Who? Yogi Amin, 32-year-old associate in the public law unit at national firm Irwin Mitchell, who specialises in judicial review.

Why is he in the news? Represented Elaine Barber, who launched a High Court action requesting a judicial review of North Stoke Primary Care Trust's decision to refuse to pay for her treatment with the breast cancer drug Herceptin. After intervention from Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt, the trust reversed its decision, saying there were exceptional circumstances for Ms Barber to receive the treatment. The hospital initially refused to fund the £20,000-£40,000-a-year treatment, which some clinicians claim reduces the chances of the disease returning by nearly half, on the grounds there was insufficient evidence of the drug's effectiveness. The trust insisted its original decision was not based on the absolute cost of the product.


Background: Law degree at Liverpool John Moores University followed by the legal practice course at Chester's College of Law and a training contract at south London firm Amphlett Lissimore. After qualifying in 1999, he remained with the firm until 2001, when he joined Irwin Mitchell.



Route to the case: 'The client was part of a campaign group for women fighting to get treatment with Herceptin and she was referred to me by a member of the bar.'



Thoughts on the case: 'This was an extremely important case. It would have been the first case since the Human Rights Act 1998 came into force to have dealt with and set a precedent on the cost versus benefit of treatment argument. Its principles could have had a huge effect on a number of other treatment decisions involving drugs that have not yet been licensed by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. Other patients being refused treatment will challenge the decisions, and it will only be a matter of time before one of them ends up in court. We'll see the supervisory role of the court, overseeing refusal of treatment decisions to take into account the Human Rights Act. In relation to this drug, people had been campaigning for months on this issue, but once the law got involved, things got done. This has put my faith back into the notion of the law being a vehicle for social change, and will help me get up each morning.'


Dealing with the media: 'The media have been excellent, reported responsibly and shown great sympathy. They had a number of angles they could have adopted, but saw the legal and human issues. Their involvement was crucial in moving the government to act.'