Harriet Wistrich talks to Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Well-known feminist lawyer Harriet Wistrich talks about some of her high-profile cases and explains why she believes the law is not fit for purpose for half the population.

Wistrich has acted in many well-known cases including Sally Challen, who won an appeal against her conviction for the murder of her coercively controlling husband, and the victims of taxi driver and serial rapist John Worboys. She also acted for women caught up in the scandal of police officers forming intimate relationships while undercover. Wistrich argues that arcane laws and byzantine systems are skewed towards male behaviour and responses.

Wistrich is founder and director of the Centre for Women’s Justice, a founder member of Justice for Women, and has worked for many years for the civil liberties legal practice Birnberg Pierce. She was named Liberty Human Rights Lawyer of the Year 2014. Here she talks to journalist and commentator Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, whose books include In Defence of Political Correctness, Refusing the Veil and Exotic England: The Making of a Curious Nation.