Timothy Dutton QC and Marianne Butler acted for the Solicitors Regulation Authority in the landmark cases brought in the High Court by two men suffering from locked-in syndrome who wanted to be assisted to die: R (on the application of AM) v DPP, Solicitors Regulation Authority and others.  It was claimed that the DPP’s policy statement under Section 2 of the Suicide Act 1961 and the SRA’s Code of Conduct 2011 lacked certainty and accessibility to comply with  European Convention requirements, and in particular Article 8.  Describing the cases as “tragic” the Court held that “it would be clear to a person who, in the course of his profession, agreed to provide assistance to another with the intention of encouraging or assisting that person to commit suicide, that such conduct would carry with it a real risk of prosecution”, and dismissed the claims.