Sam Guy

YouTube video by UCL Laws Bureaucracy and Distrust: The Civil Service in the Constitution

1/9 the video of my UCL current legal problems lecture is now up: "Bureaucracy and Distrust: The Civil Service in the Constitution". It looks at the civil service’s constitutional foundations, and how it might respond to a populist govt. @sirjjkc.bsky.social  chairs.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx3P...

Call for papers for a workshop on Economic Aspects of the Constitution: www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_...

The October 25 issue of @publiclaw.bsky.social will land on Westlaw shortly. Analysis from Farrah Raza on NHS regulation and patient choice and @a-b-evans.bsky.social on recall proposals for the Senedd. Articles are from @echrhawk.bsky.social on the vulnerability of the UK's HR protections; ...

Events: Call for Papers – The Future of Constitutional Reform in the United Kingdom Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 May 2026, University of Manchester, United Kingdom The public law team at the University of Manchester Law Department, in collaboration with the UK Constitutional Law A…

Thrilled to share this call for papers for a conference on the Future of Constitutional Reform in the United Kingdom at @uomlaw.bsky.social with the support of @ukcla.bsky.social ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/10/03/e...

Great post

Jonathan Collinson: From Learning to Lawyering: When Can Political Accountability Have Legal Consequences? The responsibility for holding the government to account for its failings is the core constitutional role of a range of ‘watchdog’ bodies outside of Parliament, such as inspectorates, commissioners…

Jonathan Collinson: From Learning to Lawyering: When Can Political Accountability Have Legal Consequences?
ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/09/11/j...

Speeding up, slowing down, and managing time through managing atmospheres - new 🔓paper in @journallawsociety.bsky.social on immigration bail tribunal hearings.

Indebted in particular to Nick Gill's, Jess Hambly's and Melanie Griffiths' work on law and time.

eprints.gla.ac.uk/361308/1/361...

Putting the Brakes on Infrastructure? Judicial Review Challenges to HS2 and the Critique of ‘Litigant Power’ Abstract. A growing critique regards judicial review as inhibiting infrastructure delivery on the basis of what I term ‘litigant power’, which may come to

Indeed - unless the concern isn't with cases' outcomes but the admin/policy impacts of JR being regularly used (whether successful or not) e.g. delays, costs, pre-emptively JR-proofing policies etc. If you'll forgive a self-plug, I talk about this distinction here: academic.oup.com/ojls/advance...

With a random dig at HS2 as ‘posh spending’ thrown in for good measure

Potentially more substantial infrastructure JR reform proposals on the way, including raising the permission threshold and ensuring 'each decision faces only one review'. Last year's Banner Review noted there may be a case to raise permission but it risked making permission hearings more cumbersome

Hybrid bills: Parliament’s role in delivering major infrastructure | Institute for Government How to improve the hybrid bill legislative process.

New report from my colleagues @jackpannell.bsky.social & @paddy-mcalary.bsky.social on hybrid bills and parliament's role in delivering the government's major infrastructure projects

Excellent insight into these bills and the reform that's needed

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

Hybrid bills: Parliament’s role in delivering major infrastructure | Institute for Government How to improve the hybrid bill legislative process.

How can government legislate better to deliver major infrastructure projects? Fantastic new paper from @instituteforgovernment.org.uk on how to improve the little-known hybrid bill procedure! www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

Looking forward to chairing a session on crowdfunding and litigation funding for JR at this, later in the year, with an excellent panel of speakers

The UK still needs HS2, delivered in full. There's no viable alternative.

Me, from years back, making this point:

Career Development Fellow in Public Law at Durham University An opportunity for an academic position as a Career Development Fellow in Public Law is available, as advertised on jobs.ac.uk. Apply now and explore other academic job openings.

Durham Law is hiring a 3yr career development fellow in public law! Some lovely ppl here: @jessieblackbourn.bsky.social @lizaoloughlin.bsky.social @seshauna.bsky.social @rogermasterman.bsky.social @dkagiaros.bsky.social @nataliesedacca.bsky.social ... and @aileenmcharg.bsky.social
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Public Law journal | Sweet & Maxwell Since 1956, the Public Law journal has been the leading forum for information and debate in the constantly evolving area of law and government.

Attention potential Public Law authors! A new website in development, with many FAQs, links to recent issues, author guidance, style guide, etc: www.sweetandmaxwell.co.uk/en-gb/produc...

Antonia Layard: Darwall and the Public Life of Private Property When wealthy landowners, Alexander and Diana Darwall, sued a national park authority to stop people pitching their tents on the Dartmoor Commons, few expected the dispute to take a constitutional t…

Antonia Layard: Darwall and the Public Life of Private Property ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/06/04/a...

Many thanks, Colm - that’s very kind of you to say

3/3 executive power can itself chill delivery. Hopefully of interest to public lawyers but also those thinking all things infrastructure, planning, rail/transport policy
@garethdennis.bsky.social
@sfrost.bsky.social
@sophiemetcalfe.bsky.social
@samdumitriu.bsky.social
@roadscholar.bsky.social

2/3 changing from judicial power to ‘litigant power’, concerned with delay and chilling effects, which critics may make whether or not JRs succeed. This is occurring as planning becomes the new core area of political concern with JR. While compelling, I contest this and note ways that centralised

The first page of the article ‘Putting the Brakes on Infrastructure? Judicial Review Challenges to HS2 and the Critique of ‘Litigant Power’, published in the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies

1/3 What can we learn from HS2 about the role of judicial review in delivering infrastructure projects? I have a new *open access* article in the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies looking at the many JRs of HS2: doi.org/10.1093/ojls.... In it, I suggest the dominant political critique of JR may be

Judicial review in the Devolved Nations: a comparative analysis of the judicial review landscape in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland

Interested in Admin Law or Devolution?

My completed doctoral thesis, "Judicial Review in the Devolved Nations" is now openly available to download and read through the link below.

pure.ulster.ac.uk/en/studentTh...

The author holding a copy of the book

Are the EU free movement rules wildly out of step with the new realities of work? My new book, the MARKET CITIZENSHIP ILLUSION answers this by looking at the law in action – and it is available now to *everyone for free*! www.bloomsburycollections.com/monograph?do...
🧵on key arguments... (1/10)

The April 2025 issue of Public Law is now avail. on
Westlaw feat. a themed analysis section - Race and Public Law - compiled by @vidyakumar.bsky.social. Papers are by Vidya, on "Race and the UK Constitution"; Shreya Atrey "A Common Law principle of racial equality?"; Tom Frost ...

Screenshot of title and abstract of journal article. Title is 'The professional diversity deficit: the UK Supreme Court’s social security law blind spot'. Abstract is: 'It is no secret that the UK Supreme Court lacks demographic diversity. But there is very little commentary on a different diversity gap—that of professional experience. UK Supreme Court judges are typically drawn from lucrative areas of legal practice, creating a pronounced professional practice gap in the realm of social security law. None of the sitting Supreme Court judges have ever acted in a reported security case for social security claimants against the State. This creates a problem of perspective; would we really expect a panel of Goliath advocates to give David a fair hearing? This article highlights the hitherto under-explored evidence of a professional deficit on the Court, and argues that this cannot help but have an influence upon judicial perspectives. One such possible influence is the “alegalisation” of social security law—the treatment of it as not-law but as a matter of pure politics. Here, the article analyses how the line is drawn in key cases, in which it seems the Court feels responsible for defending some “pure law” human rights, while defending the courtroom from other human rights claims—those relating to social security. But poverty is a human rights issue, and human rights are (still) a matter of law. We need to bring social security expertise and claimant perspectives to the bench if we are to reassert the legal nature of social security rights.'

How many UK Supreme Court judges do you think ever acted as lawyers for a claimant in a social security case? ZERO. *Extremely nervous* to announce this rather bolshy ('somewhat contentious' and 'robust in tone') piece in the JSSL. I argue there is a 'professional diversity deficit' in UKSC, AND...

Lectureship in Law, with a special emphasis on UK Human Rights Law at The University of Manchester Discover Lectureship in Law, with a special emphasis on UK Human Rights Law jobs and more in higher education on jobs.ac.uk. Apply for further details on the top job board.

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMF882/l...

With the Planning and Infrastructure Bill being introduced to Parliament later today, here were my initial thoughts from a few weeks ago on some of the reforms to judicial review which it will contain:

CALL FOR PAPERS: 25 Years of the Human Rights Act (University of Leeds, 18 September 2025). Deadline for abstracts 1 April.