Lawyers at the Coalface Panel
Join Dr Joanna Gilmore, Lord John Kendy KC, Janet Allan and Jane Deighton for a panel discussion exploring the role of lawyers and legal solidarity groups during the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike in Britain.
The 1984-85 Miners’ Strike was one of the most fiercely contested industrial conflicts in British history. During the year-long strike, 11,312 striking miners and their supporters were arrested, including ninety-five pickets charged with riot and unlawful assembly after the violent police operation at the Orgreave coking works on 18 June 1984. The strike also led to extensive civil litigation against the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), resulting in massive fines, the sequestration of the union’s assets and the appointment of a receiver to manage its funds.
Over the past year, Dr Joanna Gilmore has conducted interviews with lawyers who worked ‘at the coalface’ as part of the NUM’s legal fightback during the strike. At this event, Dr Gilmore will be joined by three speakers—Lord John Hendy KC, Jane Deighton and Janet Allan—who will share their experiences as lawyers during the Miners’ Strike and discuss the ongoing efforts to achieve truth, justice, and accountability.
Limited places available, book now to secure tickets. Age guidance: aged 15+
Heading Image: Keith Pattison
Details on speakers:
Dr Joanna Gilmore:
Dr Joanna Gilmore is a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of York, specialising in public order law and policing policy. She has recently completed an oral history project on legal solidarity during the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike in partnership with National Life Stories at the British Library. She is currently writing a book titled Legal Solidarity and the Miners’ Strike: An Oral History, which will be published by Hart in 2025-26.
Lord John Hendy KC:
Lord Hendy KC was called to the Bar in 1972 and after establishing and running a law centre for three years and lecturing for a year, he started practice in 1977 and took silk in 1987. He is, without a doubt, best known for his work in industrial relations and employment law, having appeared in most of the UK’s leading collective labour law cases in the last 45 years.
Lord John Hendy KC spent most of his years in practice at the Bar representing workers and trade unions. During the Miners’ Strike of 1984-5, he appeared for the NUM and its Area unions in practically all of the civil litigation against the unions including the injunctions, sequestration and receivership. He was Standing Counsel to the NUM (and 7 other UK unions) for many years. He is now a member of the House of Lords, appointed by Jeremy Corbyn, and an honorary professor in the Faculty of Law of University College, London. He is chair of the Institute of Employment Rights, president of the International Centre for Trade Union Rights and a vice-president of the Campaign for Trade Union Freedom.
Jane Deighton:
Jane Deighton is one of the founding Partners of Deighton Pierce Glynn. She is now a Senior Consultant. She previously co-founded Deighton Guedalla in 1987, having qualified as a solicitor in 1985 at Seifert Sedley Williams.
Jane works with people who have been discriminated against or otherwise wronged by National institutions. Jane is a pioneer in actions against the police and deaths in custody. Among those she represents are bereaved families and, at the Undercover Policing Inquiry, core participants who have been spied upon. At the Hillsborough Inquests, Jane represented an ambulance officer who was sent almost single-handed onto the pitch. She also advises progressive politicians.
She worked for trade unions, national and international progressive movements including the NUM during the Miners’ Strike, SOGAT during the Wapping print press strikes, and the women protestors during the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp. She has a history of representing workers – particularly those who have been discriminated against by their employers.
Janet Allan:
Janet Allan joined the Newcastle upon Tyne office of Thompsons Solicitors in September 1983. She represented trade union clients throughout her career and was part of a team that represented striking miners arrested on the picket lines throughout the North East during the 1984 strike in police stations and magistrates courts. She represented two miners arrested at Orgreave and one at Mansfield.
