Samuel Willis

Samuel practises in all of Chambers’ core areas, including commercial, public, procurement and state aid, EU, public international law, employment, and sport.

He is instructed in cases before a range of international and domestic courts. Current and recent highlights include acting in:

• Re J (A Child) (Court of Appeal) for the Secretary of State for Education (led by Joanne Clement KC) intervening in an appeal about the deprivation of liberty of children under Article 5 ECHR.
• The UN General Assembly’s request to the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion on the obligations of Israel in relation to the presence and activities of the United Nations, other international organisations, and third states in and in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Before coming to the Bar, Samuel was a research fellow in constitutional law at Public Law Project. In this role, Samuel assisted with drafting successful amendments to the Retained EU (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023, provided policy advice on proposed reforms to human rights law, and conducted scrutiny of treaties and other international agreements.

Samuel also worked as a trainee at the EFTA Court in Luxembourg (equivalent to a judicial assistant in England and Wales). In this capacity, Samuel worked on a wide variety of EU and EEA law matters, including state aid and competition, tax, discrimination on the basis of nationality, free movement of services, freedom of establishment, and consumer protection.

Samuel is a contributor to Public Law and the UK Supreme Court: Key Cases and Decisions (forthcoming 2025) and an editor of the Administrative Court Blog.

Samuel graduated with a Double First and an M.Phil in History from the University of Cambridge.