Practice Profile

Call Year - 2008

Rebecca joined Chambers in 2010 following the successful completion of her pupillage, which was undertaken with Suzanne Ornsby, Meyric Lewis and Gregory Jones QC. She was recently ranked as being in the top ten planning barristers under 35 (Planning Magazine, 2011).

During her pupillage, and in her subsequent practice, Rebecca has worked across the breadth of Chambers' areas of expertise. She is now regularly instructed in her own right as well as acting as a Junior to other members of Chambers, and her particular experience and interest covers the following areas:

Planning

Rebecca's Planning experience includes:

• retail planning (including advising a local authority on the application of PPS4 in relation to a major retail development);
• planning and the historic environment (including appearing with Meyric Lewis (as a pupil) on behalf of London Borough of Tower Hamlets in their successful defence of an appeal against refusal of planning permission for major redevelopment at St Katherine Docks. The appeal was one of the first cases to consider the application of the then-recently published PPS5: Planning for the Historic Environment);
• *wind farm development (Rebecca recently appeared for the Rule 6 party, "SIEGE", at a planning inquiry into a 9-turbine development on the Dengie Peninsula);
• enabling development (including appearing for the Rule 6 party at a planning inquiry into a 24 house enabling development scheme near to the Swale SSSA);
• advertising control;
• challenges to decisions of both local authorities and the Secretary of State;
• enforcement - this being a particular area of interest; and
• highways (including appearing in a public inquiry into the stopping up of a road in Southend to facilitate the expansion of London Southend Airport).

Environment

Rebecca has a burgeoning environmental law practice, with particular emphasis on Environmental Impact Assessment and water law (in which Rebecca has a special interest), and has acted as Junior to both Robert McCracken QC and Gregory Jones  QC in these areas. Of particular note, Rebecca appeared for Buglife - the Invertebrate Conservation Trust in a claim against Medway County Council, where she succeeded in persuading the High Court that the ‘promptitude' requirement under CPR 54 did not apply to judicial reviews engaging questions of EU environmental law.

Education

• Rebecca's particular experience covers both Special Educational Needs and exclusion
• She has appeared before both the SENDIST and IAPs
• Rebecca is also currently instructed on a major claim against the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (‘the OIA') before the Court of Appeal, relating to the OIA's duties in relation to discrimination complaints.

General Public Law

• Rebecca has acted as Junior (to Gregory Jones) challenging the decisions of the lower courts in the Court of Appeal, and as appeared on her own account in the High Court.

Housing

• regularly acting for local authority clients in relation to housing possession cases; and
• advising on security of tenure in relation to social housing

Specialist areas

• Town and Village Green Law (including advising local authorities on TVG applications)
• Ecclesiastical law (Rebecca has appeared before the Consistory Court in relation to the demolition of  the churchyard wall of a Grade 1 listed church in Essex).

Rebecca is also keen to develop her practice in the fields of rating and compulsory purchase, of which she gained experience during pupillage.

The above experience has been gained in a range of legal fora, including the county court, magistrates' court, the First Tier Tribunal (both the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal and Special Educational Needs), the High Court, the Court of Appeal and at public inquiries and other administrative hearings.

Publications

• Contributor to The Law of Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions (Norris and Phillips, OUP, 2011)
• Author of "Are Imperative Reasons imperilling the Habitats Directive?" (with Isabella Tafur, for the inaugural Kingsland Conference 2011).

Associations

• Member of ALBA, PEBA and UKELA
• Former Secretary, Inner Temple Mooting Society
• Former President and secretary of Sidney Sussex Law Society (2006-7, 2005-6)

Qualifications and Achievements

• Winner, UKELA Lord Slynn of Hadley Senior Mooting Competition (before Carnwath LJ) (2010)
• Winner, Annual Pepperdine Moot (Inner Temple) (2008)
• Exhibitioner of the Inner Temple; recipient of the Michael Hodges Benefactors Award (2008)
• BVC, College of Law (2008)
• LLB Law, Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge (2007)

Other experience

Prior to coming to commencing her pupillage, Rebecca worked for Volkswagen Group UK, liaising with management across the Group's 5 main brands (Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, SEAT and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles). As a result she has a keen understanding of commercial needs and pressures and always aims to bring this to her advice.