Lawyer in the news

Who? Kate Maynard, 39-year-old solicitor at London firm Hickman & Rose.



Why is she in the news? Represented 15 former Leeds prison inmates who claimed mistreatment and discrimination on racial and religious grounds while in jail. The case, brought against the Ministry of Justice and alleging Human Rights Act breaches, ended in settlement on the fourth day of the trial at Leeds County Court last week.



The trial stemmed from the death of an Asian prisoner who was murdered by his white cellmate in 2004. At the inquest, the jury could not decide whether there was any race link to the attack, but before his death the victim had asked other prisoners to sign a petition alleging racial and religious discrimination and assaults.



The former prisoners claimed they had suffered assault at the hands of both prison staff and other inmates between 2003 and 2005. They also claimed they had been fed contaminated halal food and said there was a lack of access to interpreters for non-English-speaking inmates.



Background: Social policy and administration degree from York University, then worked at the Citizens Advice Bureau. CPE course with the College of Law, then part-time LPC. Qualified at Hickman & Rose in 2004.



Route to the case: ‘Following the death of the prisoner in 2004, his family wanted us to establish whether there was a race link, so we contacted people who had signed the petition. It was his high-profile case that drove so many of these clients to us.’



Thoughts on the case: ‘It’s always interesting when you have a group of claims where a number of people are saying the same things. It involved a lot of investigation work. The main thing for the claimants is bringing their claims into the spotlight. I understand that changes have been made at the prison – for example, halal cooking utensils are now colour-coded. Also, there are now carbon copies of complaint forms and people from outside the prison are brought in to monitor complaints.



A Ministry of Justice spokesman said the decision to settle had not been taken lightly and was based on ‘strong legal advice’.



Dealing with the media: ‘For this case, the BBC, Daily Telegraph, The Times and The Guardian have all been in touch. But in the past, I’ve been contacted in relation to the war crimes work I’ve done. You get to trust some journalists but not others, and you don’t waste your breath with them.’



Career highlight: ‘Under instruction from a client, I secured an arrest warrant for an alleged war criminal under the Geneva Convention. He was flying into England but unfortunately, news of the warrant was leaked to him and he flew straight back.’



James Dean