Mishcon de Reya LLP

Mishcon Private, Politics and Law,

Katy is a Partner in Mishcon Private and Head of the Politics and Law Group. Katy specialises in political disputes, public law, and commercial litigation predominantly for individuals and their businesses and families. Katy's breadth of experience ensures that she is well-placed to devise creative solutions to meet the needs of private clients in their wider personal, political and business lives.

Katy is regularly called upon to advise on public law issues and has broad experience advising politicians, activists, NGOs and charities in relation to complex, often high profile, contentious matters engaging issues of equality, administrative law, human rights and international justice. Katy also has great experience advising clients on complex, high-stakes international litigation, deploying creative legal strategies to achieve her clients' specific objectives.

Katy has been at the forefront of high-profile legal cases. In particular, Katy acted for Gina Miller in her successful judicial review claim against the Government, arguing that Article 50 could not be triggered without the express authorisation of Parliament. Katy also made legal precedent by securing the first "fake news" injunction, acted for Margaret Hodge MP in her dispute with the Labour Party in the summer of 2018 and acted for the Jewish Labour Movement in relation to the investigation by the EHRC into Antisemitism within the Labour Party.

Katy has built a reputation for excellent technical work and client service, leading to her being named in The Lawyer's Hot 100 2021, which recognises the most daring, creative and innovative lawyers. The publication noted that "Colton has already dealt crunching body blows to Britain’s political elite" and that as Head of Politics and Law, "the responsibility is now hers to build on the firm’s brand as the legal police officer when it comes to constitutional controversy, and if her past results are anything to go by, UK politicians should be wary of not playing by the rules". Legal 500 notes that "Katy Colton is a rising star" and that she is "exceptional in human rights cases which mix corporate and ethical issues".

In 2018, Katy was named in Management Today's 35 women under 35, the country's longest-running and prestigious list of young, female business talent and Katy was awarded Lawyer of the Year – Associate in the Citywealth Future Leaders Awards 2017. She was previously seconded to civil liberties organisation, Liberty, and has worked for David Lammy MP, the US Congressman Robert Wexler and for the Obama For America campaign.

Katy has also written widely and recorded podcasts on issues related to the rule of law.