We are delighted to announce that Sophie Lucas has joined Garden Court Chambers as a new tenant.
Sophie is a public law practitioner with considerable experience acting for claimants in complex human rights challenges against public bodies.
Sophie has over three years post-qualification experience as a public law solicitor representing clients at every level of Tribunal and Court, including before the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights. Sophie has worked on several landmark public law cases, including as a lead solicitor in the judicial review challenge to the government’s ‘Rwanda policy’. Sophie was named ‘Times Lawyer of the Week’ following the Court of Appeal’s ruling that the Rwanda policy was unlawful.
Sophie represents individuals as well as NGOs and trade unions. Sophie represented the Public and Commercial Services Union in a successful challenge to the Secretary of State for the Home Department’s ‘pushbacks policy’, following which, the government withdrew its policy to forcibly redirect small boats in the English Channel back to France.
Sophie undertakes Inquiry work and is presently instructed as part of the Cranston Inquiry investigating the events of 24 November 2021, when at least 27 people died crossing the Channel. As a solicitor, she represented a Core Participant in the Brook House Inquiry into mistreatment at the immigration detention centre.
Sophie also works on judicial review cases with a discrimination angle, including within an education context. Sophie has considerable experience acting for both appellants and respondents in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) appeals across a range of issues and disability discrimination claims.
Sophie completed her training contract at Farrer & Co, where she sat in the Employment, Corporate, Contentious Trusts and Private Immigration teams. Prior to this, Sophie worked as a legal advisor at a women’s legal aid centre in Arusha, Tanzania.
Get in contact with Sophie’s clerks at contactmyclerks@gclaw.co.uk
