Raphael Hogarth

Raphael is ranked as an “Up and Coming” junior in administrative and public law by Chambers and Partners, and as a “Rising Star” in public law and human rights by the Legal 500.

He has acted for individuals, companies, NGOs, central government departments, regulators and local authorities in public law disputes, including judicial reviews and statutory appeals.

He is particularly interested in the use of public law to advance and defend commercial interests, and has acted in several disputes in which commercial entities have challenged regulatory decisions, procurement processes or subsidy-related decisions.

He also has extensive experience of working on strategic litigation, including obtaining costs-capping orders in public interest proceedings and advising on the interplay between judicial review and wider campaigning strategy.

Recent highlights include:

• R (GB News Limited) v Office of Communications [2024] EWHC 2658 (Admin) – acted for Ofcom, successfully resisting an application for interim relief in a challenge by GB News to a decision that a Q&A Programme with Rishi Sunak MP breached impartiality rules.
• R (Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain) v Central Arbitration Committee (Interested Party: Deliveroo) [2024] 2 All ER 1 – acted for Deliveroo in a Supreme Court appeal about whether collective bargaining legislation breaches riders’ rights under Article 11 ECHR. This was one of The Lawyer’s Top 10 appeals of the year.
• R (West Coast Railway Company Ltd) v Office of Rail and Road [2024] 4 WLR 12 – acted for the UK’s largest heritage railway company, operator of the so-called ‘Hogwarts Express’ Jacobite service, in a judicial review of a certification decision by the rail regulator.
• R (Shashikanth) v NHS Litigation Authority and NHS Commissioning Board (aka NHS England) [2024] EWCA Civ 1477 – acted for NHS England in this appeal concerning the amenability to judicial review of a contractual adjudicator.
• R (DF) v Essex County Council  [2024] EWCA Civ 1545 – acted for the successful authority in this appeal concerning the relationship between the Housing Act 1996 and the Children Act 1989.
• R (London Borough of Islington) v Secretary of State for Education [2024] EWCA Civ 951, [2024] EWHC 1798 (Admin) – acted for the Claimant in proceedings before the High Court and Court of Appeal to challenge to a ‘forced academisation’.
• Arkorful v Social Work England [2024] EWHC 73 (Admin) – acted for the successful regulator in two joined High Court appeals of adjudicators’ decisions in fitness to practise proceedings.
• Abbasi and another v Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and another 2023/0052 – acted for an NGO, intervening by way of written submissions, in a Supreme Court appeal concerning the free speech implications of restricted reporting orders in ‘end of life’ cases.
• R (Good Law Project) v Prime Minister & Others [2023] 1 WLR 785 – acted for the Claimant before the High Court and Court of Appeal in a challenge to the use of private email accounts and phones for government business.
• R (Gardner & Harris) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care [2022] EWHC 967 (Admin) – acted for the successful Claimants in a judicial review of the government’s decisions in relation to care homes during the first wave of the pandemic. This was one of The Lawyer’s Top 20 cases of 2022.
• R (A and others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 360 (Admin) – acted for the successful Home Secretary in a challenge to the government’s flagship asylum reforms.
• R (Good Law Project) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Interested Parties: (1) Bunzl (2) Tulchan Communications (3) Lord Feldman) [2022] EWHC 2888 (TCC) – successfully obtained a costs-capping order in a challenge to the award of a high-value PPE contract to a firm with links to the former chair of the Conservative Party.
• R (Good Law Project) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Pharmaceuticals Direct Limited) UKSC 2022/0082 (public settlement reached) – acted for the Appellant in a Supreme Court appeal about service in judicial review proceedings.
• In the matter of the Prime Minister – instructed by the Good Law Project, with Jason Coppel KC, to advise on the Parliamentary process for disciplining MPs following the announcement that Boris Johnson had been fined for a lockdown breach (published here), and then on the procedure for the Privileges Committee’s inquiry into Boris Johnson (published here).

Raphael is ranked as leading junior in this area by both Chambers and Partners and the Legal 500. He is frequently instructed in data protection, privacy, technology and information law matters.

Recent experience in the data protection and privacy field includes:

• Clearview AI v Information Commissioner [2023] UKFTT 00819 (GRC) – acted for the successful US facial recognition company in this high-profile challenge to enforcement and penalty notices issued by the Commissioner for alleged breaches of the GDPR and UK GDPR.
• Advice on data breaches – advice to several controllers in the public and private sector on regulatory or civil proceedings arising from cyber-attacks.
• Proceedings against a social media company – advice to a platform in relation to proceedings for alleged breaches of data protection legislation.
• Threatened class action against a technology company – instructed in relation to a threatened class action against a company in the artificial intelligence sector for alleged data breaches.
• Handling of communications data – advice on businesses’ duties in relation to communications data under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016.
• Local government privacy dispute – instructed by a local authority in relation to a complex and long- running dispute with public officials concerning alleged breaches of their privacy in disclosures to the press.
• Advising and acting for controllers in relation to data breach proceedings before the civil courts, and other contentious data protection issues.

Recent experience in the Freedom of Information and Environmental Information field includes:

• Cabinet Office v Information Commissioner and Tommy Sheppard MP [2024] UKUT 76 (AAC) – acted for Tommy Sheppard, then the Scottish National Party’s Spokesman on Scotland, in an Upper Tribunal appeal concerning a request for polling information on attitudes to the Union. The hearing was reported on the front page of The National, which has covered the appeal here, here, here, and here.
• Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero v Information Commissioner [2024] UKFTT 184 (GRC) – acted for the successful Information Commissioner in an environmental information appeal relating to official advice on a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project.
• Murray-Smith & ors v Information Commissioner and Transport for London [2024] UKFTT 001064 (GRC) – acted for the successful public authority in five joined appeals concerning information about cameras in London and the public safety, national security, course of justice and manifest unreasonableness exemptions under the EIR.
• Tarcy v Information Commissioner and Transport for London [2024] UKFTT 778 (GRC) – acted for the successful public authority in an appeal concerning graffiti damage and the law enforcement exemption under FOIA.
• Williams v Information Commissioner [2023] UKUT 312 (AAC) – acted for the successful Information Commissioner in an Upper Tribunal appeal concerning vexatious requests under s.14 FOIA.
• Ingle v Information Commissioner and Cambridgeshire County Council [2023] UKUT 80 (AAC) – acted for the successful Information Commissioner in an Upper Tribunal appeal concerning the personal information exemption under FOIA.
• R (Good Law Project) v Prime Minister & Others [2023] 1 WLR 785 – acted for the Claimant in an appeal concerning the use of non-government communications systems such as WhatsApp for government business, including on the basis that such use hinders the effective operation of FOIA.

Raphael accepts instructions across the full range of commercial and statutory employment matters. Recent highlights in the appellate courts include:

• R (Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain) v Central Arbitration Committee (Interested Party: Deliveroo) [2024] 2 All ER 1 – acted for Deliveroo in a Supreme Court appeal about collective bargaining rights and worker status. This was one of The Lawyer’s Top 10 appeals of the year.
• Boydell v NZP Ltd [2023] EWCA Civ 373 – acted for the successful employer in proceedings to restrain a departing employee from breaching non-compete, non-deal and non-solicit clauses. See podcast episode.

Raphael also regularly appears in the Employment Tribunal. He is frequently instructed from an early stage in proceedings in order to advise on tactical issues. He has acted for employers across a wide range of sectors including financial services, professional services, technology, leisure, retail and local government.

Raphael is ranked as a “Rising Star” in public procurement by the Legal 500. He accepts instructions from economic operators and authorities.

In the procurement sphere, he has experience of acting in civil proceedings before the Technology and Construction Court and judicial review proceedings before the Administrative Court.

Raphael also accepts instructions in subsidy control matters, including advisory work and judicial reviews of subsidy control decisions before the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

Recent highlights include:

• iPlato Healthcare Limited v NHS England HT-2024-000041 – acted for the Claimant in a High Court challenge to an exclusion decision relating to a major NHS framework.
• Consultant Connect Limited v (1) NHS Bath ICB (2) NHS Gloucestershire ICB and (3) NHS Bristol ICB (Interested Party: Monmedical Limited) [2022] EWHC 2037 (TCC) – acted for the successful Claimant in this wide-ranging public procurement challenge, in which the Court made the first ever contract shortening order upon finding several breaches of the Public Contract Regulations 2015.
• R (Good Law Project) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Interested Parties: (1) Bunzl (2) Tulchan Communications (3) Lord Feldman) [2022] EWHC 2888 (TCC) – acted for the Claimant in a judicial review of the award of a high-value PPE contract to a firm with links to the former chair of the Conservative Party.
• R (Good Law Project) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Pharmaceuticals Direct Limited) UKSC 2022/0082 (public settlement reached) – acted for the Appellant in this Supreme Court appeal about extending time in a claim for breaches of the Public Contract Regulations 2015.

Raphael accepts instructions on Public International Law matters and has experience of advising on and litigating these issues in both domestic and international forums.

His recent experience includes:

• Proceedings before a UN agency – advising on proceedings before the supervisory body of one of the United Nations’ specialised agencies.
• Advice on CRPD – advising on the role of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on claims for disability discrimination contrary to Article 14 ECHR.
• Clearview AI v Information Commissioner [2023] UKFTT 00819 (GRC) – appeal concerning whether enforcement action against a US facial recognition company was beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the UK regulator.
• R (Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain) v Central Arbitration Committee (Interested Party: Deliveroo) [2024] 2 All ER 1 – appeal concerning whether Deliveroo riders were employees for the purposes of Article 11 ECHR, having regard to the criteria laid down in International Labour Organization Recommendation 198 on the employment relationship.

Raphael accepts instructions in sports law matters and has a particular interest in regulatory work. He has recently written an analysis of proposals for a new independent football regulator for LawInSport, and is able to draw on his extensive experience of acting both for and against regulators (including Ofcom, Ofsted, the Office of Rail and Road, the General Medical Council, Social Work England and the Information Commissioner) to advise on strategy in contentious regulatory matters.