News - News - Landmark victory for Saimo’s client

Right-to-die campaigner Debbie Purdy, who is represented by civil liberties solicitor Saimo Chahal, won a landmark court case against the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to have the law on assisted suicide clarified. 

Miss Purdy, who has multiple sclerosis, had wanted to know if her husband would be prosecuted if he helped her end her life in Switzerland. Now five Law Lords have ruled that the law is unclear and the DPP must specify when a person might face prosecution, making new law on the right to respect for private and family life.

Saimo, who heads the Civil Liberties and Social Welfare Team in the Public Law & Human Rights department at Bindmans, has represented Miss Purdy throughout her legal battle and was the Law Society’s Solicitor of the Year for 2008.