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Lynne Townley

BPTC Lecturer

The City Law SchoolProfessional law programmes

Contact details

Address

Lynne Townley T407, Law School Building
City, University of London
Northampton Square
London EC1V 0HB
United Kingdom

About

Overview

Called to the Bar as a Harmsworth Scholar in 1996 (Middle Temple) and by the Inn of Court of Northern Ireland (2018), Lynne joined the Professional Programmes team at City in December 2016. Prior to this Lynne was in public service, as an Ombudsman and holding a number of posts in the Crown Prosecution Service, including as a Crown Advocate, Advocacy Assessor, and Advocacy Manager for CPS London with responsibility for prosecution advocacy at Isleworth, Harrow, Wood Green, and Blackfriars Crown Courts. She was also a Senior Policy Advisor and CPS national policy-lead on homicide; honour-based violence/forced marriage, and FGM. In 2009 Lynne was involved in drafting the 6th edition of 'The Code for Crown Prosecutors'. Lynne has been a member of the Ministry of Justice’s Murder Review Advisory Group (reviewing the law on murder and partial defences to murder) (2008 – 9) and the Legal Advisor to NHS Health Education England on the drafting of e-learning materials for all NHS staff on FGM (2014 – 15). Lynne has been a Committee Member of the South Eastern Circuit Bar Mess (2013 – 15) and Chair of the Association of Women Barristers (2018 - 21). In that role she advocated for equal treatment of those from BAME, LGBT+, and other under-represented communities at the Bar. She also authored, with HHJ Kaly Kaul QC, a major report on bullying and harassment at the Bar (2019). Lynne is currently undertaking doctrinal research on Honour Crime and has recently been instructed as an expert witness on familial cultural practices in the criminal, family and coroners' courts. In May 2021, Lynne was awarded Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy and in October 2021, Lynne was appointed by the Lord Chancellor as a fee-paid judge of the Employment Tribunals and a fee-paid judge of the First Tier Tribunal (Health, Education and Social Care Chamber) in England and Wales.

Qualifications

  1. Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), Higher Education Academy, United Kingdom, May 2021
  2. Inn of Court of Northern Ireland, Barrister, Nov 2018
  3. Middle Temple, Barrister, Oct 1996
  4. LLB (Hons), University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
  5. LLM, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
  6. PhD Candidate (Honour crime and familial codes of honour), City, University London, United Kingdom

Postgraduate training

  1. Bar Vocational Course, Inns of Court School of Law, UK

Employment

  1. Fee-paid Judge of the Employment Tribunals and Fee-paid Judge of the First Tier Tribunal (Health, Education and Social Care Chamber), Ministry of Justice, Nov 2021 – present
  2. Lecturer Bar Professional Training Course, The City Law School, University of London, Dec 2016 – present
  3. Ombudsman, The Financial Ombudsman Service, Nov 2015 – Dec 2016
  4. Crown Advocate and Advocacy Manager, Crown Prosecution Service, Dec 2009 – Nov 2016
  5. Senior Legal Advisor to the Principal Policy Advisor to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Crown Prosecution Service, Jun – Nov 2009
  6. Senior Policy Advisor, Crown Prosecution Service, May 2008 – May 2009
  7. Borough Crown Prosecutor for the London Borough of Redbridge, Crown Prosecution Service, Oct 2006 – Apr 2008
  8. Senior Crown Prosecutor, Crown Prosecution Service, Apr 2003 – Sep 2006
  9. Law Reporter, Court of Appeal (Criminal Division), All England Law Reports, Lexis Nexis UK, Apr 1998 – Mar 2003
  10. Barrister, Charter Chambers, Oct 1996 – Mar 1998

Visiting appointments

  1. Visiting Professor, Stetson University, Florida, Sep – Dec 2008

Memberships of committees

  1. Chair, Chair of Association of Women Barristers, May 2018 – May 2020
  2. South Eastern Circuit Bar Mess Committee, May 2013 – May 2015

Award

  1. International Iman Hussain Council (Pakistan) (2017) Award for outstanding achievement campaigning against forced marriage

Publications

Featured publications

  1. Townley, L. and Kaul QC, H.H.J.K. In the Age of 'Us Too?': Moving Towards A Zero-Tolerance Attitute To Harassment and Bullying at the Bar - A Report on the Association of Women Barristers' Roundtable on harassment and Bullying With Recommendations. The Association of Women Barristers.

Publications by category

Books (2)

  • Townley, L. and Ede, R. (2004). Forensic Practice in Criminal Cases. Law Society Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85328-821-0.
  • Kaye, T. and Townley, L. (1996). Blackstone's Book of Moots. ISBN 978-1-85431-516-8.

Chapters (2)

  • Townley, L. (2014). ‘Banning the jilbab in school – a violation of a pupil’s right to manifest religion?' Cases That Changed Our Lives Butterworths. ISBN 978-1-4057-9145-8.
  • Townley, L. (2014). R v Purdy: How the Law Lords made way for a compassionate clarification of the law on assisted suicide. Cases That Changed Our Lives Butterworths. ISBN 978-1-4057-9145-8.

Internet publications (2)

  • Townley, L. and Alderson, N. (2020). Bar Sustainability: Zero Tolerance. LexisNexis.
  • Townley, L. and Bewley, P.S. (2017). Why the law against female genital mutilation should be scrapped’ The Conversation (1 November 2017) https://theconversation.com/why-the-law-against-female-genital-mutilation-should-be-scrapped-79851.

Journal articles (4)

Professional activities

Collaboration (industrial)

  1. of Legal Advisor, National Health Service, Health Education England on Learning for Health e-learning programme on female genital mutilation project (Aug 2014 – Feb 2015)
    Other partners: Health Education England

Editorial activity (2)

  1. Medical Law Review Special edition (publication in Autumn 2019), Guest Editor Medical Law Review Special Edition, Oct 2019 – present.
  2. https://www.city.ac.uk/news/2019/november/his-honour-judge-nicholas-hilliard-qc-is-guest-speaker-at-launch-of-city-law-schools-working-paper-series?dm_i=23GR,6LIX9,Q93FI4,Q98IP,1, City Law School Working Paper Series Editorial Board.

Media appearances (2)

  1. BBC One News. Interviewed for investigation on BBC One News on Forced Marriage During the Covid-19 Lockdown
  2. BBC Asian Network Radio. Interviewed on BBC Asian network radio about Forced Marriage during the Covid-19 Lockdown. Also broadcast through BBC services in India and Pakistan.

Online articles (4)

  1. BAME prospective barristers suffer pupillage bias, despite their grades: study. (2019). Eastern Eye Interviewed and quoted in article as Chairman of the Association of Women Barresters
  2. 'Courts are breastfeeding friendly'. (2019). thetimes.co.uk Lynne Townley, chairwoman of the Association of Women Barristers said ' The policy [HMCTS policy on breastfeeding] is laudable but like all policies its success will depend on consistent implementation throughout the court estate and the proper dissemination of the policy to all relevant staff'
  3. 'Spot, report, stop: AI tackles age-old problem'. (2019). Counsel Magazine Lynne Townley, Chair of the Association of Women Barristers said: 'The AWB welcome and wholeheartedly supports the Spot tool. Inappropriate behaviour causes considerable distress and Spot empowers those affected to take action. However, a report to Spot remains confidential and goes no further until the individual reporting decides otherwise. The AWB is committed to assisting the Bar Council during the coming months to raise awareness of Spot and to provide reassurance to would-be users that they retain sole control of any information recorded on Spot'
  4. Female Barristers call for action on discrimination and harassment. ORG Stock Denton Solicitors website https://www.ogrstockdenton.com/female-barristers-call-action-discrimination-harassment/

Other (11)

  1. Member of Board of London Council's Race on the Agenda Transformative Justice Forum Project (2008- 2011) A three-year project working to engage London's most marginalised and disadvantaged communities with the criminal justice system.
  2. Ministry of Justice Murder Review Advisory Group (2008 - 2009) Responsible for advising Ministers on proposals for reform of the law on murder and partial defences to murder.
  3. Home Office Forensic Strategy End User Group (2008 - 2010) member of group chaired by the Forensic Regulator informing government policies relating to users of forensic scientific service providers.
  4. Association of Chief Police Officers Working Group on Harassment and Stalking (2008 - 2009) group informing national policing policies on harassment and stalking.
  5. Association of Chief Police Officers Working Group on Criminal Transmission of HIV (2008 - 2009) informing national policing policies on criminal transmission of HIV and other sexual infectoins.
  6. Instructed by Metropolitan Police Service as expert witness on familial codes of honour (Westminster Coroners Court) April 2018.
  7. Instructed as expert witness on familial codes of honour by defence solicitors (Cambridge Crown Court) June 2018.
  8. Instructed as expert witness on familial codes of honour by defence solicitors (Peterborough Crown Court) November 2018.
  9. Instructed as expert witness on familial codes of honour (Birmingham Family Proceedings Court) June 2019.
  10. Member of Home Office/Foreign and Commonwealth Office Forced Marriage Round-table (2010 - 2014).
  11. Contributed to Ministry of Justice Legal Aid Review 2019 on issues of equality and diversity.