Alex Chard Author

Mark Ashford is a solicitor with Taylor Nicol, a criminal defence practice in north London, where he specialises in representing young people. He regularly trains lawyers, social workers and mental health professionals on the youth justice system as well as speaking on subjects related to youth crime. Mark has been a member of the Barrow Cadbury Trust Commission on Young Adults in the Criminal Justice System (report published in 2005) and a Royal College of Psychiatrists' working party on child defendants (report published in 2006).Alex Chard is director of YCTCS ltd, a company which provides consultancy services on the management and delivery of services for young offenders and other socially excluded children and young people. He has a background in direct work with young offenders and currently works closely with managers and staff in youth offending teams as well as in other children's service settings. He recently completed a Masters dissertation into the impact of inspection on a youth offending team.Naomi Redhouse is a freelance solicitor advocate with Central Booking, specialising in trial advocacy and in the youth court. She is an experienced trainer in both of these fields, having trained extensively for a number of organisations. Naomi has been a freelance advocate for 17 years, having previously worked in criminal specialist firms. Since 2003 she has been involved in developing and delivering training in the work of the defence lawyers in the youth court in collaboration with the Youth Justice Board and the Law Society. Naomi used to be a youth worker.