We welcome applications from barristers with expertise in our core practice areas: Business, Employment, Family, Housing, Property, Public law and Court of Protection. Almost 50% of our members have at least one ranking in either Chambers and Partners or Legal 500, or in both.
Christine Cooper represented 2 attorneys for a woman with dementia (MAM) in Court of Protection proceedings brought by the Office of the Public Guardian. The Public Guardian had applied to revoke the attorneys’ lasting powers of attorney alleging they acted contrary to MAM’s best interests. Unusually the court ordered the Public Guardian to pay half the attorneys’ legal costs.
Eleanor Sibley worked as an advisory panel member for Justice – the law reform/human rights charity - and contributed to its report Reforming the EU Settlement Scheme: The Way Forward for the EUSS. The report was published today,
Rebecca Handcock represented an 18-year-old man deprived of his liberty in a placement sourced for him by the local authority. He has a diagnosis of autism and ADHD. The local authority unlawfully and significantly restricted his contact with his parents. Rebecca successfully argued on his behalf that he be allowed unrestricted contact with them.
Eleanor Sibley has been nominated for a junior pro bono barrister of the year award with Ravi Mehta of Blackstone Chambers. The pair were jointly nominated for their work on behalf of the intervenor (specialist legal charity, the Aire Centre) in a successful appeal to the Court of Appeal against disability living allowance (care component) being refused for a British child whose parent worked in Belgium.
Tony Harrop-Griffiths defended the successful local authority in a judicial review of its age assessment. The claimant brought judicial review proceedings after the local authority found him to be an adult in his mid-20s, without giving an exact age. He argued he might have been found to be under 25 and that the local authority had to consider whether to assess his EHC (education, health and care) needs as a young person under the Children and Families Act 2014.
Applications for pupillage starting with us in September 2025 have opened. We are offering 12-month pupillages to up to 2 successful candidates. The deadline for completed applications is Wednesday 7 February 2024. Please see our pupillage page for more information.
We will be working reduced hours during the holiday period. However, if you have an emergency out-of-hours application and need assistance, please call our senior clerk, Ian Boardman on 07831 234861.