Andrew Sperling qualified as a Solicitor in 1996, having previously completed an MA in Criminal Justice at the University of Southampton. He qualified as a Police Station Duty Solicitor in 1996 and as a Magistrates Court Duty Solicitor in 1997. He acted as an advocate in the Magistrates Court and prepared serious cases in the Crown Court and Court of Appeal, including a successful miscarriage of justice appeal in 2000. He began to develop a prison law practice in 1999 which developed to such an extent that he began to concentrate exclusively on representing prisoners.
His specialist area of work is representing life sentenced and other indeterminate sentenced prisoners. He has been representing prisoners at hearings before the Parole Board since 2002. He has pursued numerous Judicial Review claims on behalf of clients in the Administrative Court.
He has been responsible for training and supervising trainees and other caseworkers at a number of different firms. He has provided part-time supervision to an Innocence Project which seeks to assist prisoners with potential miscarriage of justice cases.
He is a founder member of the Association of Prison Lawyers which was established in 2008. He has served as a member of the Executive Committee since the Association was founded. He has been the Training and Development Coordinator since 2009. He has regularly attended meetings with the Parole Board and Ministry of Justice on behalf of the APL and at which he has raised areas of concern to prisoners and prison lawyers.
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