Andrew Burrell

Andrew is building a public law practice, particularly focused on housing and homelessness, adult social care and children’s social care. Examples include:

• advising local authorities on disputes with NHS bodies about providing accommodation under the section 117 mental health after-care duty
• drafting grounds of resistance in judicial review proceedings for a local authority accused of failing to discharge the main housing duty
• advising a local authority on TV licensing requirements in sheltered housing.

During his pupillage, Andrew also assisted with the research and skeleton arguments for 2 judicial reviews:

• R (Begum) v LB Tower Hamlets [2025] EWCA 1049, a Court of Appeal hearing about whether a local authority’s database of households living in unsuitable temporary accommodation indirectly discriminated against women (supervised by Genevieve Screeche-Powell)
• R (RB Kensington & Chelsea) v NHS North West London ICB [2025] EWHC 889 (Admin), a judicial review over whether the NHS was required to co-fund a children’s home placement (supervised by Rebecca Davies)

During the non-practicing part of his pupillage, Andrew assisted with drafting opinions, pleadings and pre-action correspondence about:

• ordinary residence under the Care Act 2014 and section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983
• duties to accommodate children under section 20 of the Children Act 1989
• duties owed to care leavers under the Children Act 1989
• recovering fees from former care home residents under the Care Act 2014
• age assessment cases related to asylum-seekers.

Before studying law, Andrew was an adviser to the Liberal Democrats on a wide range of public policy areas, including education, political reform, business, trade, and social security. He ran internal training on parliamentary procedure for the party’s 2024 intake of MPs.

During his time as a High Court Judicial Assistant, Andrew worked on a modern slavery judicial review and a statutory planning review relating to an oil field.

Alongside his studies, Andrew volunteered for the School Exclusion Project, where he successfully appeared before an Independent Review Panel to appeal a child’s exclusion from school.

Andrew has a growing practice appearing for and advising local authorities in homelessness appeals. Recent examples include:

• Cifci v London Borough of Sutton [2025] EWCA Civ 1480 Andrew, led by Genevieve Screeche-Powell, acted for a local authority to successfully resist a second appeal about the meaning of being “homeless intentionally”
• advising both applicants and local authorities on section 204 homelessness appeals about whether the main housing duty was owed and the suitability of accommodation – in one case, Andrew succeeded in persuading a local authority to withdraw its review decision on the strength of his skeleton argument
• drafting grounds of resistance for a local authority accused of failing to discharge the main housing duty.

Andrew is also instructed regularly by both landlords and tenants in housing disputes. He has particular experience in:

• possession cases involving disputes about rent arrears, anti-social behaviour, succession, or the validity of gas safety records – in 2026, Andrew appeared in a 4-day possession trial involving a counterclaim of beneficial ownership under a constructive or resulting trust
• housing disrepair cases
• anti-social behaviour injunctions
• closure orders.

Andrew is instructed regularly by both local authorities and Accredited Legal Representatives for directions hearings in the Court of Protection. He has experience in:

• Section 21A appeals against standard authorisations in care homes
• cases authorising deprivations of liberty in the community
• disputes about the appointment of property and affairs deputies.

Andrew has been instructed on several Court of Protection cases involving funding disputes between local authorities and NHS integrated care boards. He can advise on funding issues arising out of a public body’s Continuing Health Care, section 117 after-care, or Care Act duties.

Andrew has appeared in Family Law Act and private Children Act proceedings. During pupillage, he was instructed as second counsel in a 5-day final hearing in care proceedings where the local authority alleged that the mother’s overprotectiveness delayed the child’s development.

Whilst working in Parliament, Andrew was the drafter of the Kinship Care Bill, a Private Member’s Bill proposed in 2022 to strengthen the rights of special guardians and other kinship carers.

Andrew has a niche interest in litigation arising from disputes between barristers, solicitors, and their clients.

• In 2025-2026, Andrew advised on and drafted pleadings for a six-figure tripartite dispute between a barrister, solicitors, and lay client involving unpaid counsel’s fees and allegations of professional negligence. His advice helped to secure a favourable settlement for the solicitors and lay client.
• During pupillage, he represented a solicitor’s firm to successfully recover unpaid fees from a former client. The trial dealt with issues about the validity of statute bills and the court’s approach to assessing a solicitor’s fees under the Act and at common law.
• During the non-practising part of his pupillage, Andrew assisted with the skeleton argument for Santers Solicitors Limited v Law Society [2024] EWHC 3003 (Ch). This is thought to be the 1st successful application to withdraw an intervention notice made by the Solicitors Regulation Authority against a solicitor (assisting John McLinden KC and John Critchley).

Andrew is keen to build a practice in ecclesiastical law. His article on the impact of ECHR Articles 8 and 14 on Church of England burial arrangements was published in the peer-reviewed Ecclesiastical Law Journal. He was a finalist in the first Inner Temple Ecclesiastical Law Moot.

• Postgraduate Diploma in Bar Vocational Studies (City, University of London), Distinction
• Graduate Diploma in Law (City, University of London), Distinction
• BA Human, Social & Political Sciences (University of Cambridge)

• Stephen Seabrooke Memorial Prize, awarded by City Law School for exceptional performance in the advocacy assessments on the Bar Course
• Inner Temple Bar Course Exhibition Scholarship
• Inner Temple GDL Exhibition Award

Andrew Burrell – privacy notice