Ciar has experience across the whole spectrum of competition law, and is regularly instructed as junior counsel in high-profile and complex competition litigation.

Cases

Highlights of Ciar’s current and recent instructions in this field include:

• Which v Qualcomm: Ciar acts for The Consumers’ Association, commonly known as Which?, in opt-out collective proceedings against US-based wireless telecoms company Qualcomm Incorporated (led by Jon Turner CK, Anneli Howard and Michael Armitage).
• NHS v Servier: Ciar is junior counsel for the Welsh health authorities in the “pay-for-delay” claims against Servier (led by Josh Holmes KC and Laura Elizabeth John). The dispute is one of The Lawyer’s “Top 20 Cases of 2021”.
• Sportradar v Football DataCo and Betgenius: junior counsel for Sportradar in a standalone claim for an injunction and damages for breach of EU and UK competition law (led by Ronit Kreisberger KC and Alistair Lindsay). The case concerns the grant by FDC to Betgenius of a long-term exclusive right to collect, collate and distribute data from football stadia, for onward supply to bookmakers who offer “in-play” betting.
• Royal Mail plc v Ofcom [2019] CAT 27: acting for Royal Mail in its appeal against Ofcom’s decision that Royal Mail’s access pricing practices had infringed Article 102 TFEU/Chapter II of the CA98 (led by Daniel Beard KC and Ligia Osepciu). The appeal in Royal Mail is one of The Lawyer’s “Top 15 Appeals of 2021”.
• Meigh v Prinknash Abbey Trustees: acted for the Defendant landlord in a fast-track claim brought by one of its tenants (led by Philip Wolfe). The Claimant contended that contractual provisions regulating her use of the leased land amounted to an anticompetitive restriction contrary to Chapter I of the CA98.
• Ciar is also instructed, on a confidential basis, in relation to the Trucks damages litigation.

Ciar has extensive academic and practical experience of public and administrative law. She is regularly instructed in judicial review proceedings, both as joint and sole counsel.

Ciar’s public law cases often raise issues concerning equality and human rights.

Cases

Highlights of her current and recent public law instructions include:

• Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants v Secretary of State for the Home Department: junior counsel in a challenge to an algorithm used by the Home Office to categorise visa applicants on racially discriminatory grounds. In response to the claim, the Home Secretary agreed to discontinue use of the tool pending a review. The claim was the first known successful legal challenge to an algorithmic decision-making system.
• Ofqual algorithm challenge: instructed in a prospective challenge to Ofqual’s algorithm for awarding grades to students unable to sit their exams due to Covid-19. The Secretary of State and Ofqual subsequently agreed that students could be awarded their predicted grades.
• R (JP) v NHS Croydon CCG and Croydon LBC [2020] EWHC 1470 (Admin): junior counsel (led by Michael Armitage) in a successful challenge to the CCG’s decision that a disabled child was ineligible for continuing care and should have his care package reduced. The case was the first known reported challenge to a children’s continuing care decision.
• R (Drexler) v Leicestershire CC [2020] EWCA Civ 502: acting for the Claimant in an Article 14 challenge to the Defendant local authority’s school transport policy for students with special educational needs (led by Jenni Richards KC).
• R (Z) v Agudas Israel Housing Association Limited & LB Hackney [2020] UKSC 40: junior counsel for the Claimants in a discrimination challenge to a housing association’s practice of letting properties only to members of the Orthodox Jewish community (led by Ian Wise KC and Michael Armitage).
• R (ZK) v London Borough of Redbridge [2019] EWHC 1450 (Admin): acting for the Claimant in an Article 14 challenge to the Defendant local authority’s model for providing special educational provision for students with visual impairments (led by Stephen Broach).
• In addition to the cases outlined above, Ciar has extensive experience in education-related judicial reviews. As sole counsel, she successfully negotiated a generous damages settlement for a disabled child who challenged a local authority’s failure to secure alternative educational provision when he became too ill to attend school. She has also acted for a school seeking to challenge its Ofsted rating, as well as in a claim challenging the amount of central government funding for special educational needs provision nationwide.
• Finally, Ciar is also regularly instructed in housing-related judicial reviews. Her cases typically involve equality and human rights issues which arise in a housing context. For example, Ciar has been instructed in a number of judicial reviews successfully challenging residence requirements in local authority housing policies, on the basis that they are indirectly discriminatory against applicants from the Irish Travelling community and refugees. Recently, Ciar also secured a new council home plus damages settlement for a disabled child whose previous accommodation breached her human rights.

Ciar accepts instructions in relation to all aspects of EU law. She regularly advises private clients, NGOs and regulatory bodies on the interpretation of EU legislation.

Recent instructions include advising on the likely impact of Brexit on various regulatory regimes, the rights of data subjects under the GDPR, and the regime for the transportation and/or sale of artworks containing endangered animal products.

In her first year of practice, Ciar also completed a secondment in the Bank of England’s EU Withdrawal Unit, where she advised on Brexit-related issues in the financial sector.

Cases

Ciar maintains a general commercial and arbitration practice. Most recently, she has acted for the successful party in two arbitrations relating to contractual disputes between football clubs (led by Paul Harris KC). Ciar was also instructed as junior counsel (led by Gregory Pipe) in PTNZ v AS [2020] EWHC 3114 (Ch), which was concerned with the construction of the trust deeds of a number of large family trusts.

Other recent work includes drafting a petition of unfair prejudice on behalf of a minority shareholder (led by Gregory Pipe) and advising on the interpretation of a company’s articles of association. Ciar also regularly appears in the County Court in a range of commercial cases, including successfully representing an expert witness in a claim for unpaid fees.

Ciar is rapidly gaining experience in both data protection and freedom of information law. She is instructed in FOI proceedings by both the Information Commissioner and requestors. She also advises individuals who are concerned that their data may have been processed unlawfully.

In addition, Ciar has acted in a number of judicial reviews with a data protection aspect (including JCWI v Secretary of State for the Home Department and the Ofqual algorithm challenge, discussed in the ‘Public and Administrative Law’ section above).

Cases

Ciar appears in the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal on behalf of children and young people appealing the contents of their Education, Health and Care Plans. She also has extensive experience of judicial review claims involving discrimination in the access to education and/or special educational provision, as set out in the ‘Public and Administrative Law’ section above.

Cases

Ciar has been instructed in a range of procurement matters on behalf of both claimants and defendants (including both local and central government bodies).

Cases

Her recent instructions include:

• Arriva v Secretary of State for Transport: junior counsel for Arriva in its recent challenge to a procurement competition run by the Department for Transport in respect of the East Midlands rail franchise (led by Philip Moser KC and Joseph Barrett). The 2019 Rail Franchising Litigation was listed as one of The Lawyer’s “Top 20 cases of 2020”.
• Successfully resisting a challenge to a highways maintenance procurement conducted by a local authority (led by Michael Bowsher KC).
• Acting for a central government department in a challenge to a procurement for a facilities maintenance contract, including in respect of a successful application to lift the automatic suspension (led by Sarah Hannaford KC and Ewan West). 

Education

• BPTC, BPP Law School (VC)
• BCL, Hertford College, University of Oxford (Distinction)
• BA in Law and French Law, Hertford College, University of Oxford (First Class)
• Licence Droit, Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas

Scholarships and prizes

• BCL Prize for best performance in Comparative Public Law (University of Oxford)
• Shelford Scholarship, Lord Denning Scholarship and Hardwicke Entrance Award (Lincoln’s Inn)
• Crowther Shield for public speaking (Lincoln’s Inn)
• Phoenicia Scholar (Bar European Group)

Professional Memberships

• Bar European Group
• Commercial Bar Association
• Constitutional and Administrative Law Bar Association

Languages

• French (advanced)
• Spanish (advanced)