Our barristers are instructed in some of the leading public law and Court of Protection cases.
We are recognised for our work in:
- high profile judicial reviews - such as those of the lawfulness of the coronavirus pandemic ‘lockdown’ and ‘quarantine’ regulations as well as significant judicial reviews considering the relationship between the Care Act 2014 and the Housing Act 1996 which have important financial and other implications for everyone involved.
- leading election and governance cases – eg the longest election petition trial for a century in which a High Court judgment was secured voiding the election of Lutfur Rahman as London Borough of Tower Hamlets mayor; and representing Darren Grimes, a Leave campaigner in the EU referendum, in his successful appeal against an Electoral Commission fine.
- groundbreaking deprivation of liberty cases – eg D (A Child) [2018] UKSC 64 in which the Supreme Court considered the conditions for a deprivation of liberty of a 16 or 17-year-old as well as judicial review and habeas corpus applications by/on behalf of detained patients.
- Court of Protection cases generally – advising on local authority safeguarding duties, personal welfare applications about if it is in someone’s best interests to live at home or in a care setting, serious medical treatment applications as well as Mental Capacity Act 2005 cases concerning vulnerable adults as well as applications under the High Court’s inherent jurisdiction.
- important local government matters such as charges for community care services, local authority support for children and families under the Children Act 1989 and for adults under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and age assessments related to asylum-seekers.
- highly sensitive inquests and inquiries: often representing local authorities in Article 2 inquests where they or their agents are alleged to have failed to protect the deceased; and public inquiries such as into the mistreatment of detainees at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre.
- Advising and representing local authorities with regard to adult social services and the provision of services to children.
- acting for local authorities in age dispute cases in both the Administrative Court and the Upper Tribunal.
- advising in Ordinary Residence disputes.
As a multidisciplinary set of chambers, our clients benefit from our expertise in related areas of law such as property, business, family and housing law. In fact some of our public law & Court of Protection barristers’ also have strong property, housing, business or family practices.
Members of the group have written books on specialist public law & Court of Protection-related topics:
- Tony Harrop-Griffiths, Jonathan Cowen, Christine Cooper and Angela Hodes co-wrote Dementia and the Law published by Jordans (LexisNexis)
- Christine Cooper has been a co-author of LexisNexis’ loose-leaf Finance and Law for the Older Client since 2015.
Seven of our public law & Court of Protection barristers hold part-time paid judicial appointments. Some of our group are also accredited mediators.
