Ollie is a public law and human rights barrister who is ranked as a leading junior in Chambers & Partners and the Legal 500 across his practice areas. Ollie won a Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year (‘LALY’) Award in 2024 and was a finalist for a ‘Junior of the Year’ award at the Legal 500 Awards 2022. He is a member of the Equality & Human Rights Commission’s panel of preferred counsel.
Ollie is the consultant editor of ‘Halsbury’s Laws on Judicial Review’ and a contributing author of the Legal Action Group textbooks, ‘Discrimination in Public Law’ and ‘Migrant Support Handbook’.
Ollie is co-chair of trustees of Southwark Law Centre, a founding trustee of Newham Community Legal Project and a director of the Education Law Association. He previously held academic positions at the LSE and Oxford University and worked for the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights.
Ollie is nominated for ‘Junior Barrister of the Year’ at the Bar Pro Bono Awards 2026. He was previously a finalist for the John Collins Excellence Award at the Bar Pro Bono Awards 2024.
Administrative Law & Human Rights
Overview
Ollie is ranked as a leading junior in Chambers & Partners and the Legal 500 for his administrative law and human rights practice. He acts in urgent and complex claims for judicial review as sole counsel, leading junior and led junior. He litigates at all levels, from the First-tier Tribunal to the European Court of Human Rights, including leading teams in the High Court and the Court of Appeal.
Ollie is the consultant editor of ‘Halsbury’s Laws on Judicial Review’ and a contributing author of the Legal Action Group textbook, ‘Discrimination in Public Law’. He provides practical advice on securing funding, costs protection, evidence-gathering and working collaboratively with NGOs.
Ollie is a member of the Administrative Law Bar Association’s (‘ALBA’) Equality and Diversity Sub-Committee.
Notable Cases
Ollie’s notable recent administrative law and human rights cases include:
R(The Howard League for Penal Reform) v The Secretary of State for Justice, Equality and Human Rights Commission intervening [2026] EWHC 74 (Admin): Sole counsel for the intervener in a High Court challenge to the Secretary of State’s decision to roll out PAVA spray to prisons detaining children.
R(TYC by his litigation friend and mother, KVD) v Birmingham City Council [2025] EWHC 623 (Admin): leading junior in a successful judicial review challenging a decision to provide inadequate post-16 home-to-school transport. Birmingham’s appeal to the Court of Appeal was dismissed by consent.
R(BDH) v London Borough of Lambeth [2025] EWHC 2568 (Admin): Successful judicial review challenging the termination of a disabled child’s social care direct payments. Court issued a mandatory order requiring reconsideration.
R (Angus Cameron) v Secretary of State for Justice & Anor [2025] EWCA Civ 1574: Court of Appeal guidance on the jurisdiction of the Mental Health Tribunal.
R (SAG) v The Governing Body of Winchmore School [2025] EWCA Civ 1335: Sole counsel in urgent proceedings in the High Court and Court of Appeal concerning a permanent exclusion from school.
R (NAA by his litigation friend NAD) v London Borough of Haringey & another) [2025] EWHC 1845 (Admin): Successful High Court challenge to a local authority’s failure to take protective measures towards a victim of child criminal exploitation who had received a positive reasonable grounds decision from the National Referral Mechanism and was permanently excluded from school.
R (TZA) v A Secondary School [2025] EWCA Civ 200: Acted for the Appellant in the High Court and Court of Appeal. The leading case on the Public Sector Equality Duty and school exclusions.
R (CWJ) v Director of Legal Aid Casework & Lord Chancellor, MIND intervening [2025] EWHC 306 (Admin): Landmark judgment in which the High Court recognised for the first time that the right to a fair hearing under Article 6 ECHR can be engaged in school exclusion appeals before an Independent Review Panel (‘IRP’).
R (RWU) v A Governing Body of A Academy and London Borough of Southwark, Black Equity Organisation intervening [2025] EWCA Civ 147: The first case on the Article 4 ECHR protection duty , child criminal exploitation and permanent exclusions.
R (AB) v Bristol City Council [2025] EWHC 893 (Admin): Judicial review of the Secretary of State’s ‘safety valve’ scheme for special educational needs funding.
R(JSH by his father and litigation friend, RRB) v Westmorland and Furness Council [2024] EWHC 3362 (Admin): Successful judicial review which clarified the law in respect of section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014.
R(L, by his litigation friend and mother, LC) v Hampshire County Council [2024] EWHC 1928: Successful judicial review providing authoritative guidance on the criteria for the High Court to grant a mandatory order requiring a local authority to secure special educational provision in a child’s EHCP.
R(A by his litigation friend, B) v North Central London Integrated Care Board and Haringey County Council [2024] EWHC 2682 (Admin): Successful judicial review and the first High Court judgment to consider the duty to secure healthcare provision in an Education, Health and Care Plan under section 42(3) Children and Families Act 2014.
ECPAT UK & Brighton & Hove City Council v SSHD [2023] EWHC 1953 (Admin) (Judgment No. 1); [2023] EWHC 2199 (Admin) (Judgment No. 2); [2023] EWHC 3030 (Admin) (Judgment No. 3); [2024] EWHC 1353 (Admin) (Judgment No. 4): Acted for a successful claimant in challenging the SSHD’s use of hotels to accommodate unaccompanied asylum-seeking children outside of the National Transfer Scheme. The High Court granted the first-ever suspended quashing order with conditions attached. News item here.
Smith v Secretary of State for the Home Department, FFT and Liberty intervening [2024] EWHC 1137 (Admin): Successful judicial review in which the High Court held that the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (‘CJPO Act’) introduced by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (‘Police Act’), were incompatible with Article 14 ECHR read with Article 8 ECHR, as they amount to unjustified discrimination against Gypsies and Travellers.
The Commissioners for His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs v Mr Abubaker Arrbab [2024] EWCA Civ 16: Parts of HMRC’s mandatory reconsideration regime struck out on the basis of it being introduced by ultra vires regulations. The legal team won the Citizens’ Advice ‘Most Outstanding Impact’ Award 2024 for representing Mr. Arrbab.
Derbyshire NHS Foundation Trust v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care [2023] EWHC 3182 (Admin): Acted for a mental health patient in successfully resisting a hospital trust’s application to weaken procedural safeguards for renewing Community Treatment Orders (‘CTOs’), under the Mental Health Act 1983.
R (AI) v London Borough of Wandsworth and Secretary of State for Education [2023] EWHC 2088 (Admin): High Court case concerning PSED-compliance in securing special educational provision for a transgender young person.
GP v Lime Trust, Equality and Human Rights Commission Intervening [2023] UKUT 77 (AAC): Guidance case on the jurisdiction of the First-tier Tribunal to consider PSED compliance in disability discrimination claims against schools.
R (CR) (by their litigation friend, TI) v Director of Legal Aid Casework and Lord Chancellor [2023] EWCA Civ 717: Judicial review that led to expansion of legal aid for prospective adoptive children in SEND Tribunal proceedings. Guidance from Court of Appeal on retrospective Costs Capping Orders.
HZ & Ors v SSHD [2023] EWHC 660 (Admin): High-profile test case challenging the operation of the Afghan bridging hotels scheme.
Contact Ollie
Community Care Law
Overview
Ollie is ranked in Chambers & Partners for his community care practice, which spans age assessments, asylum support, support for victims of trafficking, welfare benefits, and health and social care. He is a contributing author of Legal Action Group’s ‘Migrant Support Handbook’.
He co-convenes Garden Court’s Community Care Team and the Deaf Legal Network.
Notable Cases
Ollie’s recent notable community care cases include:
R (Angus Cameron) v Secretary of State for Justice & Anor [2025] EWCA Civ 1574: Court of Appeal guidance on the jurisdiction of the Mental Health Tribunal.
R(BDH) v London Borough of Lambeth [2025] EWHC 2568 (Admin): Successful judicial review challenging the termination of a disabled child’s social care direct payments. Court issued a mandatory order requiring reconsideration.
R (A) v North Central London Integrated Care Board [2025] EWCA Civ 48: Court of Appeal case concerning restitution for unjust enrichment where a parent of a severely disabled child has stepped in to pay for healthcare provision in circumstances where the Defendant (at High Court stage) had been found to breach a statutory duty.
R(ARO) v London Borough of Islington JR-2025-LON-001201: Acted for the successful Claimant/Applicant in complex and widely reported age dispute judicial review proceedings. Obtained urgent interim relief from the High Court and established that the Claimant/Applicant was a child at a week-long fact-finding hearing.
AYW & Anor, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWHC 3291 (Admin): Successful judicial review in which the High Court granted a mandatory order requiring the Home Office to accommodate two asylum seekers (a mother and a severely disabled child) in adequate accommodation.
ECPAT UK & Brighton & Hove City Council v SSHD [2023] EWHC 1953 (Admin) (Judgment No. 1); [2023] EWHC 2199 (Admin) (Judgment No. 2); [2023] EWHC 3030 (Admin) (Judgment No. 3); [2024] EWHC 1353 (Admin) (Judgment No. 4): Acted for a successful claimant in challenging the SSHD’s use of hotels to accommodate unaccompanied asylum-seeking children outside of the National Transfer Scheme. The High Court granted the first-ever suspended quashing order with conditions attached. News item here.
The Commissioners for His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs v Mr Abubaker Arrbab [2024] EWCA Civ 16: Parts of HMRC’s mandatory reconsideration regime struck out on the basis of it being introduced by ultra vires regulations. The legal team won the Citizens’ Advice ‘Most Outstanding Impact’ Award 2024 for representing Mr. Arrbab.
Derbyshire NHS Foundation Trust v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care [2023] EWHC 3182 (Admin): Acted for a mental health patient in successfully resisting a hospital trust’s application to weaken procedural safeguards for renewing Community Treatment Orders (‘CTOs’), under the Mental Health Act 1983.
HZ & Ors v SSHD [2023] EWHC 660 (Admin): High-profile test case challenging the operation of the Afghan bridging hotels scheme.
Contact Ollie
Education Law
Overview
Ollie is ranked as a leading junior in Chambers & Partners and the Legal 500 for his education law practice. He co-convenes Garden Court’s Education Law team, coordinates the School Inclusion Project, sits on the executive committee of the Education Law Association and chairs Legal Action Group’s annual Education Law Conference.
Ollie acts for children, young people and families in all forums where education law issues arise, and frequently acts as sole or leading junior in complex and/or urgent cases in the Upper Tribunal, High Court and Court of Appeal. He has acted in nearly all the recent higher court cases on permanent exclusion from school, including all cases to reach the Court of Appeal since the current statutory scheme for permanent exclusion was introduced in 2011. He also acted in the two recent leading High Court cases on the duty to secure special educational provision in an Education, Health and Care Plan, obtaining mandatory orders in each.
Notable Cases
Ollie’s recent notable education law cases include:
R (PZP and STW) v HS Academy Trust and the Independent Review Panel of HS Academy Trust [2026] EWHC 489 (Admin): Leading junior in complex High Court case concerning conditions for waiver of attendance of a SEN Expert, equality duties and process rationality in determining remedies. Permission to appeal to Court of Appeal sought.
R (TYC by his litigation friend and mother, KVD) v Birmingham City Council [2025] EWHC 623 (Admin) – Leading junior in successful judicial review challenging a decision to provide inadequate post-16 home-to-school transport.
R (SAG) v The Governing Body of Winchmore School [2025] EWCA Civ 1335: Sole counsel in urgent proceedings in the High Court and Court of Appeal concerning a permanent exclusion from school.
R & RK v Hertfordshire County Council (SEN): [2025] UKUT 381 (AAC): Upper Tribunal guidance on the overlap between healthcare provision and special educational provision.
R (NAA by his litigation friend NAD) v London Borough of Haringey & another) [2025] EWHC 1845 (Admin): Successful High Court challenge to a local authority’s failure to take protective measures towards a victim of child criminal exploitation who had received a positive reasonable grounds decision from the National Referral Mechanism and was being permanently excluded from school.
R (TZA) v A Secondary School [2025] EWCA Civ 200: Acted for the Appellant in the High Court and Court of Appeal. The leading case on the Public Sector Equality Duty (‘PSED’) and school exclusions.
R (CWJ) v Director of Legal Aid Casework & Lord Chancellor, MIND intervening [2025] EWHC 306 (Admin): Landmark judgment in which the High Court recognised for the first time that the right to a fair hearing under Article 6 ECHR can be engaged in school exclusion appeals before an Independent Review Panel (‘IRP’).
R (RWU) v A Governing Body of A Academy and London Borough of Southwark, Black Equity Organisation intervening [2025] EWCA Civ 147: The first case on the Article 4 ECHR protection duty, child criminal exploitation and permanent exclusions. The High Court and Court of Appeal judgments make clear the important protective role that schools play.
R (AB) v Bristol City Council [2025] EWHC 893 (Admin): Judicial review of the Secretary of State’s ‘safety valve’ scheme for special educational needs funding.
R (JSH by his father and litigation friend, RRB) v Westmorland and Furness Council [2024] EWHC 3362 (Admin): Successful judicial review which clarified the law in respect of section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014, making clear that local authorities need to be proactive and anticipate breaches of the duty to secure special educational provision.
R (L, by his litigation friend and mother, LC) v Hampshire County Council [2024] EWHC 1928: Successful judicial review providing authoritative guidance on the criteria for the High Court to grant a mandatory order requiring a local authority to secure special educational provision in a child’s EHCP.
R (A by his litigation friend, B) v North Central London Integrated Care Board and Haringey County Council [2024] EWHC 2682 (Admin): Successful judicial review and the first High Court judgment to consider the duty to secure healthcare provision in an Education, Health and Care Plan under section 42(3) Children and Families Act 2014.
EM v Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead [2024] UKUT 317 (AAC): Successful Upper Tribunal appeal that clarified that the test for ceasing to maintain an EHCP does not include the question of whether a certain level of educational attainment could be reached in proportion to the amount of provision.
DJ v The Proprietor of Wellington College [2024]: Successful Upper Tribunal guidance case brought on behalf of a disabled child against the well-known private school. The judgment provides important guidance on the need for a “critical assessment” of the question of proportionality under section 15 Equality Act 2010.
XYZ v City, University of London [2024]: A significant Court of Appeal case concerning procedural fairness in university internal investigations into allegations of sexual violence. The case was conceded by City, University of London shortly before a final hearing, with a detailed statement of reasons and the Appellant awarded their costs. The Lady Chief Justice, at an earlier hearing, also provided guidance regarding the Office of the Independent Adjudicator as an alternative remedy to judicial review.
R (TZA) v A Secondary School [2023] EWHC 1722 (Admin): The leading High Court case on the Public Sector Equality Duty (‘PSED’) and school exclusions. Permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal granted.
LC and RC v Hampshire County Council [2023] UKUT 281 (AAC): Upper Tribunal case on the test that should be applied when section I of an EHCP is in dispute.
R (AI) v London Borough of Wandsworth and Secretary of State for Education [2023] EWHC 2088 (Admin): High Court case concerning PSED-compliance in securing special educational provision for a transgender young person.
GP v Lime Trust, Equality and Human Rights Commission Intervening [2023] UKUT 77 (AAC): Guidance case on the jurisdiction of the First-tier Tribunal to consider PSED compliance in disability discrimination claims against schools.
R (CR) (by their litigation friend, TI) v Director of Legal Aid Casework and Lord Chancellor [2023] EWCA Civ 717: A successful systemic challenge in the High Court that led to the Lord Chancellor expanding legal aid eligibility for Looked After Children in SEND Tribunal proceedings, with satellite litigation in the Court of Appeal on retrospective modification of Costs Capping Orders (‘CCOs’).
Contact Ollie
Mental Health Law
Overview
Ollie has a busy mental health law practice. He welcomes instructions in a broad range of mental health matters, including appeals to the First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal, applications for habeas corpus and applications to displace nearest relatives. He has a particular interest in section 117 aftercare issues.
Ollie has previously acted in Court of Protection matters and is well-placed to act in cases raising mental capacity issues.He has significant expertise in child and adolescent mental healthcare and draws upon his background in special educational needs and disability law to provide holistic and practical advice.
Notable Cases
Ollie’s recent notable mental health cases include:
DB v Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust [2026] UKUT 57 (AAC): The Upper Tribunal held that the Mental Health Tribunal had been wrong in finding that a restricted patient must either be detained in a hospital or discharged into the community, and should not on that basis have rejected the patient’s request for (immediate) conditional discharge followed by remaining in hospital informally.
R (Angus Cameron) v Secretary of State for Justice & Anor [2025] EWCA Civ 1574: Court of Appeal guidance on the jurisdiction of the Mental Health Tribunal.
KH v Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust; AH -v- Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust (HM): [2025] UKUT 128 (AAC): Successful Upper Tribunal appeal that provided guidance on litigation capacity issues in the Mental Health Tribunal.
Derbyshire NHS Foundation Trust v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care [2023] EWHC 3182 (Admin): Acted for a mental health patient in successfully resisting a hospital trust’s application to weaken procedural safeguards for renewing Community Treatment Orders (‘CTOs’), under the Mental Health Act 1983.
PQR v Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust [2023] UKUT 195 (AAC): Upper Tribunal appeal concerning the First-tier Tribunal’s jurisdiction to determine whether a CTO had been lawfully renewed.
MB v South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health) [2023] UKUT 261 (AAC): Successful Upper Tribunal appeal regarding whether the First-tier Tribunal’s refusal of the patient’s application to reinstate his application for review of his section involved an error of law.
