Criminal defence barrister Nick Robinson judges Moot final at the Supreme Court

2nd March 2022

3PB’s specialist criminal defence barrister Nick Robinson has just acted as judge for the University of Warwick and Warwick Law Society ‘Internal Mooting Final’ held at the Supreme Court.

Finalists Ambrose Yu, Sacha Houghton, Connor Neo Xue Ern and Bernard Carr-de Avelon competed in Court Room 1 of the Supreme Court. Nick judged the submissions in a fictional appeal where the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) gave leave to appeal certifying two questions of law of general public importance as follows:

• Where a person dies of natural causes following the withdrawal of life-supporting treatment, is it correct that the person who withdrew the treatment is not a positive cause of the death for the purposes of the law of murder (as was suggested by the House of Lords in Airedale NHS Trust v Bland [1993]AC 789)?
• Can the defence of necessity be raised in a case of murder, and if so, could necessity be established in circumstances where one life is sacrificed in order to save another (a positive answer to this question is implied by the decision of the Court of Appeal in Re. A (Children) (Conjoined twins: surgical separation) [2001] 2 WLR 480)?

The eloquent and immensely talented law students made persuasive arguments, demonstrated excellent advocacy skills and referred well to carefully crafted skeleton arguments and well-prepared bundles.

This event was organised by The Mistress and Master of the Moots, Berlinda Tan and Dylan Wildman. Berlinda said after the Moot: “Thank you to our esteemed judge Nick Robinson for accepting our invitation amidst your busy schedule, it was such an entertaining round! Not only have you inspired us to pursue more advocacy in the future, but your infectious nature also brought a smile to all our faces”.

To contact Nick, please email him on [email protected] or you can contact his clerk, Chambers Director, Stuart Pringle on [email protected] or call him on 01962 868 884.