LAWYER_IN_THE_NEWS

Why is he in the news? Acts for the unnamed 13-year-old boy who killed his baby brother by cutting off his hand and stabbing...Why is he in the news? Acts for the unnamed 13-year-old boy who killed his baby brother by cutting off his hand and stabbing him 17 times.

In the light of the difficult circumstances of his upbringing and that he suffers from Asperger syndrome a mild form of autism his plea of manslaughter owing to diminished responsibility has been accepted.

Sentencing has been adjourned pending pyschiatric reports.

To ensure the boys anonymity, part of the court building was cordoned off, and the public and press excluded, while the lawyers dispensed with wigs and the judge sat in the well of the court to make it less intimidating.Background: Law at Bristol University from 1979-1983 and took his Law Society Finals at Chester College of Law in 1984.

He qualified with Veale Benson (as was) in Bristol and went to two other practices before joining Kirby Simcox.

From there he left to form Sansbury Campbell.Route to the case: Duty solicitor.Thoughts on the case: It was the first case where such a young person had faced a charge of murder since the ruling in the Bulger case; as such it was therefore seen as a test of whether our system could do justice to the offence as well as to the offender.

Although court procedure was, at our instigation, radically altered in order to avoid an intimidating atmosphere and to prevent the identification of our client, there is nevertheless a strong feeling that such cases are ill suited to an adversarial system, which is geared to dealing with adult defendants.Dealing with the media: I didnt feel my client would be helped if I talked to the press.

In the early days there was a lot of interest in the sensational aspects of the case I was invited to appear on Good Morning America by NBC and numerous others, all of which I declined.

By the time we had presented our mitigation, however, the coverage was much more balanced; it seemed that there was an acceptance that what had happened was tragic and our client needed help rather than simply condemnation.

I felt progress had been made.

Juliette Gerstein