Stephen Cragg QC and Nikolaus Grubeck have been named as two of only ten barristers in this year’s The Lawyer’s Hot 100, which “gathers together the best lawyers in the UK”.
Stephen Cragg QC is noted for his “busy human rights practice”, “packed with significant cases” including acting for a young woman from Northern Ireland in the Supreme Court seeking access to NHS-funded abortion in England; “the biggest ever civil action against the police” in which just two of the 15 claimants involved were successful – both Stephen’s clients; and acting for members of the Labour party excluded from a right to vote in its leadership election. The profile concludes by highlighting a forthcoming Court of Appeal case on coronial jurisdiction, and recognising that Stephen has taken on more commercial work since joining Monckton Chambers two years ago.
The description of Nikolaus Grubeck highlights both the “impressive range of human rights cases” and the “major competition and regulatory matters” that are part of his practice. The profile features “just a few of the smorgasbord of cases” for the “busy junior” which includes the Labour leadership election membership exclusion, acting for the Afghan interpreters denied UK asylum, representing the Secretary of State for Health against the big tobacco companies in the challenge to the plain packaging Regulations, and acting for BT against Ofcom regarding the Wholesale Must Offer obligation. The description ends by noting that he “has work lined up for Human Rights Watch, Amnesty and Rights Watch UK on an arms trade case, alongside several meaty competition matters”.