Imogen is a public law specialist. She is regularly instructed in the most high-profile litigation and in cases of national significance. Her administrative and public law practice involves a mixture of led work, including highly complex judicial reviews, and work as sole counsel. Her clients include children in care, asylum seekers, charities and NGOs, schools and universities, companies, public bodies, and Secretaries of State.

A number of Imogen’s public law clients choose to instruct her on a direct access basis. Many of her clients are in receipt of legal aid.

Imogen has been on the Attorney General’s C Panel of Counsel since 2019. She is ranked in Legal 500 for Administrative and Public Law as a ‘rising star’.

Imogen is on the committee of the Administrative Law Bar Association (ALBA) and the Young Public Lawyers Group (YPLG).

Imogen has acted for the claimant in judicial review challenges to:

• London boroughs’ social housing allocation policies
• Clinical Commissioning Groups’ funding decisions
• DEFRA’s decision to permit the emergency use of a banned pesticide
• Home Office failures to provide asylum support
• Local Authority decisions that an unaccompanied child asylum seeker is an adult
• Local authority decisions around ‘former relevant child’ status for children in care
• Decisions taken under the Care Act and the Children Act

Imogen has acted for the defendant in judicial reviews concerning:

• Covid-19 PPE procurement
• State surveillance powers
• The means test for civil legal aid
• Government policy on electricity and gas meters
• Parole Board decisions
• Ofsted reports
• University admissions

Public law cases of Imogen’s to reach the Court of Appeal include:

• a rationalitiy and proportionality challenge to Defra’s banning of electronic dog collars
• a JR of the Home Secretary’s decision to require a licence for certain telecommunications equipment which poses a threat to national security
• Evangelou v McNicol, acting for Labour Party members excluded from voting in a Labour leadership election; and
• the National Crime Agency’s successful appeal against the granting of interim relief in circumstances where it would in effect disapply the anti-money laundering regime under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Imogen is a contributor to the upcoming edition of Broach and Clements’ “Disabled Children: A Legal Handbook”, Legal Action Group (3rd edition) (chapter on Children’s Services). She is a contributing author to the upcoming “Making Lawful Decisions” (working title), Broach and Butler-Cole eds, Legal Action Group (chapter on Legitimate Expectation).

Imogen is one of LexisNexis’ contributing authors for its LexisPSL service. She has co-authored practice notes on the ‘Prevent Duty’ on public bodies in relation to terrorism (see article here); the status of Strasbourg case law; human rights and statutory construction; judicial deference and the margin of appreciation; civil contingencies and emergency powers; dealing with human rights challenges; and terrorism law.

Cases

Imogen accepts instructions across all aspects of civil liberties and human rights work, including advice and representation.

She has been instructed in cases defending the human rights of individuals and families, as well as acting for corporations seeking to protect their commercial interests through human rights proceedings.

Imogen’s recent cases include:

• a JR challenging a social housing allocation policy on grounds of sex and race discrimination;
• actions against the police, including a failure properly to investigate serious sexual abuse in breach of Article 3;
• a landmark ruling which denied the National Crime Agency access to encrypted data on computers belonging to a “hacktivist” (further details here)
• a company challenging a ban of sales of one of its products (electronic dog collars) on A1P1 grounds;

In her first four years of practice, Imogen was a member of the Executive Committee of the Human Rights Lawyers Association (HRLA). She now sits on the committee of the Administrative Law Bar Association (ALBA) and the Young Public Lawyers Group (YPLG).

Imogen previously ran the year 12 programme of a project called ‘Your Law’, organising and delivering workshops on the Human Rights Act 1998 in state secondary schools in London.

Cases

Imogen is an Education Law specialist. This is an area of particular interest for Imogen since before coming to the Bar she had a career as a teacher. Coming from a family of teachers, Imogen returned to Cambridge University after graduating for postgraduate teacher training (PGCE) and then taught for four years in state schools in Hackney and Islington. During that time, Imogen worked with many children who had what are now called Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs). This previous career gives Imogen rare, first-hand experience of the issues at stake in judicial review challenges and statutory appeals in the education law field.

Imogen advises and represents:

• Pupils / students and their families
• Children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
• Schools
• Universities
• Admissions panels
• Local authorities
• Ofsted and regulators
• The Secretary of State for Education

Imogen accepts instructions across the full range of education law issues. She has previously provided advice and/or representation in relation to:

• Judicial reviews of Ofsted decisions
• Judicial reviews of admissions decisions
• Fee-paying schools ceasing to educate students due to non-payment of fees
• School policies
• Special educational needs provision
• Statutory appeals relating to EHCPs

Imogen was a founding member of Monckton’s Education Law practice group and established the Monckton Education Law Blog.

Cases

Imogen acts on both claimant and defendant sides in major procurement litigation. Recent cases included acting for the Department for Transport in Eurotunnel’s procurement challenge to the award of Brexit ferry contracts.

Imogen is currently instructed by the Department for Health and Social Care in a number of judicial review challenges brought by the Good Law Project concerning procurement of PPE during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Cases

Imogen advises on competition and associated regulatory law issues, assists undertakings involved in CMA market investigations and acts for companies bringing and defending proceedings in both the High Court and in the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

Imogen was instructed by the Prysmian Defendants in the (National Grid) Power Cables litigation.

She was instructed by Vodafone and TalkTalk in their appeal against Ofcom’s Business Connectivity Market Review 2019, led by Alan Bates.

Imogen was instructed as junior counsel to Kassie Smith QC in Socrates Training Ltd v The Law Society of England and Wales. This landmark case was the first “fast-track” trial in the Competition Appeal Tribunal. Imogen acted for the Law Society.

Imogen represented the Showmen’s Guild of Great Britain during a CMA inquiry into the Guild’s rules. The investigation was closed, without the imposition of any penalty, when the CMA accepted that its competition concerns were met by the Guild’s commitments to amend certain of its rules.

She was involved in Google’s successful defence of Streetmap’s competition law challenge (Streetmap.EU v Google Inc.) and in the ‘Air Cargo’ litigation (Emerald Supplies v British Airways).

Cases

Imogen acts for companies in the telecommunications sector, providing representation and advice in relation to matters including statutory appeals and judicial review challenges to Ofcom decisions.

She was instructed by Vodafone and TalkTalk in their appeal against Ofcom’s Business Connectivity Market Review 2019, led by Alan Bates.

Imogen also advises and represents telecommunications companies in relation to competition law (see the ‘Competition’ section above).

During pupillage, Imogen assisted in a statutory appeal against a decision of Ofcom regarding BT’s charges for ethernet services, and EE’s judicial review of Ofcom’s setting of annual licence fees for 1800MHz spectrum.

Imogen accepts instructions, both as sole counsel and as junior counsel in larger teams, in challenges to local government decision-making. This includes advice and representation in relation social housing and community care issues. Imogen regularly acts for children and their families as well as in adult social care challenges.

She has been involved in a number of judicial review challenges to the housing allocation policies of London borough councils.

Imogen regularly acts for unaccompanied child asylum seekers in their judicial review challenges to local authorities’ “age assessments” which have found them to be over 18 years old.

Through her work with Advocate (a charity which links barristers with those needing free legal help), Imogen has provided pro bono assistance to a charity which works with children in care.

Imogen accepts instructions to advise and represent individuals, businesses, regulators and Government departments in the area of consumer law and business regulation.

Imogen represented the Showmen’s Guild of Great Britain during a CMA inquiry into the Guild’s rules. The investigation was closed, without the imposition of any penalty, when the CMA accepted that its competition concerns were met by the Guild’s commitments to amend certain of its rules.

Imogen also acts in judicial reviews with a consumer protection element. She acted for the successful Secretary of State in R (Utilita) v SSBEIS, a JR relating to the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy’s roll-out of second generation smart meters for electricity and gas.

Before coming to the Bar, Imogen read Philosophy at Cambridge, graduating with a double first and coming third across the university in both parts I and II of Tripos.

From 2016 to 2018 Imogen was a trustee of ‘Pro Bono Community’, a charity which seeks to improve access to justice by providing specialist training to volunteers in Law Centers and advice agencies.

In 2017-18, Imogen was seconded to the legal department of Origami Energy Ltd, a tech start- up in the energy sector. She advised on matters of contract and company law, including non- disclosure agreements and other commercial contracts, the issuing of shares, and the appointment and removal of company secretaries and directors.

Imogen has been awarded a range of scholarships including:

• Phoenicia Scholarship (Bar European Group, 2016);
• BPTC Advocacy Scholarship (City Law School, 2014);
• Exhibition Award (Inner Temple, 2013 and 2014 );
• Boutwood Scholarship for gaining a First (Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 2006 and 2007)
• College Exhibition (Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 2005); and
• College Prize for examination results (Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 2005, 2006 and 2007).

Imogen has received a number of awards including:

• City Law School Outstanding Achievement in Volunteering, for successful pro bono representation of Law Centre clients in the First Tier Tribunal (2014);
• shortlisted for City Law School Public Law Essay Prize (2014); and
• Winner of the City Law School Bar Society Mock Trial (2014).

Imogen represented Inner Temple in debate. She speaks conversational French and is a Wadoryu karate black belt.

Rising Star in Administrative and Public: “Imogen is a brilliant barrister. She has a first-class mind, is very hard-working, is greatly responsive, and is user friendly. She is also particularly good at dealing with clients.” – Legal 500, 2022

Rising Star in Administrative and Public: “She has a first-class mind, is very hard-working, is greatly responsive and is user friendly. She is also particularly good at dealing with clients.” – Legal 500, 2021

• Freedom of Information Journal – Recent decisions of the Commissioner and Tribunal – January 2018 to March 2018
• Freedom of Information Journal – Recent decisions of the Commissioner and Tribunal – June 2018 to September 2018