Over 40 years ago, Garden Court Chambers was founded on a commitment to promote fundamental human rights and freedoms. These principles are reflected throughout our international and transnational work, and embodied in our motto, ‘Do right, fear no-one’.
Our international human rights barristers work at the forefront of international human rights practice, and we are skilled at managing the complex interplay between domestic and international law.
Areas of Expertise
- Investigations and claims arising out of deaths
- Investigations and claims arising out of serious ill treatment
- Trafficking and modern slavery
- Discrimination
- Women’s rights
- Romani, Gypsy and Traveller rights
- Children’s rights
- Rights of disabled persons
- Prisoners’ rights
- Economic, social and cultural rights
- Business and human rights
We provide advice and representation to individuals, charities, organisations and government. Our barristers appear regularly before major international and regional human rights bodies, including the European Court of Human Rights, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights, and the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
Our pioneering human rights work was recognised when we won the Human Rights Set of the Year at the Chambers Bar Awards 2016. Garden Court Chambers also has top rankings in The Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners guides for civil liberties and human rights work.
pioneering human rights practice
Our cases have overturned injustices in landmark decisions of international importance. Our experience includes ground-breaking work around the application of human rights law in armed conflict; the responsibility of states for human rights violations overseas; and challenging the immunity of states and international organisations. Other areas of expertise include challenging discrimination, anti-trafficking, children’s rights and women’s rights.
Members have acted and advised in a range of pioneering cases concerning the responsibility of international organisations for breaches of human rights, such as Balaj et al v The United Nations Mission in Kosovo, KK & ors v AML and Chiragov v Armenia.
ADVISORY WORK, RESEARCH AND TEACHING
Our barristers carry out advisory work, consultancies, research and report writing – including for Amnesty, UNICEF UK and UNHCR – and are in demand for public speaking engagements on human rights issues.
Members of our team teach on international human rights and social justice issues, including at the London School of Economics and Harvard Law School’s Institute for Global Law and Policy.