Gemma is Legal Director of the Howard League for Penal Reform. An experienced lawyer and tenacious campaigner, Gemma has a strong belief in the power of legal activism. After almost a decade working for a ‘Magic Circle’ law firm, she moved on to develop a career in the areas of social justice and equality. She spent a number of years campaigning for free period products in schools and more recently spoke truth to power as the Legal Director of Good Law Project, where she developed and managed the organisation’s litigation portfolio. Highlights of her years at GLP included uncovering the Government’s unlawful VIP lane for PPE procurement and campaigning for free laptops and broadband for young people otherwise unable to access online education during lockdown.

An experienced litigator with significant expertise in leadership, strategy and management, Clare Algar is Managing Director at the John Le Carré Literary Estate. Prior to that, Clare was the Chief Executive at the Sigrid Rausing Trust and held the positions of Senior Director (Research, Advocacy and Policy) and Global Operations Director at the International Secrateriat of Amnesty International. Before working at Amnesty, Clare ran the human rights organisation Reprieve for eight years, overseeing huge impact and growth. Clare started her career as a corporate litigator and was made partner at her firm before moving into the not for profit world. Clare has an MA in law from Cambridge and a further legal MA from St. Mary’s College, London.

Tamsin Allen is a Partner at Bindmans and head of the Media and Information Law team. She manages a wide-ranging media practice with an emphasis on defamation and privacy, whistleblowing, information and data protection, copyright and human rights. She works closely with crime, employment, family, public law and actions against the police to provide a seamless reputation and crisis management service. Tamsin was awarded Solicitor of the Year – Private Practice by the Law Society for her pioneering work successfully defending high-profile whistle-blowers - most notably in the Cambridge Analytica and ‘Vote Leave’ cases.

Yogi Amin has a specialist practice in public law and human rights. Yogi heads the national public law and human rights department at Irwin Mitchell and has over 20 years experience in this field. He regularly acts for clients in judicial review, civil claims and represents parties in the Court of Protection. He is appointed an Accredited Legal Representative by the court for persons whose mental capacity, welfare or deprivation of liberty arranged are being reviewed by the court. Yogi has expertise in serious medical treatment cases, education law cases and has acted in high profile cases including in cases before the Supreme Court. D

Clémentine Baldon is a lawyer at the Paris bar and founder of Baldon Avocats. Her practice focuses on environment, EU, investment and trade law. She notably represents environment and consumer protection associations in climate-related and greenwashing litigation before French and European courts. She is a lecturer in sustainability law at ESSEC business school. She is member of the scientific councils of Veblen Institute for Economic Reforms and Fondation pour la Nature et l’Homme as well as ESSEC’s supervisory board. She previously worked as an antitrust lawyer in international law firms (Freshfields, Weil Gotshal & Manges and Dentons).

Lance Baynham joined 1 Crown Office Row as a tenant in October 2023 after completing pupillage and is building his experience in all of chambers’ practice areas. During pupillage, he was supervised by Matthew Barnes, Alasdair Henderson, Amy Mannion and Shahram Sharghy and gained experience in public law, inquests, inquiries, clinical negligence, environmental law, employment law and tax. Prior to commencing pupillage, Lance was the discrimination and employment caseworker at South West London Law Centres, during which time he was nominated in the Legal Aid Newcomer category at the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards 2021. At the same time, he was also a visiting lecturer in public law at City Law School. During his legal studies, Lance volunteered for the School Exclusion Project and Free Representation Unit. He won the Lincoln’s Inn Debating Shield and was a finalist in the Inter-Provider and Lincoln’s Inn Mooting Competitions.

Jamie Beagant is a partner and current head of the Human Rights Department at Leigh Day solicitors. Jamie specialises in public law and judicial review and has over 20 years’ experience in bringing claims against a wide range of public bodies. Jamie is named as a leading individual in Administrative and Public Law in the main Legal Directories (Legal 500 and Chambers). Career highlights include representing a Guantanamo detainee in proceedings which uncovered the UK Government’s involvement in his torture and rendition, ultimately leading to his release. Jamie also represented another victim of the war on terror and affirming, in the Supreme Court, the application of the ancient writ of habeas corpus to his detention in Afghanistan. Jamie works with a range of individuals, groups and charities and has developed particular expertise in environmental cases and challenges relating to immigration detention.

Raju Bhatt is one of the founders of Bhatt Murphy. He specialises in providing help to members of the public who seek accountability from the state and its officers, with a focus upon the treatment of individuals by the criminal justice system. He has a particular history of work with families who have lost their loved ones through death in custody, especially as a result of the use of force, and he has been responsible for many significant developments in this and other areas of his legal practice over more than 35 years. His experience and authority in his fields of work has been long recognised. In 2010, he was appointed to the Hillsborough Independent Panel which reported to the Home Secretary in September 2012. In 2015, he was appointed to the Reference Group on the Independent Review of Deaths and Serious Incidents in Police Custody by Dame Elish Angiolini who reported to the Home Secretary in 2017. In 2020, he was appointed by the Scottish Government as one of two Assessors to assist Lord Bracadale in the public inquiry into the 2015 police restraint related death of Sheku Bayoh in Kirkcaldy. He is one of the founding members of the Police Action Lawyers Group (PALG) and Inquest Lawyers Group (ILG).

Charles is a barrister at Landmark Chambers practising in all areas of public, planning and environmental law. He regularly acts in high-profile strategic litigation. His recent cases have included a challenge to the government’s policy on water pollution in rivers to a challenge to the government’s use of emergency planning powers to set up asylum accommodation at former military sites. He is ranked as one of the top planning barristers under the age of 35 by Planning Magazine. Prior to becoming a barrister, he was the Legal and Parliamentary Officer at the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association. He is a trustee of Rainbow Migration.

Emily is Director and founder of the London based law practice and charity APPEAL. Her casework focuses on challenges to unsafe convictions and on achieving access to evidence. Emily is a practicing solicitor and formerly an attorney-at-law in the State of Louisiana. After graduation from law school, Emily launched Innocence Project New Orleans (IPNO), a non-profit law office providing legal representation to the wrongfully convicted in the Deep Southern United States. Returning to the UK, Emily helped develop the UK legal action charity Reprieve before launching APPEAL in 2014.

Paul is a barrister at Brick Court Chambers and former city solicitor specialising in public law and human rights law with over 30 years’ experience (1993 call, silk in 2012). He is also a Deputy High Court judge and a member of the ‘A’ Panel of Counsel to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). Paul has acted in many ground-breaking cases in the apex courts which have changed the law and established or clarified important rights, appearing on 25 occasions in the Supreme Court/ House of Lords/ Privy Council and on many occasions in the European Court of Human Rights. Paul regularly appears in other jurisdictions including the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Jersey, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad & Tobago. His sector expertise includes children’s rights, community care, crime, criminal appeals, data protection, discrimination, education, freedom of information, healthcare, immigration, inquests, legal aid, mental capacity, mental health, open justice, prisons and national security. He also has considerable experience in financial and regulatory public law matters. His awards include the ‘Outstanding Achievement’ award at the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards held by the Legal Aid Practitioners’ Group (2019) and ‘Advocate of the Year’ at the Law Society Excellence Awards (2009).

Michael has a busy practice in public procurement, competition and commercial law, particularly in the area of commercial regulation. His core practice focuses on government procurement across the United Kingdom and Ireland but also on procurement by international bodies and in other countries. His practice balances involvement in numerous bid challenges and other litigation matters with the provision of legal and strategic advice to bidders and purchasers. He has also built a diverse practice based around other aspects of EU, trade, competition and commercial law and is increasingly involved in space law. He works on a pro bono basis on various matters for indigenous peoples. Michael is Visiting Professor at King's College, London where he teaches public procurement law.

Ryan is a Senior Associate at Leigh Day. Ryan works across discrimination, human rights and employment and is based in Manchester. His background is in publicly funded work. He conducts litigation on behalf of individual clients, groups, charities, professional bodies and trade unions. He has acted for clients in the Employment Tribunal and County Court up to the Court of Appeal. He is ranked as Rising Star by the Legal 500 and was recently shortlisted for a Northern Powerhouse Award as a result of his work on several ground-breaking employment matters. He has a particular commitment to tackling discrimination suffered by people, both in the workplace and in society at large. He provides training and support to various groups with the aim of empowering them to challenge everyday discrimination.

Tim’s practice covers the full range of public law work, from commercial and regulatory matters, planning and the environment, through constitutional and EU law, local government and healthcare, to civil liberties and human rights, immigration, and social welfare. He is equally experienced acting for and against public bodies, and for commercial interests and individuals. The breadth of his practice is demonstrated by his clients, who include commercial organisations and developers, regulators, individuals, NGOs and pressure groups, most central government departments, devolved administrations, many local authorities, and a wide range of independent and non-departmental public bodies.Tim has appeared as leading counsel at all levels of the UK court system including numerous appearances in the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and Administrative and Planning Courts, as well as in public inquiries and tribunals. He has also appeared in the Court of Justice of the European Union and the General Court.

Miranda Butler is a barrister at Landmark Chambers. She specialises in representing vulnerable individuals in public law proceedings. She has particular expertise in claims on behalf of victims of trafficking and asylum seekers, often in high-profile strategic litigation. Miranda is ranked by the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners directories for public law and immigration and was shortlisted for a ‘Junior of the Year’ awards at the Legal 500 Awards 2023. Alongside practice, Miranda has worked as a judicial assistant at the Supreme Court, stagiaire at the European Court of Human Rights, and lecturer at the London School of Economics. She is a co-founder of the multi-award-winning Ukraine Advice Project and trustee of the Work Rights Centre.

Melanie Carter, is a public law solicitor in private practice formerly at Bindmans and ex GLD. She has for many years been ranked as a Leading Individual for public & regulatory law in Chambers and Legal 500. She is the founder and Chair of the Public Law Solicitor’s Association and had been a Tribunal Judge since 2005. She is a specialist in judicial review, powers and duties of public bodies, campaigning and the use of public law and the interface with information law. Her experience ranges across all sectors, private, public and the third sector.

Lucy Claridge is Executive Director of the International Lawyers Project. Prior to joining ILP, Lucy was Senior Counsel and Head of the Strategic Legal Response Centre at Forest Peoples Programme, litigating and advocating human rights issues before international, regional and domestic bodies. She has also worked as Director of Strategic Litigation at Amnesty International and as Legal Director at Minority Rights Group International, focusing on strategic litigation, advocacy and capacity building to improve access to justice for minority and indigenous communities worldwide. Lucy is a Visiting Fellow at Bristol University Human Rights Implementation Centre, an Honorary Member of the ICCA Consortium, Chair of the Board at Rainforest Foundation UK, and has previously served as a trustee at Anti-Slavery International and Twins Trust. She is a graduate of University College, Oxford (Law, MA) and King’s College, London (International Peace and Security, MA).

Margherita is a barrister specialising in climate litigation and equality and discrimination. She returned to practice in September 2020 following a year spent working as the last Judicial Assistant to Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore, whose priceless guidance continues to inform her career development and professional choices. Margherita is committed to using the law to fight the climate and ecological emergency. Her involvement in the climate movement began at the grassroots level, where she worked with local activist groups to use the law and legal thought to ensure sustainability in local decision-making. She is now developing a specialist practice in strategic climate litigation, combining creative thought with climate literacy to assist clients wishing to develop innovative litigation strategies, in the UK and abroad. Margherita is currently on a part-time secondment to Mishcon de Reya where she is helping build the Purpose team’s strategic programme of commercial climate litigation. In the past, she acted as the first legal coordinator to the Climate Champions, in conjunction with FILE Foundation. In her role, Margherita was responsible for the Climate Champions' most recent efforts to strengthen compliance and the integrity of voluntary net zero commitments. She continues, in her spare time, to work with lawyers, scientists and journalists in Italy, her home country, where she hopes to incentivise greater public and legal engagement with the climate crisis.

Tim Cowen is a Barrister, former General Counsel at BT plc, member of the Competition Appeal Tribunal and partner at Sidley Austin LLP. He is a leading competition and regulatory lawyer and winner of the Competition Law team of the year 2021. His practice involves him in regular contact with government and quasi government agencies and he deals on a daily basis with the extent and scope of the discretion afforded to officials in their decision making. He chairs the Antitrust practice at Preiskel & Co LLP and is independently recognised as one of the leading competition/regulatory lawyers in the EU. Tim led BT’s competition law and public policy team for many years. He led the team advocating liberalisation of the EU market and the system of law that promotes competition among telecommunication and technology companies.

Rosa is Director at Foxglove and is a UK-qualified lawyer, formerly of Leigh Day Solicitors. She has litigated for years in the British, European and international courts. Her prior legal wins have blocked the export of weapons to Saudi Arabia, kept NHS hospital services open, curbed the reach of the harmful bedroom tax, protected journalists and lawyers from surveillance of their clients and sources and forced the UK to admit more unaccompanied child refugees. Rosa chairs the board at Shadow World Investigations and is on the board of Videre Est Credere. She was shortlisted for Human Rights Lawyer of the Year and Public Law Solicitor of the Year. Rosa co-directs Foxglove’s casework.

Andrew Dean is the head of the Clifford Chance UK public sector advisory team. Andrew has been advising public bodies, suppliers and lenders on public law and procurement law issues in transactional and financial contexts for over 15 years. Andrew has wide-ranging experience in market first and nationally significant transactions including procurements, outsourcings, PPPs, asset disposals and government financial support instruments (including guarantees, grants and loans). He also advises clients on policy matters and judicial reviews across a range of policy areas (e.g. environment, tax, property and human rights) and sectors (e.g. TMT, healthcare, defence and energy and infrastructure). Andrew was heavily involved in the UK government's Covid-19 response including advising the Vaccine Taskforce on the procurement of vaccines and suppliers on their Covid-19 contracts with the UK government. Andrew was formerly a senior lawyer at the UK Government Legal Department.

Tom is a highly versatile lawyer whose practice straddles public law, competition/regulatory law and commercial law, and who has achieved recognition as a leading practitioner in eleven different practice areas. Tom is noted for his innovative legal problem solving - drawing upon the many aspects of his practice - and his excellent advocacy. In the public law field, Tom’s work has a strong emphasis on: commercial JR, where Tom has acted in a number of the leading cases (Camelot, Eisai), particularly pharmaceutical litigation and sanctions work; civil liberties, national security (Binyam Mohammed, Kamoka) and data and privacy work (Privacy International/LQDN); and on environmental cases. Tom is a noted expert on the control of secondary legislation and on proportionality and fundamental rights challenges (FACT, Lumsdon), having obtained the first ever declaration of incompatibility by consent (Blood No.2) and the last EOC declaration to disapply primary legislation for incompatibility with EU law (Hughes).

A unifying feature of all of Tom’s work is his noted expertise in EU law work in all hues, public, regulatory or commercial. Tom is recognised as a leading silk by latest editions of both the independent legal directories, Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners.

Senior Pro Bono Associate at the leading European law firm Fieldfisher, Catriona is responsible for the firm's pro bono work across its offices. A disability rights lawyer by background, Catriona has worked both as a legal aid lawyer and in house at NGOs. She have represented clients in a number of high profile challenges including R (McDonald) v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea [2011] UKSC 33 and Bethany a 17 year old autistic woman who was held in solitary confinement for two years in a mental health institution. I She has particular interest in strategic litigation, representing a number of disability rights charities including the Royal Mencap Society in challenge the NICE decision to use the Clinical Frailty Scale during the early days of the COVID - 19 crisis and the MS Society in challenge NICE decisions on the restriction of particular MS treatments.

Nick is a planning and environmental law specialist barrister at Landmark Chambers. He has appeared in public inquiries, the First-tier Tribunal, Upper Tribunal, High Court, Court of Appeal, and Supreme Court and represented the UK before the UN’s Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee. Before coming to the bar Nick was Judicial Assistant to Lady Justice Arden (now Lady Arden) in the Court of Appeal. Before that, he taught Environmental Law at UCL during his BPTC. While studying for an LLM at Harvard Law School, he was a Senior Editor for the Harvard Business Law Review Online, and clerked (equivalent to being a Judicial Assistant) for three judges in the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. He is ranked in the Planning Resource Magazine’s top-rated planning juniors and top-rated planning juniors under 35 (top 5), and ranked by Legal500 as a leading junior in planning and environmental law, and as a “rising star” for local government work.

Tessa is a Partner and an experienced litigator specialising in international and domestic human rights and environmental law. She conducts challenging high profile public law cases across diverse areas such as social welfare, human rights, refugee, wildlife and environmental law. She represents a wide variety of clients including individuals, MPs and NGOs. Tessa has been at the forefront of challenges to the Government’s welfare reforms and refugee policies and she currently represents a number of Afghans seeking an Article 2 compliant investigation into the deaths of their family members who they allege were murdered by British Special Forces.

Currently the European head of Human rights and environmental law based at the London office of the Law firm Hausfeld, Ingrid has been a litigator for 26 years and practicing at Hausfeld for the past 15 years. Ingrid undertakes a mix of international and domestic human rights and climate related cases, and high-level policy and advocacy work in these areas. She has won awards for her ground- breaking test cases both in Australia where she formerly practiced, and in the UK, and has been a law lecturer at both the Universities of Essex and of New South Wales. Ingrid is a visiting research fellow at BIICL as part of the climate and environment team, and she Chairs the Board of Legal Action Worldwide (‘ LAW’) which brings actions on behalf of survivors in conflict zones. She is also a Trustee of the environmental social enterprise ‘Sea Rangers’, which is based in the Netherlands and UK, and of Global Witness Trust which funds the projects of the NGO Global Witness.

Simon Holmes advised businesses on competition law for some 35 years before joining the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal as a judge. He was latterly head of competition law at SJ Berwin and then King & Wood Mallesons –first in the UK and Europe and then on a global basis. He is a Visiting Professor at Oxford University where he teaches competition law. He is also an adviser to the NGO, ClientEarth; co - chair of the Sustainability and Competition Taskforce of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC); a member of the international advisory board of the LDC (Insituto de derecho de la competencia); an associate member of the UCL Centre for Law, Economics, and Society (CLES); and a strategic advisor to Sustainable public affairs in Brussels. He is co-editor of a new book on this published by Concurrence: “Competition Law, Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability”.

Toufique is the Director of Public Law at Duncan Lewis Solicitors with over 20 years of experience. His focus is dominated by leading strategic litigation representing individual claimants and organisations who seek to challenge executive decisions, policies and practices. With great experience in high-profile litigation, he continues to build a team passionate for human rights, developing wider judicial review practices, investigating novel points of law and fighting injustices on behalf on those affected by unlawful government practices. His work has taken him to represent clients at every level, as well as in public inquiries. Toufique and his team have achieved many notable successes, most recently as the lead solicitor in the Supreme Court in relation to the government’s Rwanda policy. He is ranked as a leading individual in the Legal 500 and Chamber and Partners directories. In the Legal 500 he is the only solicitor ranked as leading in all three areas (Immigration: Human Rights, Administrative and Public law, Civil Liberties and Human Rights).

Since taking silk, Sean has quickly built a leading practice focused on complex and high profile cases. He acts for both claimants and defendants in claims covering the a wide range of Employment, Commercial Employment and Sport-related disputes. Employment Law is at the heart of Sean’s work. Widely-regarded as one of the leading Employment lawyers in the UK, his practice covers the entire range of employment-related matters from multiple equal pay, pension and employment status claims through to individual dismissals, whistleblowing claims, bonus and restrictive covenant disputes, and industrial action cases. He is instructed by individuals, trade unions and every kind of employer including large private sector companies such as Lloyds Bank and Sainsburys; public sector bodies such as the BBC, the HMRC, the Metropolitan Police, and a number of local authorities and Education sector employers such as the University of Oxford and Nottingham University.

Milan is a référendaire (senior legal adviser) at the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Luxembourg, currently working in the cabinet of Advocate-General Laila Medina. Since 2006, Milan has worked in this role on a great number of EU law cases. He has especially been responsible for some of the biggest competition law and State aid cases at the CJEU, but also for leading cases in intellectual property law and tax law as well as cases on the rule of law and the principle of judicial independence. Milan also deals with a wide range of cases before the CJEU involving: the jurisdiction of courts and Internet, electronic communications, trade, public procurement, procurement, company law, regulation, international law, extraterritoriality, judicial review, environment, access to documents, consumer protection, ‘Area of freedom, security and justice’. Milan is a co-author of ‘Bellamy and Child: EU Law of Competition’ and of ‘European Court Procedure: A Practical Guide’.

Alex is a solicitor at law firm and consultancy AWO, specialising in privacy rights, data protection, and the law as it relates to digital technology. He has brought challenges against the use of live facial recognition on the UK high street, and has a particular interest in how data rights can be used to empower gig economy workers and improve their working conditions. Alex trained as a litigator at Linklaters LLP and then spent four years working in international development in East Africa and New York. Immediately prior to joining AWO, he was Chief Operating Officer of the UK Government’s Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation, where he established a team focused on understanding public attitudes to the use of artificial intelligence.”

Maya has a wide-ranging practice in public law, sanctions, European and competition law; she is a member of the English and Irish Bars. Her specialism is in sanctions law where she is the directories’ “star individual” – her website www.europeansanctions.com is the leading legal resource for sanctions worldwide.  Maya was a founder of the Human Rights Lawyers Association and undertakes regular pro bono and public interest work.

James is the Managing Partner of Mishcon de Reya. He is a litigator who acts mainly for individuals and families often in matters of political significance or with a strong public interest. He has been involved in a number of the highest profile cases of the last 20 years, including acting for Deborah Lipstadt in her defence of the claim brought against her by the holocaust denier, David Irving; for Gina Miller in both her Supreme Court challenges relating to Article 50 and, in 2019, prorogation; for the Jewish Labour Movement in its referral of the Labour Party to the EHRC; and for several other politicians of all hues over the last 15 years or so.

Paul Lomas is a litigation practitioner who was a partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Derringer for 25 years. He led a number of their practice areas and specialised in EU and competition litigation, regulatory litigation and a wider range of general litigation and dispute resolution. He was the author and editor of a text book on global investigations. He also holds an MBA from INSEAD. He is chair of REDRESS, was chair of Local Giving (and on-line web giving platform for local charities), and helped create the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law where he is a Bingham Fellow. During his practice, Paul was a leading member of our investigations/bribery and corruption practice and also sit in our antitrust practice. Paul has advised many clients on ‘strategic’ litigation, business model changing disputes and governance or ethics issues which affect their reputation.

Joanna Ludlam is co-Chair of Baker McKenzie’s Global Investigations Compliance & Ethics group and a Partner in the firm’s London Dispute Resolution team.  She also leads Baker McKenzie’s market-leading Regulatory, Public & Media law team in London, and is a leader of BakerWomen, the firm’s IDE focus group on gender diversity. Joanna advises clients on corporate investigations, administrative and public law, procurement law and litigation. She has particular expertise in the healthcare, technology and energy, mining and infrastructure sectors. She also advises clients at board-level, on regulatory compliance and crisis and reputation management.  Joanna focuses on bringing practical solutions to client issues, and designed the firm's innovative Investigations Academy, a state-of-the-art training programme for investigations practitioners.  She also co-authored the firm's Connected Compliance thought leadership, which includes the world's first global compliance integration benchmarking tool. 

Maria is the Director and solicitor at The Public Interest Litigation Support (PILS) Project in Belfast. After completing a Master’s degree in Human Rights Law in 2017, she left her position as Associate Director at Napiers Solicitors to take up the post of Immigration Solicitor at Children’s Law Centre, representing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and child victims of trafficking. Maria is a former Chair of the Law Society of Northern Ireland’s Immigration Practitioners’ Group and Human Rights and Equality Group, and the current Chair of the Society’s Advocacy Working Group. In 2018, she authored ‘Best Practice in the Provision of Immigration Legal Advice Services’, on behalf of Northern Ireland Community of Refugees and Asylum Seekers. Maria is a former Legal Consultant to Barnardo’s Independent Guardian Service. Maria was awarded a Certificate in Advanced Advocacy in 2014 and now tutors on various courses at the Institute of Professional Legal Studies.

Angus McCullough KC has extensive experience in matters of public and private law on behalf of individuals, private bodies, Government departments, and other public bodies. He has been appointed to act as amicus curiae (advocate to the court) on many occasions, including in the phone hacking trial of R v Rebekah Brooks et al and committal proceedings against Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson). He has frequently appeared in the higher domestic appellate courts, as well as representing the UK Government at the UN in Geneva and in European Court of Human Rights in proceedings in Strasbourg. He has acted in 10 cases before the House of Lords / Privy Council / Supreme Court, most recently for UNHCR in the challenge to the Home Secretary’s plan to transfer asylum seekers to Rwanda. Angus has been instructed as the special advocate in some of the most high profile cases of recent years in the field of national security, and has been active in promoting understanding and debate in relation to closed material procedures.

Siân is a specialist public law barrister with a busy practice spanning all aspects of administrative, human rights, and local government law, as well as related areas of planning and environmental law. She is recognised as a ‘rising star’ in her field and regularly acts in high profile public interest cases from the High Court to the Privy Council, Court of Appeal and European Court of Human Rights. Alongside her practice she is a graduate research student at University College London. Her research, supervised by Professor Richard Rawlings and Dr Michael Veale, complements her practice in public law with a focus on legal accountability and oversight of public bodies, and the ways in which these systems have adapted over time in particular in response to the issues raised by digital governance.

Eleena is a specialist Employment & Equalities silk with complementary expertise in Professional Discipline & Regulation and Public Law. Eleena is particularly active in the healthcare and education sectors. She has broad experience ranging from high value financial services disputes, injunctions involving confidential information and restraint of disciplinary proceedings, and investigations into sensitive sexual misconduct allegations. Additionally, Eleena undertakes inquests and related judicial review work, and has a Diploma in Forensic Medicine. Eleena writes, lectures, and delivers training in all of her principal areas of practice.

Eleena is currently the Chair of the Law Reform Committee of the Bar Council of England & Wales and leads its working group on flexible working trends, as well as coordinating its responses to consultations across a wide field of legal topics. She is also a member of a variety of Middle Temple committees, an advocacy trainer and enjoys an active role in the life of her Inn of Court..

Blinne is a human rights and international law expert, practicing at the intersection of criminal, public and civil law. She acts for and advises individuals, States, NGOs and other national and international bodies, in domestic courts at all levels from the first instance courts to the Supreme Court, and before international courts and tribunals, including the International Court of Justice. She has a particular specialism in protest law matters for which she is recognised as a “Star Individual” in the legal directories. She was nominated for Barrister of the Year in the 2022 Lawyer Awards for her role in securing the acquittal of those responsible for toppling the statue of the slaver Edward Colston in Bristol in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd. She was named International Law Junior of the Year in 2022 at the Legal 500 awards for her international law work. Blinne is called to the Bars of Ireland, North and South, in addition to the Bar of England and Wales, and is on the International Criminal Court’s list of counsel.

Zia is the joint head of the Housing and Social Welfare Team at Doughty Street Chambers. He is a very experienced public and civil lawyer specialising in judicial review, statutory appeals, community care, children and the Court of Protection. He has been involved in numerous reported cases at all levels including the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights. He has been involved in many strategic test judicial reviews including systemic challenges. In 2022 he won the Legal Aid Practitioners Group Outstanding Achievement award. Zia has been appointed as a Recorder dealing with family cases and as a legally qualified Chair for the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service.

Sophie Naftalin is a partner at Bhatt Murphy specialising in actions against the police and other public authorities. Sophie has expertise in all aspects of litigation and her caseload has strong emphasis on representing victims of violence against women and girls, in particular domestic violence, domestic homicide and sexual violence and abuse.

Harj is a barrister specialising in climate litigation and human rights who acts in a broad range of domestic and international climate litigation. Across his career, Harj has been involved in world-first climate litigation before national, regional and international courts. Harj has particular expertise in climate law and litigation in the fields of human rights, public international law, constitutional law, public law, corporate and commercial law, rights of nature, and Indigenous and First Nations law. Alongside his practice, Harj is an Honorary Research Associate in climate law and litigation at the University of Oxford’s Sustainable Law Programme, where he undertakes practice-oriented work and collaborates with NGOs, government and international institutions. Harj is also a Visiting Senior Fellow in climate law and litigation at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics, and teaches a class on indigenous rights and environmental law at the University of Cambridge. Harj sits on the editorial board of the Climate Litigation in the Global South Project, and is a contributing author to the Adjudicating Climate Change book series.

Kristina has a broad EU antitrust, litigation and regulatory practice with a particular focus on big tech and life sciences. She has previously worked in New York and Brussels as well as London, and has over 23 years of experience using her advocacy skills to represent clients on both sides of the Atlantic on antitrust investigations, challenges and complaints before the European Commission and on high-profile proceedings before the EU courts in Luxembourg. Known for her understanding of how EU institutions work, Kristina has a strong practice focus on EU competition law enforcement issues impacting the digital single market, online selling, mobile and electronic payments and other technology. She was involved in the European Commission’s e-commerce sector inquiry and advises numerous online marketplaces and platforms on EU antitrust matters.

Raj Parker is an associate member of Matrix and prior to joining was a solicitor at Freshfields for over 30 years, 23 as a Partner. He specialises in general commercial and financial services dispute resolution, international regulatory investigations, and sports law. He has handled international contentious and regulatory issues in the insurance, banking, pharmaceuticals, air traffic, leisure, diamond, energy, transport, reconstruction and insolvency, sport and media sectors. Raj also specialises in international corporate criminal investigations and white collar crime issues and is a member of the Governance, Investigations and Solutions – Matrix Integrity + team. Since 2022, Raj was appointed as Independent Non-Executive Regulatory Director at the The British Horseracing Authority.

George Peretz KC BL practises in public law, competition law (particularly subsidy control/State aid), VAT, medicines regulation and regulatory law generally. After reading PPE at Exeter College, Oxford, he began his legal career as a lawyer at the then Office of Fair Trading in 1992 before joining Monckton Chambers in 1998. He served for many years on the Attorney General’s panels until he took silk in 2015. He has appeared many times in the Court of Justice of the EU and in the higher courts of England and Wales. He has regularly given evidence on Brexit and subsidy control related matters to Parliamentary Select Committees, and is currently chairing the Bar Council working group on retained EU law as well as being a member of the executive of the Society of Labour Lawyers and of the Administrative Law Bar Association.

Ollie is a barrister at Garden Court Chambers with a claimant-focused public law practice spanning education, community care, mental capacity and mental health issues. He has significant expertise in discrimination law and is a contributing author of the Legal Action Group practitioner text, ‘Discrimination in Public Law’. Ollie is ranked by the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners directories and was shortlisted for a ‘Junior of the Year’ award at the Legal 500 Awards 2022 for his work in his core practice areas. Ollie was a lawyer at Public Law Project for four years and a lecturer and researcher at the London School of Economics and Oxford University. He has also worked for the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union. As a Bar student, he set up ‘RebLaw UK’, which is the largest student-run public interest law conference in the country.

Navid is a barrister at Blackstone Chambers. His practice spans employment and discrimination law, civil liberties & human rights, sports law, group litigation, commercial law and claims relating to breach of confidence, professional discipline and regulation, and independent investigations. He is routinely instructed in heavy commercial employment litigation, as well as public interest litigation on behalf of claimants. He has been instructed in significant cases before the EAT, High Court, Court of Appeal and CJEU, as well as numerous professional regulatory tribunals. His experience includes multi-day discrimination and whistleblowing claims, sexual harassment claims, employment status cases, restrictive covenant cases, and high-value bonus claims. Navid is a member of the Equality & Human Rights Commission’s Panel of Counsel, and is ranked as a highly-rated practitioner in the Chambers UK Bar Guide and Legal 500.

Fergus Randolph KC is at the forefront of EU and competition law litigation at the English bar. He regularly appears before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), General Court, all divisions of the High Court and the Competition Appeal Tribunal as well as acting for clients before competition regulators. Fergus is particularly sought after for his expertise in EU and UK Sanctions, Commercial Agency, and Public Procurement and all aspects of EU related Judicial Review. He has been a member of the Bar Council Brexit/Future Relations committee and has been in regular discussions with civil servants on the Brexit transition and the eventual Trade and Cooperation Agreement agreed at the end of 2021. He has written extensively on those arrangements and will continue to contribute his thoughts on the TCA.

Fiona Rutherford joined JUSTICE as Chief Executive in February 2022. Prior to JUSTICE, Fiona was the Director of Access to Justice Policy, Ministry of Justice, a position she has held from July 2019. Her previously held positions include Deputy Director for Legal Aid Policy and Deputy Director for Business Strategy and Design, Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS). Before this, Fiona held a number of national and regional roles within the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and prior to that practiced for eight years as a specialist criminal barrister at 187 Chambers in London. Fiona was the MoJ representative at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and represented UK Government at the UN for the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in Feb 2019.

Fiona is an experienced public law barrister with particular expertise in areas relating to children and vulnerable adults. This includes work concerning the policies, practices and actions of national and local governmental bodies, charities, NGOS and others.  Fiona has been panel counsel for the Equality and Human Rights Commission since its inception, and has a keen interest in cases concerning engagement with international human rights instruments and conventions.  Fiona has spent much of the past 6 years as counsel to, or representing individuals in the Child Sex Abuse and Infected Blood Inquiry, and is particularly interested in strategic litigation which seeks to aid policy development and change to improve the lives of children , young people and those with disabilities.

Jessica is recognised as one of the country’s leading specialists in public/regulatory, EU and human rights law, acting for a wide range of clients, ranging from large companies, regulators (Ofgem, ORR. Ofsted), Government departments including HMRC, NGOs (WWF, ClientEarth, Friends of the Earth), and for private individuals. She has particular experience in environment (climate change, recycling, sustainability, labelling), energy, privacy/data protection, tax (VAT/excise), and competition law across different industries. Prior to taking Silk in 2013 she was a member of the Attorney General’s A Panel of Counsel. Between 1993 and 1997 she spent time working on legal issues in the European Commission Environment Directorate in Brussels, in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and in the Human Rights Ombudsman’s office in Sarajevo.

Clive is a dual UK-US national and is the Founder and Director of 3DCentre, a non-profit human rights training centre. He previously founded and directed the legal action charities Reprieve (in London), and LCAC (in New Orleans). Since 1984 he has represented over 400 people facing execution in the US and elsewhere, as well as bringing the first challenge to Guantánamo Bay, where he has secured the release of 81 detainees. Upon returning to the UK he has continued to represent prisoners. In 2000, he was awarded the OBE by Queen Elizabeth II for “services to humanity”.

With a background in campaigning and local government, Richard was a solicitor/partner at Leigh Day Solicitors in London for 24 years, until 2017. He and his team specialised in bringing judicial review cases for claimants against government, quangos, local authorities and the NHS. These cases covered a wide range of subject areas including planning and environment, welfare benefits, education, housing, international human rights abuse by the UK government, anti-privatisation and pro-choice health issues. He now lives in the West of Scotland.

Jemima is widely recognised as a leading litigator with a broad practice in public law, EU/international, competition and human rights.Jemima’s EU/international and competition expertise ranges from FRAND licensing to pharmaceuticals, and from free movement to financial services. She is regarded as one of the leading Silks in regulatory matters. Jemima has appeared in more than 50 cases in the General Court and Court of Justice in Luxembourg. Her domestic practice includes competition law cases in the CAT, Commercial Court and Patents Court. Jemima's public law and human rights work have taken her to the Supreme Court and to the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR. Before taking silk, she was a member of the Attorney General’s ‘A’ Panel. She acts for both claimants and defendants across a wide range of cases, some of which also have a connection with EU law.

Simon Taylor is a barrister at Keating Chambers, specialising in public procurement, competition, regulatory and public law. He is recognised as a leader in his field by Legal 500, Chambers and Partners and Who’s Who Legal. He returned to the Bar in 2012 after 20 years of practising as an EU and competition lawyer, including 7 years as a partner in a leading firm of solicitors and 5 years in Brussels and has a license spéciale in EU law from the Université Libre de Bruxelles. He has a busy contentious practise, acting both for bidders and buyers in public procurement disputes and also provides strategic advice on the conduct of tenders and on regulatory and competition issues. Simon has specific expertise in the rail, healthcare and communications sectors. He has served on the AG panel and his recent reported cases include Bechtel Limited v High Speed 2 (HS2) Limited.

Joe is Professor of Public Law at the University of York. He is also currently Chair of the Academic Panel of the Administrative Justice Council and a member of the Academic Panel at Blackstone Chambers. Previously, he served as Research Director of the Public Law Project, a national legal charity, from 2017 to 2021. He has extensive experience in public interest judicial reviews, including leading research that supported cases and interventions, and his academic work has been cited and relied on in the High Court, Court of Appeal, and UK Supreme Court.

Professor Takis Tridimas is a leading scholar in the field of European Union law. He is Professor at King’s College London and a barrister at Matrix chambers. He is one of the most frequently quoted authors by Advocates General of the European Court of Justice and, on matters of EU law, by English courts. He joined King’s College in September 2013. He was formerly the Sir John Lubbock Professor of Banking Law at Queen Mary College, University of London (2004-2013). He also served as référendaire (law clerk) to Advocate General Sir Francis Jacobs at the European Court of Justice (1992-1995). He was senior legal adviser to the EU Presidency (2003) and Chairman of the Committee set up by the EU Council of Ministers to draft the Treaty of Accession of 2003.He has acted as advisor or counsel to many public and private organisations.

Yaaser is a barrister at Landmark Chambers ranked as a leading junior in public law, civil liberties and human rights, environmental law and protest. He works with a range of clients, including individuals, NGOs, major companies, regulatory bodies and Government and is regularly instructed in high-profile and test cases for claimants, defendants, interested parties and interveners. For example, he has been instructed in eight Supreme Court cases since 2019. He has previously worked at the South African Human Rights Commission and the UK Supreme Court. He is the author of Manual on Protest Injunctions: Practice, Procedure and Persons Unknown.

Victoria Wakefield KC was called in 2003 and took silk in 2019. Victoria has been consistently ranked by the legal directories as outstanding across 6 practice areas: Administrative & Public law, Civil Liberties & Human Rights, Competition law, Data Protection, EU law and Group Litigation. She specializes in complex, novel and high profile litigation and has extensive experience as an advocate in cases in the Supreme Court, the Privy Council, the Court of Appeal, the High Court, the Competition Appeal Tribunal, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, arbitration and the CJEU. Victoria is the only member of the Bar to appear in both Merricks v MasterCard and Lloyd v Google before the Supreme Court and has been at the forefront of the development of Group Litigation.

Martin Westgate has a consistent track record of advice and representation in a wide range of subject areas although he concentrates on public and administrative law, housing and social care. Much of his work is in, and on appeal from, the Administrative Court and he is experienced in professional negligence and costs litigation, particularly in cases related to his main practice areas. His broad based practice makes him an ideal choice for cases that have a multidisciplinary aspect or that are difficult to categorise. Martin is ranked in the 2023 edition of Chambers in the fields of Administrative and Public Law, Civil Liberties and Human Rights, Community Care, Local Government and Social Housing and in the Legal 500 for Administrative and Public Law Civil Liberties, Social Housing Court of Protection and Community Care.

Marc is a UK barrister practising at Garden Court Chambers and was appointed as a Queen’s (now King’s) Counsel in 2014. Marc specialises in environmental law and climate justice, planning law, public and administrative law, civil liberties, human rights and discrimination law, with an emphasis on laws affecting Gypsies, Travellers and Roma. He was joint head of Garden Court Chambers between 2016 and 2020. He is recommended in the Chambers and Partners and Legal 500 UK bar guides in the fields of planning law, environmental law and civil liberties and human rights. Marc is also a member of the Irish bar. Marc’s full profile canbe found here.

David specialises in judicial review challenges to the decisions of, among others, government, regulators (including environmental and professional regulators), local authorities, schools and health bodies. David has particular expertise in community care law, discrimination and equality, education law, environmental law and natural resources (particularly cases relating to climate change), EU law, healthcare, human rights, local government law, and public law generally. David’s clients are individuals seeking their legal entitlement to public services and to lawful decisions and NGOs, very often those bringing legal challenges in the context of their wider campaigning activities.

Paul is counsel and head of pro bono at international law firm Freshfields. His legal practice includes work in the fields of human trafficking, asylum support, and at the intersection of pro bono and legal aid. He also advises charities on strategic litigation. Paul is a member of the Law Society’s Access to Justice Committee and chair of the AIRE Centre.

Alex Cochrane is a Partner at Edwards Duthie Shamash where he heads up the Media Law team. He advises on all legal areas relating to reputation management with particular expertise in defamation, privacy and harassment. Alex has acted in landmark media law cases (in all of the appellate courts) including many complex libel disputes, most notably the successful claim of former international cricketer Chris Cairns brought against Indian businessman Lalit Modi in what was the UK’s first Twitter libel (“Twibel”) trial, and he has successfully obtained injunctions in respect of urgent privacy and harassment matters. He has a wealth of experience in dealing with disputes involving social media platforms and online reputational issues.