No5 Chambers stands as a prominent force in defending civil liberties and human rights practice. Our barristers have handled some of the leading cases in the UK and before the European Court of Human Rights.
Our members have been instructed in cases such as the successful challenge to the UK government’s Rwanda policy, the Article 50 Brexit case (Gina Miller no 1), the Covid-19 Inquiry and the Infected Blood Inquiry. We also have considerable experience of acting on behalf of individuals in claims under the Human Rights Act 1998 and in judicial review challenges, which allow individual decisions by public bodies to face scrutiny and those who suffer violations of their civil rights and human rights to obtain remedy.
We take pride in chambers’ pivotal role in shaping legal precedents and contributing to landmark decisions. We help victims of civil liberties breaches whether their cause attracts public sympathy or not, and sometimes the state is all the more keen to dispense with human rights protections where a minority or unpopular section of society is subject to the decision, such as prisoners or asylum seekers. We have been able to prevent unlawful actions, and policies, from being used to unfairly treat segments of society. For example, we bring claims on behalf of children who were let down badly by the local authority care system; our team has recently been involved in a judicial review test-case challenge to the inadequacy of accommodation provided to pregnant and new mother asylum-seekers, and we obtained the Supreme Court’s guidance as to how Parole Board panels are to fairly approach unproven allegations.
Our civil liberties and human rights practice spans a broad area of law including cases arising in the contexts of mental health, housing and social care, prison law, criminal justice, immigration, claims against the police and public authorities, inquests and inquiries, education, and wider public law.
Our members are recognised within the legal community for this expertise, with awards and nominations at the prestigious Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards, showing our dedication to social justice and human rights. Members of No5 Chambers also serve as panel counsel for the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and share a commitment to advancing equalities and human rights on a broader scale.
Some members also have experience of providing specialist legal advice to and acting on behalf of local authorities, and regulatory bodies, in relation to civil liberties and Human Rights Act claims.
Factual and procedural background The linked appeals concern an elderly father, mother and their adult daughter, who are all nationals of Afghanistan. Following the takeover…
Sarah Asmeta, a French-born and fully qualified lawyer who chooses to wear the hijab (a headscarf worn by Muslim women) has lodged her case at…
No5’s Laura Davidson has published a chapter in a new book titled – Mental Health, Legal Capacity, and Human Rights (Michael A. Stein, Faraaz Mahomed,…
