Who? Annalisa Moscardini, solicitor, TBI Scanlans, Sunderland.
Why is she in the news? Represented Justin Plummer, whose murder conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal after he spent 28 years in prison.
Thoughts on the case: ‘This was one of the most complex and difficult cases I have had to deal with, partly because of the sheer wealth of information, but also the more unusual nature of some of the prosecution evidence and the time passed since his original conviction.
‘With appeals, you are often trawling through a lot of information, with limited funding, which means much of the work ends up pro bono. In this case, we were hamstrung as Bedfordshire Police had (worryingly) lost a lot of exhibits, and then the Legal Aid Agency would not fund further tests on the few exhibits left. We had to involve the Criminal Cases Review Commission, who were so helpful in this case, but are also woefully underfunded. It certainly taught me to question some of the forensics I think we, as solicitors, often take as true at face value, and I learnt from Justin a little about tenacity. I’m not sure I could have done what he did for 28 years.’
Dealing with the media: ‘It has been hard – I’m not used to this level of media interest. I’m also quite protective of my clients, because I’m aware that the media does not always take on a story in the way that we’d like. For that reason, I have been cautious about what to do and say. Many of the wider points I wanted to make on this case, about public funding for appeals and the difficulties faced by inmates in Justin’s position, were not taken up as I would have liked, and that’s a shame.’
Why become a lawyer? ‘I’d like to tell a better story, but I decided to be a lawyer when I was 12 years old and watching an episode of Ally McBeal. I decided to do publicly funded criminal legal aid work because I’m passionate about everyone’s right to a robust defence, regardless of wealth.’
Career high: ‘This has to be my career high – most people don’t get to say they’ve overturned the same murder conviction twice! [Plummer’s original conviction was quashed but he was retried and convicted.] It was a long and tiring road getting here, but seeing the look on Justin’s face and hearing how well he is doing has made it worth it.’
Career low: ‘Being told by a client in front of a full court he wasn’t having me as his solicitor because, “You look 12, have you even done A-levels?”. I was 31.’
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