Andrew Sperling

Andrew specialises in public law, Parole Board advocacy and human rights, with particular emphasis upon the rights of disabled detained persons.  He has extensive practical experience of the criminal justice and penal systems and significant experience of conducting difficult, high profile public law challenges, test cases and appeals.  With his team of Consultants, he heads up SL5 – more details of which can be found at https://www.sl5legal.co.uk/

He was a Finalist in the national Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards in 2013 and a founder member of the Association of Prison Lawyers (APL) which was established in 2008 by a small number of practitioners and has grown to a membership of almost 400 members. He was instrumental in developing the organisation in size and profile.  He was also Chairman of APL between 2011 and 2013.

During 2013 and 2014 he was closely involved in campaigning work relating to planned cuts to legal aid.  In April 2014 Andrew was commissioned to work on stakeholder engagement and governance projects for the Parole Board of England & Wales.  During his time with the Parole Board, he changed the structure of the existing Management Board and helped set up a new Members’ Representative Group.  Additionally he drafted a Constitution for the Parole Board, wrote a Code of Conduct for Parole Board Members and drafted new complaints policies. He also produced EasyRead guides to parole designed to help people with learning and communication disabilities.

He has provided training for APL, the Parole Board, the National Autistic Society, the Bar Council and members of a new Conditional Release Board in the Cayman Islands.

He is a member of the Management Committee of the Legal Aid Practitioners Group and the Editorial Board of the Journal of Intellectual Disabilities and Offending Behaviour.