Administrative & Public Law

Members of Old Square Chambers appear in some of the most significant and high-profile public law claims brought against the government, for both Claimants and Defendants. Our barristers are well-represented on Treasury Panels and a number have security clearance up to Developed Vetting level. Ben Collins QC acts a Special Advocate in high-profile national security proceedings.

Members of Old Square Chambers appear regularly in the Administrative Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights, and have appeared in a wealth of reported cases. They are frequently instructed by individual and institutional claimants including human rights organisations, charities and trade unions; as well as by defendants including government departments, local authorities and other public sector bodies.

Our success in public law claims is often underpinned by expertise in overlapping fields of law. Old Square Chambers has vast experience in equality issues, and our barristers frequently appear in cases dealing with discrimination law, the Public Sector Equality Duty and the ECHR. We frequently provide advice and representation in judicial reviews of professional regulatory decisions, often although by no means exclusively in the health care sector. Members of chambers have considerable experience of inquests and public inquiries, and of public law challenges arising in those fields. In particular in the last decade, Old Square Chambers has had industry-leading involvement in Criminal Injuries Compensation work, with members having appeared in almost every major appeal in this field in recent years.

This area of law overlaps with our practice in Civil Liberties and Human Rights law.