Public and Administrative Law
The increasing workload and regulatory activities of local authorities and other statutory bodies have created a rapidly growing demand for specialist legal support in this complex field. Our Public and Administrative Law Practice Group provides highly experienced expert advice and specialist advocacy in all courts from magistrates’ court to the House of Lords.
Our advocates appear for clients at public inquiries, tribunals, local licensing committees and other bodies including the Lands Tribunal and Special Educational Needs Tribunals.
We act for individual, corporate and business clients, as well as a range of departments of local government at county, borough and district level. We also receive instructions via direct professional access from planning consultants, chartered surveyors and others and understand the working practices of fellow professionals.
We also undertake prosecution and defence work in the criminal courts.
To make our service as cost-effective as possible, we are happy to appear in court without an instructing solicitor or other professional present when appropriate and where the Bar Code of Conduct permits.
This group covers all areas of Administrative Court work including judicial review and statutory review, public inquiries, tribunals and boards, the Human Rights Act 1998, local authorities, regulatory offences and coroners.
Specialist teams exist for Planning and Environmental, Licensing, Regulatory Compliance & Enforcement, Trading Standards, Health & Safety, Education and Housing.
Recommendations
Chambers UK 2008
…A ‘pleasure to instruct,’ Leslie Blohm QC of St John’s Chambers ‘takes the other side to pieces’ on Village Green Act disputes. His portfolio covers the development of agricultural land and coverage agreements.
…An ‘extensively recognised practitioner’ who is particularly commended for his ‘academically exhaustive’ understanding of licensing. Professor Roy Light also of St. John’s Chambers, has lectured widely on matters relating to the sector. This year he was involved in an application by the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff seeking extended hours for a range of licensed activites, and successfully represented Teignbridge District Council in five appeals by licensees affected by the authority’s new licensing policies. Professor Light also continues to train local councils in administering and applying laws drawn from the Licensing Act 2003 and the Gambling Act 2005.
Legal 500 2007
St John’s Chambers’ Peter Wadsley is ‘a specialist in the planning field, highly respected by colleagues, thorough, very swift to respond; he has a confident and commanding presence’. David Fletcher ‘takes complex instructions, but is easy to work with and has a keen sense of humour’. Professor Roy Light ‘has considerable skill as an advocate before tribunals at all levels.’
Members
Peter Wadsley (Head of Practice Group)Leslie Blohm QC
David Fletcher
Ian Bullock
James Vine
Richard Stead
Robin Neill
Simon Morgan
Guy Adams
John Sharples
Prof Roy Light
Adrian Maxwell
Simon Goodman
Nigel Fryer
Alexander Troup (Associate Member)
Suzanne Ornsby (Associate member)
Publications
