No5 Barristers' Chambers - Excellence is at the heart of everything we do.
Background

Public Law

"The Public Law group is known for the highest quality of specialist advocacy and advisory work . Our members appear before all levels of court and tribunal including the Supreme Court and Privy Council."

"Our barristers are listed as leading advocates in the directories for their work including Administrative and Public Law, Civil Liberties, Human Rights, Community Care, Court of Protection, Inquests, Immigration, Professional Discipline, and Social Housing."

The Public Law Group includes some of the leading practitioners in the country when it comes to bringing and defending challenges to the legality of actions by public bodies, both in the UK and abroad. Upholding civil liberties and human rights lies at the heart of everything we do, whether acting for the individual or the public body.

Administrative and Public Law covers a range of specialist work, reflecting the different ways in which the Government impacts on the lives of citizens. Our team has experts across this field. A common thread is that public bodies have defined purposes, limited powers and, importantly, duties to act fairly and reasonably in all their dealings with the public.

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We advise and act for:

  • Individuals who wish to challenge public authorities. This includes, of course, the actions or decisions of courts, tribunals, and all forms of governmental bodies or officials, including police and prison officers, and health and education body decision-makers
  • Government departments, including the Official Solicitor
  • Local authorities
  • NHS and health professionals’ bodies
  • Police forces and police authorities
  • Coroners

Our team provides sound and astute tactical advice helping our clients to navigate the, often complex, situations and the options that may arise in relation to representation within, or in a challenge to a public law decision-making that affects the client’s interests. We recognise the issues are always of considerable importance to our client and may have profound effects upon the lives of individuals, and sometimes in the development of the law.

Our barristers are experts in interpreting statutory schemes, understanding the limits of powers, advising on how public bodies are required to act to comply with their duties under the Human Rights Act 1998, data protection and information law, international conventions to which the United Kingdom is a party, and the important Public Sector Equality Duty under the Equality Act 2010.

We regularly appear in leading public law cases in the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, and the High Court. Our counsel are also briefed to appear regularly in specialist courts and tribunals, such as the Court of Protection, the First-Tier and Upper Tribunals and Coroner’s Courts, as well as in numerous other venues where key public law decisions are taken for example in education matters, professional discipline, or Parole Board hearings, to name but a few.

For details of the specialists within our Public and Administrative Law team, please follow the links below to subject areas or contact our group clerks for advice.

  • Animal Law
  • Civil Liberties & Human Rights
  • Court of Protection
  • Community Care
  • Data and Information rights
  • Education Law
  • Inquests, Public Inquiries and Coronial Law
  • Mental Health
  • Public Procurement
  • Local Government
  • Prison and Police Law

We also have practitioners with individual specialities within administrative law, as listed in the profiles of individual barristers. This includes a wide range of niche matters, such as representation in matters before the Contract Review Board of the Legal Aid Agency, public procurement, safeguarding matters, and discrimination in the provision of services and goods (often involving Equality Act 2010 duties). Please contact the public law clerks for more details.

24 Hour Urgent Advice

Our dedicated and experienced clerking team provides 24-hour service, 365-days-a-year to arrange, where appropriate, for urgent advice and representation from members of the Public Law team, and prides itself on dealing with emergency orders and out-of-hours applications smoothly.

Get in touch

For more information:


Expertise

Public Law Barristers

Philip Rule KC

Call 2001 | Silk 2023

Head of Group

Manjit S Gill KC

Call 1982 | Silk 2000

Richard Humphreys KC

Call 1986 | Silk 2006

Sultana Tafadar KC

Call 2005 | Silk 2022

Richard Alomo

Call 1990

Keri Tayler

Call 1995

Deputy Head of Group

Ffyon Reilly

Call 1999

Mark Bradshaw

Call 2002

Jorren Knibbe

Call 2005

David Gardner

Call 2006

Christopher Coyle

Call 2007 (NI) / 2010 (RoI) / 2016 (E&W)

Philip Dayle

Call 2012

Avril Rushe

Call 2017

Tutku Bektas

Call 2018

Kawsar Zaman

Call 2018

Susana Ferrin

Call 2021

Serena Sekhon

Call 2021

Mirren Gidda

Call 2023

Rebecca Chalkley KC

Call 1999 | Silk 2024

Public Law Clerks

Abdul Hafeez

Practice Director, Immigration & Public Law

Lucas Bennett

Practice Manager, Immigration & Public Law

Jordan Lloyd

Immigration & Public Law Clerk

Emily Johnston

Immigration & Public Law Clerk

Isabella Taylor

Immigration & Public Law Clerk

Hannah Muxlow

Immigration & Public Law Clerk

Related News, Resources and Events

Past Events


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POCA, CIVIL RECOVERY, ARTICLE 6 AND THE PRIVILEGE AGAINST SELF-INCRIMINATION

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The High Court has allowed the judicial review claim in R (Chiswick) v Secretary of State for Justice and the Parole Board [2024] EWHC 1223 (Admin)

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Publications


Challenging an award decision under the NHS Provider Selection Regime

The Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023, which regulate the procurement of most health care services in England, have not generated decided cases…

Past Events


Prison Law Seminar Series Three – Challenging Parole Board decisions

The third and final seminar will focus on challenging Parole Board decisions. It will comprehensively cover the latest developments in this area and provide an…

Past Events


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The second seminar will guide attendees through how to best represent their clients at oral hearings. This session will be split into two parts. In…

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Prison Law Seminar Series One

The first seminar in the series will guide attendees through all the required steps for applying for and preparing for an oral hearing. It is…

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Claimant v Metropolitan Police

Successful claim brought by innocent couple left living for eight years with the uncertainty and anxiety of a police “Released Under Investigation” (RUI) status before…

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Parole Board held liable for delays

On 22 January 2024 at the County Court at Plymouth, District Judge Leach held that the Parole Board was liable for delaying Mr Robert’s parole…

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Clerk Team

Abdul Hafeez

Practice Director, Immigration & Public Law

abdulh@no5.com

07957 403805

Lucas Bennett

Practice Manager, Immigration & Public Law

lucasb@no5.com

Jordan Lloyd

Immigration & Public Law Clerk

jordanl@no5.com

Emily Johnston

Immigration & Public Law Clerk

emilyj@no5.com

Isabella Taylor

Immigration & Public Law Clerk

isabellat@no5.com

Hannah Muxlow

Immigration & Public Law Clerk

hannahm@no5.com

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