved from London-based GT Stewart Solicitors in August to head the department at McMillan Williams.
Officers mistook Farmer’s white walking stick for a weapon as they responded to reports of a man carrying a samurai sword in the street. The stun gun used on Farmer is capable of discharging 50,000 volts.
As a solicitor advocate Khan will hope to do most of the casework herself and if counsel are instructed it will be at a later date.
A statement from the firm said: “The Independent Police Complaints Commission has indicated that they are conducting an investigation and McMillan Williams will be writing to the IPCC to find out what steps it is taking regarding this serious incident.”
Sophie Khan, the solicitor leading the case, last night told Legal Cheek:
“The incident which involved my client is just one in a long line of disproportionate uses of the taser stun guns on vulnerable and disabled people. It raises serious questions about the quality of training that is provided to police officers and whether steps need to be taken to address the lack of training. In the absence of any action by the police service it is likely that such incidents will continue to happen.”
http://www.legalcheek.com/2012/10/morning-round-up-wednesday-24-october/
Monday, 22 October 2012
BBC Radio Lancashire -live interview on tasered blind man
This is the link to my interview with Brett Davison and quoted in BBC Lancashire News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-20031625
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00zhk4y
Stories in various papers:-
http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/chorley/10007826.Specialist_lawyers_take_on_case_of_tasered_Chorley_man/
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tasered-blind-man-colin-farmer-1393173
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/22/blind-man-taser-claim-compensation
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/i-thought-i-was-going-to-die-blind-man-who-was-shot-with-a-50000volt-taser-stun-gun-by-police-launches-compensation-bid-8220767.html
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/blind-man-sues-after-being-shot-with-taser-by-police-who-mistook-white-stick-for-samurai-sword-8220759.html
http://www.theborneopost.com/2012/10/24/blind-man-to-sue-police-over-taser-incident/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-20031625
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00zhk4y
Stories in various papers:-
http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/chorley/10007826.Specialist_lawyers_take_on_case_of_tasered_Chorley_man/
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tasered-blind-man-colin-farmer-1393173
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/22/blind-man-taser-claim-compensation
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/i-thought-i-was-going-to-die-blind-man-who-was-shot-with-a-50000volt-taser-stun-gun-by-police-launches-compensation-bid-8220767.html
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/blind-man-sues-after-being-shot-with-taser-by-police-who-mistook-white-stick-for-samurai-sword-8220759.html
http://www.theborneopost.com/2012/10/24/blind-man-to-sue-police-over-taser-incident/
Sunday, 21 October 2012
Quoted in the Guardian 21 October 2012
The lovely Helen Carter's excellent article on tasers. Also the first quote on the Police Action Centre by a national newspaper.
Sophie Khan, a solicitor advocate at McMillan Williams, who set up the legal action group Police Action Centre to challenge the widespread use of stun guns, cites a case in which a mentally ill man on a roof was hit with a Taser by police and the muscle spasms led to him falling off the roof. She said she was also aware of a case in Birmingham of a disabled man who was Tasered after he was physically incapable of leaving his mobility vehicle as demanded by police.
"Their use is too wide and too loose," she said. "There needs to be more control and restraint; training needs to be looked at, otherwise we are in a situation where police are breaching article 3 of the Human Rights Act and the state is responsible for such breaches."
Before 2008, the use of Tasers was restricted to firearms officers, but their use has increased in recent years as more frontline officers have access to them.
Khan said ordinary people were being Tasered in circumstances where it was not warranted. She describes the Farmer case as "probably the worst example. It's a bit obvious that he had no weapon and is an elderly man and there's no threat to the public or the police."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/oct/21/campaigners-concerns-increased-taser-use-police?CMP=twt_gu
Sophie Khan, a solicitor advocate at McMillan Williams, who set up the legal action group Police Action Centre to challenge the widespread use of stun guns, cites a case in which a mentally ill man on a roof was hit with a Taser by police and the muscle spasms led to him falling off the roof. She said she was also aware of a case in Birmingham of a disabled man who was Tasered after he was physically incapable of leaving his mobility vehicle as demanded by police.
"Their use is too wide and too loose," she said. "There needs to be more control and restraint; training needs to be looked at, otherwise we are in a situation where police are breaching article 3 of the Human Rights Act and the state is responsible for such breaches."
Before 2008, the use of Tasers was restricted to firearms officers, but their use has increased in recent years as more frontline officers have access to them.
Khan said ordinary people were being Tasered in circumstances where it was not warranted. She describes the Farmer case as "probably the worst example. It's a bit obvious that he had no weapon and is an elderly man and there's no threat to the public or the police."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/oct/21/campaigners-concerns-increased-taser-use-police?CMP=twt_gu
Friday, 19 October 2012
Daily Mail -Front page story on Tasers 18 October 2012
Quoted in the front page story
Solicitor Sophie Khan, who has represented several people injured by stun guns, said: ‘This officer was obviously trigger-happy as he shot a blind man in the back.
This highlights once again that we have too many officers who are not properly trained to use these weapons and are harming innocent individuals with them. Something needs to change urgently.
Solicitor Sophie Khan, who has represented several people injured by stun guns, said: ‘This officer was obviously trigger-happy as he shot a blind man in the back.
This highlights once again that we have too many officers who are not properly trained to use these weapons and are harming innocent individuals with them. Something needs to change urgently.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
