PracticeAll major Crown Court and appellate court crime, inquests, civil actions against the police, including some leading work and work as a senior junior in these fields. In crime, his principal area of practice, Terry acts in almost all areas of work, particularly public order and political activist cases, but right across the board from murder to drugs to fraud. He has some High Court experience in voluntary bill cases, and has extensive experience in representing clients with mental health problems. BackgroundTerry was called to the Bar a year after completing his law degree but did not at that time contemplate going into practice. In the 1970s he worked in various areas of legal publishing, specialising in the then developing fields of employment and discrimination law. He was an active trade unionist at the same time. Terry was involved with the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL now Liberty), eventually being elected to its national executive committee. He was also very active within the gay rights movement, both within NCCL and as legal adviser to, and national executive member of, the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE). He was instrumental in changing the law to legalise gay relationships in Scotland, and helped draft a Bill to outlaw discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation promoted by the late Jo Richardson, MP. Terry co-wrote an NCCL publication, Gay Workers, Trade Unions and the Law (NCCL 1981, 2nd ed, 1983). He has regularly broadcast, lectured and written articles on legal discrimination against gays and lesbians, and was one of the first to publish articles on the employment rights of people with HIV and AIDS. In 1977 after first-hand experience of legal discrimination he founded GLAD (Gay and Lesbian Legal Advice), which provides advice, referrals and support. As a result of his subsequent observations of the Bar in practice he decided it was time to join the fight in court and started pupillage in 1980 under (Lord) Tony Gifford QC in Wellington Street Chambers in Covent Garden. In 1981 he was junior to Tony Gifford in the European Court of Human Rights case, Dudgeon v UK, which forced the British government to legalise gay sex in Northern Ireland. In 1990 the chambers dissolved and he moved to Garden Court. Through his earliest experience in practice in pro bono work at Wellington Street, Terry developed an expertise in inquests and is a founder member of the campaigning organisation INQUEST, with which he is still closely involved. He has been a member of several delegations to Home Office ministers and has helped to draft a number of changes to inquest legislation. Notable CasesDudgeon v UK (see above - Northern Irish gay rights case); several IRA cases; R v Kelly (Body-parts artist - in which English law on property in a dead body was changed); many animal rights cases, including the notorious Green Anarchist/Animal Liberation Front trial in 1998. Ex parte Ridley (right to a second post-mortem); ex parte Dallaglio and Lockwood-Croft (removal of Coroner in The Marchioness case - then appeared in subsequent inquest); Inquest of Michael Menson, (black musician set on fire in racist attack - unlawful killing verdict led to successful prosecution for murder) and many other high-profile inquests. Ex parte Hardial Singh (successful Habeas Corpus application in deportation proceedings but no other immigration cases!).
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