Nick Grief is an Associate Tenant at Doughty Street Chambers and a member of the International Law Group. A specialist in public international law and European law, he is a major contributor to the Government Legal Service's EU law training programme. He has also delivered EU law training for the Cabinet Office, the Environment Agency, the Financial Services Authority, GLS Scotland and the Welsh Assembly Government; and human rights training for the Sovereign Base Areas Administration (Cyprus) and the States of Guernsey Civil Service Board and Education Council. He has over 30 years experience as a legal academic, teaching at the University of Exeter (1979-1997), Bournemouth University (1998-2009) and now the University of Kent, where he completed his own undergraduate and doctoral studies. He is an Associate of the National School of Government, Sunningdale and from 1999 to 2008 was joint editor of the European Human Rights Reports.
In January 2007 Nick gave evidence to the House of Commons Defence Committee on the legal implications of the White Paper on the future of the UK's strategic nuclear deterrent. He was closely involved in the World Court Project (notably as the author of a legal memorandum entitled 'The World Court Project on Nuclear Weapons and International Law') which led to the ICJ's advisory opinion on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons in July 1996. In November 2003 he was a member of the panel of experts at the Peacerights inquiry into the military operations against Iraq, and in November 2004 he was counsel to the Peacerights inquiry into the legality of nuclear weapons. Nick has appeared in several cases concerning the legality of Trident or other international law issues, sometimes as an expert witness. He has successfully defended or co-defended protesters accused of public order offences at AWE Aldermaston.
Notable cases: - R v Zauner and Others, Reading Magistrates' Court, October / November 2009 (DJ Crabtree)
- R v McBride, West Berkshire Magistrates' Court, August 2008 (DJ Sanders)
- R v Jones & Milling, Bristol Crown Court, September 2006
- R v Jones and others; Ayliffe and others v DPP; Swain v DPP [2006] UKHL 16
- A and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department (No 2) [2005] UKHL 71
- R (Denson) v Child Support Agency [2002] EWHC 154 (Admin), [2002] 1 FCR 460
Recent publications: - The domestic reach of general principles of law: First City Trading revisited, The Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies 2007-2008, vol 10, 199-214
- The Iraq War: Issues of International Humanitarian Law and International Criminal Law, in Williams A and Shiner P (eds) The Iraq War and International Law. Oxford: Hart Publishing (2008), 95-116
- The War Crimes and International Criminal Law entries in Cane P and Conaghan J (eds) The New Oxford Companion to Law, Oxford: OUP (2008), 604-605 and 1233-1234
- EU law and security, (2007) 32 European Law Review, 752-765
- Using Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights as a defence to criminal proceedings arising from non-violent direct action against nuclear weapons: the relevance of international law, (2007) 11(3) The International Journal of Human Rights, 327-347
- Is Britain's continued possession and threatened use of nuclear weapons illegal? in Booth K and Barnaby F (eds) The future of Britain's nuclear weapons: experts reframe the debate, Oxford: Oxford Research Group (2006), Current Decisions Report, 41-48
- The exclusion of foreign torture evidence: a qualified victory for the rule of law [2006] European Human Rights Law Review, 200-216
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Year of Call
1996
(Gray's Inn)
Education
BA (Hons) Law with French (Class I), Maxwell Law Prize; PhD Public International Law: University of Kent
Email Address
n.grief@doughtystreet.co.uk
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