Felicity Gerry

Gerry studied undergraduate law at the University of Kingston Upon Thames, earning a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degree.{{Cite web |title=Felicity Gerry QC: 25/25 vision |url=https://www.counselmagazine.co.uk/articles/felicity-gerry-qc-25-25-vision |access-date=2024-11-25 |website=Counsel Magazine |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Kingston Law School graduates Felicity Gerry, Charles Hale and Leslie Thomas appointed QCs |url=https://www.kingston.ac.uk/news/article/1253/03-mar-2014-kingston-law-school-graduates-felicity-gerry-charles-hale-and-leslie-thomas-appointed-qcs/ |access-date=2024-11-25 |website=www.kingston.ac.uk |language=en-GB}} She attained postgraduate qualification as a barrister at the Inns of Court School of Law, London (Middle Temple) in 1994. She later went onto complete her Masters of Law (LLM) and PhD at Charles Darwin University.

Gerry has appeared in the UK Supreme Court on joint enterprise law and the Australian High Court on rights to second appeal.{{Cite web |title=Felicity Gerry {{!}} Lowy Institute |url=https://www.lowyinstitute.org/people/contributor/bio/felicity-gerry |access-date=2024-11-12 |website=www.lowyinstitute.org}} She contributed to the International Bar Association's report on human trafficking, and is a senior anti-human trafficking consultant for Lawyers Without Borders.{{Cite web |title=IBA and BIICL launch new report exploring the global implementation of non-punishment principle for human trafficking victims |url=https://www.ibanet.org/IBA-and-BIICL-launch-new-report-exploring-the-global-implementation-of-non-punishment-principle-for-human-trafficking-victims |access-date=2024-11-18 |website=www.ibanet.org |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=DEVELOPING A POLICY OF NON - PROSECUTION FOR TRAFFICKED PERSONS WHO COMMIT CRIME: A VICTIM CENTRED APPROACH |url=https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/reports-and-pubs/files/national-action-plan-2020-24/nap-2020-24-submission-felicity-gerry.pdf |website=homeaffairs.gov.au}} She has conducted research and handled cases involving human trafficking and modern slavery.{{Cite news |last=Gerry |first=Felicity |date=2012-11-13 |title=Female genital mutilation: time for a prosecution |url=https://www.theguardian.com/law/2012/nov/13/female-genital-mutilation-prosection-uk |access-date=2024-11-12 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite web |title=Deakin University |url=https://experts.deakin.edu.au/44382-felicity-gerry-kc/grants |access-date=2024-11-18 |website=experts.deakin.edu.au}} In 2015, she assisted in reprieving human trafficking survivor Mary Jane Veloso from execution in Indonesia.{{Cite news |date=2016-04-28 |title=Legal case of Filipina spared from Bali Nine firing squad still in limbo |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-28/legal-case-of-filipina-spared-from-indonesia-execution-continues/7368780 |access-date=2024-11-18 |work=ABC News |language=en-AU}}

She co-wrote a legal memorandum on due diligence and compliance issues under international law (including modern slavery considerations) regarding the Singapore stock exchange listed Golden City scheme in Myanmar.{{Cite web |date=2021-10-19 |title=Joint Media Release: Singapore may be internationally liable and obliged to pay reparations for harm caused by SGX-listed company's payments to Myanmar army, leading international barrister says |url=https://acij.org.au/joint-media-release-singapore-may-be-liable-for-harm-caused-by-sgx-listed-companys-payments-to-myanmar-army/ |access-date=2024-11-18 |website=Australian Centre for International Justice |language=en-US}} This memo led to divestment from the scheme.{{Cite web |title=Funds For Myanmar Military Junta Cut {{!}} News {{!}} Libertas |url=https://www.libertaschambers.com/media-hub/dr-felicity-gerry-qcs-legal-memo-cuts-off-estimated-150-million-over-70-years-to-the-myanmar-military-junta/ |access-date=2024-11-18 |website=libertaschambers.com |language=en-GB}}

She is a professor of Legal Practice at Deakin University, where she teaches courses on contemporary international legal challenges, including sanctions law, war crimes, modern slavery, and digital law. Gerry has also been appointed Honorary Professor at the University of Salford.{{Cite web |last=Salford |first=The University of |title=Professor Felicity Gerry QC appointed Honorary Professor {{!}} University of Salford |url=https://www.salford.ac.uk/news/professor-felicity-gerry-qc-appointed-honorary-professor |access-date=2024-11-12 |website=www.salford.ac.uk |language=en}}

She is a commentator on international legal issues, particularly relating to international crimes, terrorism, and human rights abuses.{{Cite web |date=2015-02-06 |title=Why the Doctor Was Acquitted in the UK's First FGM Trial |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/felicity-gerry/fgm-trial_b_6619652.html |access-date=2024-11-12 |website=HuffPost UK |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Is the UK criminal justice system failing women? |url=https://www.counselmagazine.co.uk/articles/is-the-uk-criminal-justice-system-failing-women- |access-date=2024-11-12 |website=Counsel Magazine |language=en}} She has appeared in a number of documentaries and news stories, including BAFTA nominated, The Cruel Cut, the Foreign Correspondent produced, Mary Jane: The woman who escaped a firing squad, the Logie Award nominated, The Queen & Zak Grieve, and BBC Three's Sex on the Edge.{{Cite web |title=The Cruel Cut {{!}} Female Genital Mutilation {{!}} Channel 4 Documentaries |url=https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiC_gpE7y053Qlgb9fU0ykM-BggXpfkmj |access-date=2024-11-18 |website=YouTube |language=en}}{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOmzpIlQ1ho |title=Mary Jane, The Woman Who Escaped A Firing Squad {{!}} Foreign Correspondent |date=2016-09-13 |last=ABC News In-depth |access-date=2024-11-18 |via=YouTube}}{{Cite web |title=The Queen & Zak Grieve |url=https://www.in-films.com/the-queen-and-zak-grieve |access-date=2024-11-18 |website=In Films |language=en}}{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6RRvf1Jbxk&rco=1 |title=Rape Play {{!}} Sex On The Edge |date=2016-12-08 |last=BBC Three |access-date=2024-11-18 |via=YouTube}} She is also the Editor-in-Chief of ANZSIL Perspective.{{Cite web |last=Perspective |first=ANZSIL |title=Editorial board {{!}} ANZSIL Perspective |url=https://anzsilperspective.com/editorial-board/ |access-date=2024-11-18 |language=en-AU}}

• Gerry led the appeal before the UK Supreme Court in R v Jogee,{{Cite web |title=JUDGMENT - R v Jogee (Appellant) |url=https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/docs/uksc-2015-0015-judgment.pdf |website=supremecourt.uk}} in which the court held that the law on joint enterprise had been wrong for three decades.{{Cite news |date=2016-02-18 |title=Joint enterprise ruling: A moment of genuine legal history |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35603309 |access-date=2024-11-18 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}
• Co-counsel for Al Hassan at the International Criminal Court.{{Cite web |title=Dr Felicity Gerry QC appointed to Defence team at ICC |url=https://www.libertaschambers.com/media-hub/dr-felicity-gerry-qc-appointed-to-defence-team-at-international-criminal-court/ |access-date=2024-11-12 |website=www.libertaschambers.com |language=en-GB}}
• Lead counsel for the Bahtijari defence team at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers.{{cite web |title=Sabit Januzi, Ismet Bahtijari and Haxhi Shala |url=https://www.scp-ks.org/en/cases/sabit-januzi-ismet-bahtijari-haxhi-shala |website=Kosovo Specialist Chambers |access-date=18 November 2024}}
• Led the defence for an accused 'Federation Square bomb plot' at the Supreme Court of Victoria{{Cite news |agency=Australian Associated Press |date=2018-10-15 |title=Melbourne terrorism plot: defence argues accused an 'idiot' rather than a jihadi |url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/oct/15/melbourne-terrorism-plot-defence-argues-accused-an-idiot-rather-than-a-jihadi |access-date=2024-11-18 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} and for a 'terrorist acts' case associated with a fire at a mosque in a Melbourne suburb in 2016.{{Cite news |date=2019-05-09 |title='You dogs': Jury and police abused as arsonists found guilty of terror offences |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-09/mosque-fire-mohamed-chaarani-moukhaiber-terrorism-guilty/11085396 |access-date=2024-11-18 |work=ABC News |language=en-AU}}
• Led the team that obtained the first successful petition for mercy in the Northern Territory for young Indigenous man Zak Grieve.{{Cite web |title=Zak Grieve to be released early from NT prison after successful mercy plea |url=https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/zak-grieve-to-be-released-early-from-nt-prison-after-successful-mercy-plea/oeboyhjht |access-date=2024-11-18 |website=NITV |language=en}}
• Led the intervention for Justice on the law on 'subjecthood' in the Shamima Begum appeals.{{Cite web |last=Davis |first=Ben |date=2020-10-29 |title=Begum v Secretary of State for the Home Department |url=https://justice.org.uk/begum-v-secretary-of-state-for-the-home-department/ |access-date=2024-11-18 |website=JUSTICE |language=en-GB}}
• Led the submission for reparations for historic slavery in the Cook Islands for Cook Islands lawyer Michelle Tangimama.{{Citation |title=Submission to the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of nonrecurrence by Rasmussen & Tangimama Lawyers |url=https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Truth/CallLegacyColonialism/CSO/Rasmussen-and-Tangimama-Lawyers.pdf |place=Cook Islands}}

In 2014 Gerry was part of the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales team drafting a report to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Female Genital Mutilation ('FGM'), which contributed to legislative change on FGM law in the United Kingdom.{{Cite web |date=12 February 2014 |title=Written evidence submitted by the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales |url=https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/48518/html/ |access-date=18 November 2024 |website=UK Parliament - Committees}}{{Cite web |title=BHRC submits report to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) – Bar Human Rights Committee of England & Wales |url=https://barhumanrights.org.uk/bhrc-submits-report-to-the-parliamentary-inquiry-into-female-genital-mutilation-fgm/ |access-date=2024-11-18 |website=barhumanrights.org.uk}}{{Cite news |last=Bowcott |first=Owen |date=2014-06-04 |title=FGM law expanded to cover foreign nationals habitually resident in UK |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jun/04/female-genital-mutilation-law-foreign-nationals-fgm |access-date=2024-11-18 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} She is the co-author of the Sexual Offences Handbook: Law, Practice and Procedure, published by Wildy, Simmonds and Hill Publishing in the United Kingdom and has written two reports for LexisNexis on women in prison.{{Cite web |title=Wildy & Sons Ltd — The World's Legal Bookshop Search Results for isbn: '9780854901227' |url=https://www.wildy.com/isbn/9780854901227/sexual-offences-handbook-law-practice-and-procedure-2nd-ed-hardback-wildy-simmonds-and-hill-publishing |access-date=2024-11-18 |website=www.wildy.com}}{{Cite journal |last1=Gerry |first1=Felicity |last2=Harris |first2=Lyndon |date=2016 |title=Women in prison: is the justice system fit for purpose? |url=https://researchers.cdu.edu.au/en/publications/women-in-prison-is-the-justice-system-fit-for-purpose |journal=Women in Prison: Is the Justice System Fit for Purpose? |pages=1–57}}

She is also leading the campaign for posthumous exoneration of Christine Keeler, who was jailed for nine months in 1963 for a perjury, associated with the Profumo scandal.{{Cite web |last=Warburton |first=Dan |date=2023-11-19 |title=Christine Keeler's conviction branded 'a national disgrace' by lawyer |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/profumo-sex-scandal-icon-christine-31477770 |access-date=2024-11-18 |website=The Mirror |language=en}}

In addition to her work in R v Jogee, she has contributed research and advocacy to changing the law on joint enterprise in the United Kingdom, and was a co-drafter of the Joint Enterprise (Significant Contribution) Bill tabled in UK Parliament by Kim Johnson MP in 2023.{{Cite web |title=Why race is an issue in joint enterprise murder – and what are the solutions? – The Justice Gap |url=https://www.thejusticegap.com/why-race-is-an-issue-in-joint-enterprise-murder-and-what-are-the-solutions/ |access-date=2024-11-18 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2024-02-27 |title=The women fighting for loved ones jailed for murder in joint enterprise |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/joint-enterprise-murder-criminal-justice-b2463407.html |access-date=2024-11-18 |website=The Independent |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2024-10-08 |title=20: Joint Enterprise |url=https://www.innocence.fm/episodes/episode020 |access-date=2024-11-18 |website=The Innocence Podcast |language=en-GB}}

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Category:International lawyers

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Category:Deakin University alumni

Category:King's Counsel

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)