Junior

Barrister

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.

Barrister

Leo Davidson

Leo accepts instructions in all areas of Chambers practice, with a particular focus on financial regulation, employment law, information law, regulatory law and public law.

He is ranked in Legal 500 2023 as a Tier 1 Rising Star in Local Government. He is “very able and provides sound, user-friendly advice”, and his “sophistication, advocacy and commercial awareness and vision are strong”. Clients also say that he “is forensic and gets into the detail and history of matters, particularly where they concern technical legal points or matters of statutory interpretation”.

Barrister

Joseph Lavery

Joseph practises in all of Chambers’ core areas including public law and human rights, information and data law, public procurement, education and employment.

Prior to coming to the Bar, Joseph was the Judicial Assistant to Sir Geoffrey Vos, Master of the Rolls, in the Court of Appeal. In this role Joseph worked on notable and high-profile appeals spanning the breadth of civil law, including in the area of public law and human rights. Joseph has a LLM from Harvard Law School, where he studied comparative public law as a scholar of the Saint Andrew’s Society of New York, and a BA in Jurisprudence from the University of Oxford.

Barrister

Rita Dias

Rita practises in all of Chambers’ core areas of practice including commercial, employment, public and human rights, public international law, data protection and sport.

During the course of her pupillage, she assisted with high-profile cases, including:

A landmark decision of the Court of Appeal confirming that the Court has the power, in appropriate circumstances, to order parties to court proceedings to engage in alternative dispute resolution.
A Supreme Court appeal concerning the privacy and free speech implications of restricted reporting orders in the context of ‘end of life’ care cases.
Major High Court team move litigation.
The first case to reach the Supreme Court on the meaning and application of the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.
Advisory proceedings before the ICJ on the obligations of states in respect of climate
Upper Tribunal proceedings relating to an enforcement notice in respect of data processing activities.

Prior to coming to the Bar, Rita graduated with a first-class degree in Law from the University of Cambridge, and a Distinction on the BCL from the University of Oxford. She was awarded the Eldon Law Scholarship in 2023.

Barrister

Aliya Al-Yassin

Aliya practises in all areas of Chambers’ work including commercial, employment, public and human rights, data protection, sport, and public international law.

Aliya has recently acted in several high-profile cases. Current and recent highlights including acting in or assisting with:

A successful application in the Commercial Court for the first post-Brexit anti-suit injunction enforcing an employee’s right to be sued in England.
A High Court employment and shareholding dispute against a leading F1 Team by its former CEO/Team Principal.
An ongoing challenge in the High Court to UK Government decisions to continue granting licences for arms exports to Israel in the context of the war in Gaza.
Advisory proceedings before the International Court of Justice on Israel’s aid obligations in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory following its ban on UNRWA.
A challenge before the European Court of Human Rights on the UK Government’s Rwanda removal policy.
Proposed privacy claims in the context of wider civil fraud proceedings worth billions of dollars against a deceased oligarch.

Before coming to the Bar, Aliya was the Judicial Assistant to Lady Arden and Lord Kitchin in the Supreme Court, and UK Focal Point to the European Court of Human Rights’ Superior Courts’ Network, where she gained exposure to several high-profile cases across her areas of practice. She previously trained as a solicitor at Slaughter and May, and was an associate in the firm’s Disputes and Investigations team.

Aliya has an LLB from SOAS, University of London (where she graduated top of the year, and won multiple prizes), and studied for the BCL at the University of Oxford (where she was awarded the Daniel Slifkin scholarship).

Barrister

Lucy Jones

Lucy practises in all areas of Chambers’ work including commercial, employment, public and human rights, data protection, public international law and procurement.

She is instructed in cases before a wide range of international and domestic courts. Current and recent highlights include acting in or assisting with:

The Central European University v Hungary – an ECHR claim against the Hungarian Government following closure of the University’s operations in Budapest.
Miller v University of Bristol – a high-profile claim against the University of Bristol in which the University was found to have discriminated against Professor Miller because of his anti-Zionist beliefs.
Guyana v Venezuela (Arbitral Award of 3 October 1899) – a case concerning the international boundary between the two States as determined by an arbitral award dating from 1899.
Smart City Solutions v. Guyana – an ICSID arbitration concerning a parking concession in the capital city of Georgetown.
British Business Bank plc v Information Commissioner – an appeal under the FOIA maintaining non-disclosure in the Bank’s favour.

Before coming to the Bar, Lucy qualified as a solicitor at Freshfields, where she practised as an Associate in the Dispute Resolution Team. She also previously worked as a Government Legal Adviser where she advised on data policy and the negotiation of the UK’s international trade agreements.

Barrister

Oliver Mills

Oliver accepts instructions across all of Chambers’ core areas of practice, including employment, public law and human rights, and data protection matters. He acts in, and advises on, the following matters in particular:

Statutory employment law claims, including complex discrimination and whistleblowing claims. Oliver has a particular interest in claims involving disability discrimination and discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief.
Data protection claims, including proceedings alleging breach of the UK GDPR and/or the Data Protection Act 2018.

Prior to coming to the Bar, Oliver was the Judicial Assistant to the Senior President of Tribunals in the Court of Appeal and taught law at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has a first-class degree in Jurisprudence and a Distinction on the BCL from the University of Oxford.

Barrister

Christian Davies

Christian has a broad practice encompassing public law and human rights, employment, education, sport, information and data protection and public procurement law.

Recent highlights include:

Acting for Guy Carpenter in expedited High Court team move proceedings against Howden and certain of its former employees.
Acting for Black Equity Organisation in its successful intervention in R (Donald) v SSHD [2024] EWHC 1492 (Admin), in which the Court held that the Home Secretary’s decision not to proceed with recommendations relating to the Windrush scandal was unlawful and contravened the human rights of Windrush victims.
Acting for World Athletics in a challenge before the Court of Arbitration for Sport regarding the regulations governing who can compete in the women’s category in international athletics events.
Acting for claimants and respondents in various cases before the Employment Tribunal, including claims for unfair dismissal, unlawful deduction of wages, discrimination and whistleblowing.

Before coming to the Bar, Christian practised as a solicitor at the Public Law Project, where he focused on strategic public law litigation. He previously trained and qualified as a solicitor at Slaughter and May, where he practised as an Associate in the Pensions, Employment and Incentives team.

Barrister

Remi Reichhold

Remi Reichhold is a public law and public international law specialist, acting for and advising national governments, government departments, public bodies and corporate entities. He represents clients in the First-tier and Upper Tribunal, County Court, High Court and Court of Appeal. Remi regularly acts for States before the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and international arbitral tribunals.

In addition to Remi’s expertise in public law and public international law, he also has significant experience in information law and data protection, police law, inquests and sports arbitration.

Before joining chambers in private practice, Remi spent seven years working as Research Associate to Professor Philippe Sands KC. He assisted Professor Sands in his capacity as arbitrator in more than a dozen investment treaty claims under ICSID and UNCITRAL rules.

Remi has been appointed to the Attorney General’s civil panel (C Panel). He accepts instructions in all his specialist areas, including on a Direct Access basis.

Barrister

Andrew Smith

Andrew practises in the fields of employment and discrimination law, sports law and commercial law.

His employment practice encompasses complex and high value disputes in the Employment Tribunal, EAT, High Court and Court of Appeal. He is regularly instructed to appear in lengthy whistleblowing discrimination and whistleblowing trials, as well as commercial employment disputes. He has appeared in the Court of Appeal in the high profile employment cases of Smith v Pimlico Plumbers, Kong v Gulf International Bank and Mackenzie v AA.

Andrew’s domestic sports law practice includes arbitrations, disciplinary proceedings and appearing before the Professional Football Compensation Committee. In addition to his work as an advocate, Andrew has experience of sitting as an arbitrator, an appeal board member and an independent investigator. In terms of his international practice, Andrew has worked on several cases in the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the Basketball Arbitral Tribunal.

Andrew is ranked by the legal directories as a leading junior barrister in both employment and sports law. He is described as someone who “immediately inspires confidence and puts the client at ease”, “quickly gets to grips with large and complex cases”, and is a “very strong courtroom advocate” and “brilliant”. Other recommendations may be viewed below.

Samuel Willis

Leo Davidson

Joseph Lavery

Rita Dias

Aliya Al-Yassin

Lucy Jones

Oliver Mills

Christian Davies

Remi Reichhold

Andrew Smith

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