Assize Seminar in Cutting Edge Criminal Law

The Assize Seminars provide a space for cutting-edge academic work to play a practical role in understanding and developing the law. They are a chance to challenge, debate and refine criminal justice, providing a bridge from academia to criminal legal practice. Just like the Assize of old, the seminars are peripatetic, in this case rotating over the next 18 months between three leading academic institutions: Oxford, Cambridge and University College London, and occasionally, making a special stop elsewhere in England & Wales. Each assize seminar runs with the support of the Criminal Bar Association.

The next Assize Seminar will be hosted on Zoom by the University Cambridge with the support of UCL Laws on Friday 20th November at 3pm – 5.00pm.

For those familiar with the format, you will know that our usual practice is to host three speakers across three-hour long sessions. We are keen to avoid zoom burnout, so we have made some changes to the delivery of the seminar this year. Speakers will record their presentations and a link to these presentations will be circulated to attendees one week in advance of the seminar. On the day of the seminar, each session will begin with a short presentation by the commentator on the paper, followed by Q&A.

We would kindly ask all participants to watch the videos of the speaker’s presentations before the session.

As the Assize Seminar is a participatory discussion forum, we will facilitate interactive discussion and engagement by hosting the Seminar in the form of a Zoom 'Meeting', rather than a 'Webinar'. Places will be limited and allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Please sign up to attend the Seminar by clicking the 'Register' button below. A Zoom invitation will be circulated to registered attendees nearer the time.

Running Order

15:00 – 15:05 Introduction

15:05 – 15:40 Discussion Session 1:

Dr Antje du Bois Pedain, Reader in Criminal Law and Philosophy, Faculty of Law and Director of the Centre for Penal Theory and Penal Ethics, Institute of Criminology, The University of Cambridge

‘The Breaches Regime for Non-custodial Sanctions: A Principled Critique of the Current Legislation and Related Sentencing Council Guidance’.

Commentator: Dr Jake Phillips, Reader in Criminology, Sheffield Hallam University

15:45 – 16:20 Discussion Session 2:

Ailsa McKeon, Barrister at 6KBW

‘Beyond the Pale? The Expanding Territorial Reach of Criminal Investigations’.

Commentator: TBC

16:25 – 17:00 Discussion Session 3:

Nathan Rasiah, Barrister at 23 ES and Supervisor in Criminal Procedure and Evidence and Criminal Law, The University of Cambridge

‘Causation in Homicide - Principle and Practice in Difficult Cases'.

Commentator: TBC