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Silk

Barrister

Nigel Giffin

Nigel Giffin practises mainly in the field of public law at 11KBW, although he still undertakes employment law and commercial law cases of certain kinds. His practice covers commercial and environmental judicial review, as well as many aspects of local government law including education, social services, housing, powers and finance and elections. He was formerly a member of the Attorney General’s “A” panel of Counsel to the Crown, and undertook a number of important Human Rights Act cases in this capacity.

He is a CEDR accredited mediator, and has undertaken a number of mediations as both mediator and counsel.

Nigel studied law at Oxford, where he was awarded a first in his degree. He is the author of the chapter on Administrative Court proceedings in Foskett’s Law and Practice of Compromise, and a member of the editorial board of Butterworths Local Government Reports.

Nigel has recently been acting as counsel to the Public Inquiry into the murder of Zahid Mubarek at Feltham Young Offenders’ Institution.

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Barrister

Philip Kolvin

Philip is one of the country’s most eminent licensing KCs. His practice spans all fields of licensing, including alcohol and entertainment, gambling, sexual entertainment, taxis, sport, caravans and the security industry. He acts across the board for national and independent operators, national regulators, local authorities and local residents and community groups.

He has been ranked in the top tier for licensing in the Legal 500 and Chambers directories for many years. As one client put it, “There isn’t anyone who comes close to his stature” (Legal 500).

He is a Patron and former Chair of the Institute of Licensing, the professional body for licensing practitioners, and an Associate Fellow of Westminster University’s Centre for Law, Society and Popular Culture.

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Barrister

Cecilia Ivimy

Cecilia is an experienced public law advocate with particular expertise in judicial review, human rights and information law.  She regularly acts in complex public law and human rights challenges to legislation, Government policy, and regulatory action as well as challenges to individual public authority decisions in a wide range of contexts.  She is expert in sensitive and contentious information law disputes.  She has represented clients at all levels and in multiple appeals in the domestic courts and the European Court of Human Rights.  She is a ranked junior in Public and Administrative Law and Civil Liberties.

Cecilia is a member of the Attorney General’s A Panel of counsel. She is a CEDR accredited mediator.

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Barrister

Aileen McColgan

Aileen is recommended by the directories as a leading silk in administrative & public law, education law, civil liberties & human rights, employment law and independent investigations. She has particular interests in discrimination/equality and human rights law, including the law relating to information/freedom of expression, and extensive experience in conducting independent investigations for a variety of bodies including FTSE 100 and multinational companies, local authorities and national charities, law firms, political parties and universities.

Aileen’s interests in human rights and discrimination law have been reflected in litigation and investigations concerning the boundaries between free speech and alleged antisemitism and transphobia as well as between religious freedom and anti- discrimination rights. She has extensive experience on advising in relation to trans-related issues in the context of education, employment and policing. Recent cases include Forstater v CGD Europe & Ors (on discrimination and gender critical beliefs), R (AI) v London Borough of Wandsworth (on the PSED and the provision of education to trans students) and R (AB) v A county council & Anor (a challenge brought by a teacher in relation to a child’s social transition at school). Aileen has also advised many organisations on the investigation and management of complaints of sexual harassment/ assault and harassment/ bullying, including at the highest levels.

Aileen is recommended by Chambers & Partners (2024) as ‘very responsive and very good with clients… tactically astute and able to cut through large quantities of information and provide clear, strategic and commercial advice quickly’; ‘A great advocate to have in your corner’; ‘really able to think outside of the box’’; ‘exceptional in every aspect of advice and client relationships… a true expert’. The Legal 500 currently recommends her ‘an expert on discrimination law’ whose ‘no- nonsense approach gives confidence to the client’, and as having ‘an encyclopaedic knowledge and really in-depth understanding of the law of equality and discrimination as applicable to schools’.

Previous editions have praised Aileen as ‘a top-class practitioner’, ‘an excellent KC and a pleasure to work with’ (Chambers & Partners 2003) and ‘a leading lawyer [whose] understanding of the key issues and fundamental principles really sets her apart’ (Legal 500 2023); ‘a fierce advocate’ who ‘distils complicated issues into manageable areas … has a phenomenal ability to cut through swathes of information to get to the heart of the matter and has a genuine partnership approach’ (Legal 500, 2022), and as having a ‘stellar academic background [which] means that she is totally on top of the law, and [who] draws on that fountain of knowledge to provide comprehensive but commercial advice’ (Chambers & Partners 2022).

Aileen has a distinguished history as an academic and is internationally recognised as a leading academic in discrimination, equality and human rights law. Her academic work has been cited in the ECHR and the domestic courts. She is the former Chair of the Human Rights Lawyers Association (2019-2021); a current or former member of the editorial committees of Public Law, European Human Rights Law Review, International Journal of Discrimination and the Law and Education Law Reports and former Executive Committee Member of the Industrial Law Society. She has been trustee of the British Institute of Human Rights and was until 2016 the UK’s National Expert on the European Networks of Legal Experts in the Field of Gender Equality and of Experts in the Non-discrimination Field. She has published very widely on human rights, discrimination and employment law.

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Barrister

Peter Oldham

Peter is a well-known practitioner advising and litigating in public, local government, education and employment law, and has always appeared as a leading silk in the directories.  Peter regularly advises and appears in the cutting edge cases in his fields.  Recent litigation includes:

R (Coventry CC) v Home Office (Jan 2025) – challenge to Home Office’s policy on procurement of accommodation for asylum seekers

R (Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council) v Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (Jan 2025) – challenge to LGSCO’s decision on nursery charges and free early education entitlement

R (X) v Bristol City Council (Dec 2024) – challenge to LA’s entry into “safety valve agreement” with DfE for SEN funding

R (Mid Ulster DC) v Department for Communities (Dec 2024) – challenge to refusal of IT grant application to central government

R (An Association) v Department for Education (Oct 2024) – challenge to DfE’s refusal to award funding for increased teaching costs

R (British Medical Association) v Royal College of GPs (Oct 2024) – challenge to exam rules/disability

R (Birmingham CC) v Department for Transport (March 2024) – challenge to cessation of PFI funding from DfT

R (Mid Ulster DC) v Department for Communities (Oct 2023) – rate support grant, equalities and rural considerations

R (Bristol Boaters Community Association) v Bristol CC (Oct 2023) – challenge to LA’s harbour charges

R (X Limited) v OFSTED (Oct 2023) – challenge to OFSTED report by apprenticeship provider

R (RDAG) v Neath Port Talbot Council (Oct 2022) – school reorganisation and Welsh language education

R (AB) v Slough BC (July 2022) – challenge to closure of LA day centre for disabled adults

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Barrister

Julian Milford

Julian Milford was called to the bar in 2000. His main areas of practice are public law, information law, and employment law. Julian undertakes advisory and judicial review work in the field of public and constitutional law for central and local government, other public authorities, and individuals, and has been instructed for and against government on issues of major public importance. He advises on and acts in cases concerning information rights in the civil courts and statutory tribunals, and has been instructed in significant data protection and freedom of information cases, having a particular specialism in national security cases and proceedings in the Investigatory Powers Tribunal. He acts in employment cases in the civil courts and Employment Tribunal, and has experience across the Tribunal’s statutory jurisdiction, including extensive experience of acting in large-scale discrimination/equal pay claims and industrial action cases. His experience in discrimination law and the breadth of his expertise makes him well placed to undertake investigations and inquiries in the employment or regulatory context. He also practices in the field of education law, particularly in cases involving higher education institutions.

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Barrister

Jason Coppel

Jason Coppel’s practice focuses on public law, procurement law and information law, with particular emphasis on EU law and human rights issues. He has appeared in many of the leading public and procurement law cases of recent years, including the Article 50 TEU litigation, Gina Miller v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, Gardner v Secretary of State for Health (on discharge of hospital patients into care homes at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic) Camelot UK Ltd v the Gambling Commission (on the award of the licence to operate the National Lottery), British Gas v Secretary of State for Energy Securing (the subsidy control challenge to the sale of Bulb Energy) and R (TTT) v Michaela Community Schools Trust (prohibition of prayer rituals on school premises).  He is ranked by the directories as a leading KC in public law, human rights, EU law and procurement and subsidy control law.  He is a member of the General Appeals Panel of the Football Association and the Independent Oversight Panel of the Premier League. He was a Deputy High Court Judge between 2018-2024.

Jason was the Chambers & Partners Public Law and Human Rights Silk of the Year 2022.

He was The Times “Lawyer of the Week” in February 2016, after acting for criminal duty solicitors in a successful challenge to new legal aid arrangements, and again, recently, on 2 May 2024, in recognition of his work on the Michaela School case.  You can read the Times profiles here and here.

 

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Barrister

Tom Cross

Tom Cross KC is highly ranked by each of the principal legal directories in seven areas: Administrative & Public Law, Civil Liberties & Human Rights, Education, Professional Discipline, Local Government, Employment, and Data Protection.

He took Silk in 2025. He is described in the directories as “a powerhouse in litigation” who “inspires great confidence”. Before Silk, he was described as: “the best junior at the public law bar, without question”.  He was nominated UK Public Law Junior of the Year 2022, and Public Services and Charities Junior of the Year 2023. He was UK Public Law Junior of the Year 2018 (Legal 500) and UK Employment Law Junior of the Year 2019 (Chambers & Partners).

His most recent instructions include matters as varied and high-profile as: the judicial review of VAT on private school fees (ALX); Tommy Robinson’s challenge to his prison conditions; the leading case on considering equalities impacts in school exclusions (TZA); the leading case on the application of freedom of expression in the workplace (Higgs); defending Katharine Birbalsingh’s ban on prayer rituals at Michaela School; the “Hogwarts Express” judicial review (West Coast Railway Company); the Supreme Court claim by Deliveroo Riders to worker rights (IWGB); the British Generic Manufacturers Association’s challenge to the negotiation of a new scheme for the supply of medicines to the NHS; the Part 8 claim on whether mentally unwell patients could be sectioned following “remote” assessments (Derbyshire NHS Trust); Lucy Letby’s Article 6 claim to an additional legally aided advocate for her defence at her criminal trial; the lockdown judicial review (Dolan); advising on what constitutes non-discriminatory pornography in prisons; the dispute about Manchester United’s away supporter allowance at Stamford Bridge; the challenge to the Census 2021 guidance (Fair Play for Women); Charlie Hughes’ battle for medicinal cannabis on the NHS; the challenge to Bermuda’s prohibition of same-sex marriage (Ferguson); the claim by Sir Philip Rutnam against the then Home Secretary Rt Hon Priti Patel; the dispute between Christ Church, Oxford, and its Dean; the Article 50 / Gina Miller litigation; the challenge to the Parole Board’s decision to release the “Black Cab Rapist” (DSD); the school sex segregation case (Al-Hijrah), representing Strictly Come Dancing Professional Kristina Rihanoff in pregnancy discrimination proceedings, and acting in claims concerning abortion rights, the crime of female genital mutilation, and the recovery of silver from a shipwreck which was sunk during World War Two in the Indian Ocean.

He acts for claimants, defendants, and other parties, principally in litigation. His private and public sector clients range from major companies to private individuals, UK and foreign governments, and regulatory bodies. He is on the Panel of Silks used by the Crown in civil cases (having previously been on the Attorney General’s ‘A Panel’ when junior Counsel) and is one of the Counsel to the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

 

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Barrister

Simon Forshaw

Simon is an experienced practitioner specialising in the areas of employment, commercial, business protection and public law. He is well regarded and is ranked in all the leading directories. He has recently been described in various directories as “supremely intelligent and brilliant”, as taking “a robust stance in combative situations” and as managing “his clients very well”. He regularly appears in the employment tribunals, the EAT, the county court, the High Court and the Court of Appeal dealing with all stages of litigation.

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Barrister

Judy Stone

Judy is a highly experienced practitioner, with a dynamic employment and commercial law practice. Before taking silk in 2024 she was ranked as a top junior in Chambers and Partners and named Chambers & Partners Employment junior of the year in 2023.  She is also recognised as a first-rate barrister in Legal 500 and Who’s Who Legal.

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