Landmark Chambers

Charles practises across all areas of public, planning, infrastructure and environmental law.

Charles practises across all areas of public, planning (including infrastructure) and environmental law.

He has appeared in a number of high-profile cases. His notable work includes:

• COVID-19 care homes challenge – Acting for the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and Public Health England in R (Gardner) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care [2022] PTSR 1338, [2022] EWHC 967 (Admin), a policy challenge relating to certain decisions around care homes at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic (in a team led by Sir James Eadie KC). The case was listed as one of The Lawyer’s top 20 cases of 2020. There were two interlocutory hearings concerning applications for specific disclosure (including of WhatsApp messages) and cross-examination ([2021] EWHC 2422 (Admin)), and the use of expert evidence and parliamentary materials ([2021] EWHC 2946 (Admin)). The case was widely reported in the press, including by the BBC, Sky News, the Telegraph, the Guardian, and the Daily Mirror.

• Brexit – Acting for the proposed intervener, the3million, in a judicial review claim brought by the Independent Monitoring Authority for the Citizens’ Rights Agreements (led by Galina Ward KC and instructed by the Public Law Project) against the Secretary of State for the Home Department in respect of her implementation of the EU Settlement Scheme.

• Napier Barracks – Acting for the claimant in a successful challenge to the Town and Country Planning (Napier Barracks) Special Development Order 2021 which grants planning permission for use of an army barracks in Kent as asylum accommodation (led by Alex Goodman with Alex Shattock) in R (Hough) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 1635 (Admin). Lieven J held that the Secretary of State had breached the public sector equality duty in making the Order. The case was reported on the front page of the Sunday Mirror, in the Guardian and Planning Magazine. An appeal has been lodged in respect of other matters.

• Rent repayment orders – Acting for the intervener, Safer Renting, in Rakusen v Jepsen [2022] 1 WLR 324, the leading case on rent repayment orders under the Housing and Planning Act 2016 (led by Justin Bates). Permission to appeal was granted by the Supreme Court in May 2022.

• East Anglia ONE North offshore windfarm – Acting as junior counsel for the claimant SASES (led by Richard Turney) in a judicial review of the grant of development consent for the East Anglia ONE North and East Anglia Two offshore windfarms (reported in the East Anglian Daily Times). Permission has been granted on all grounds.

Charles is a trustee and the Secretary of Rainbow Migration, a charity that supports LGBTQI+ people through the asylum and immigration system.

Immediately prior to starting at Landmark, Charles provided research assistance in relation to a wide variety of public law cases, including R (Miller) v College of Policing [2020] 4 All ER 31. He was also the Legal and Parliamentary Officer at the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA) from 2019-2020 where he provided analysis on all areas of immigration, asylum and nationality law. He regularly advocated on behalf of ILPA members in high-level meetings with politicians, the civil service, the judiciary and other NGOs. In particular, he led on ILPA’s work relating to the ending of free movement following Brexit, including with Parliamentary lobbying on the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020, the Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Act 2020 and various pieces of secondary legislation. Charles regularly assisted with ILPA’s Strategic Legal Fund. He is well-placed to advise NGOs and charities on strategic legal challenges.

Before the Bar course, Charles worked as a paralegal at Wesley Gryk Solicitors, a leading immigration firm, where he assisted with cases spanning the full range of immigration, asylum and nationality law. He previously volunteered with the Anti Trafficking and Labour Exploitation Unit (ATLEU), Stonewall Housing, the Communities Empowerment Network and Citizens Advice. During his studies, he spent a year abroad at the Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II) and undertook an internship at the Académie Diplomatique Internationale.

• University of Law – BPTC (Very Competent) (2019)

• London School of Economics and Political Science – LLM (Distinction) (2017)

• University of Oxford (Wadham College) – BA Law with French Law (2.1) (2016)

• Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II) – Certificat supérieur de droit français (2015)

Scholarships

• 2017: Astbury Scholarship – major scholarship awarded by Middle Temple to fund the BPTC

Awards

• 2019: Baron Dr Ver Hayden de Lancey Prize – best performance of a Middle Temple student on the BPTC at the University of Law

• 2019: Opinion Writing Prize – University of Law

• 2019: Best Advocate Overall and Runner-up Team – LSE-Featherstone Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Moot Competition

• 2017: Blackstone Chambers Prize for best overall performance in public international law – London School of Economics and Political Science

• 2017: Best Orator in the Preliminary Round and Quarter-Finalist Team – European Human Rights Moot Court Competition, Strasbourg

• 2016: First Place – Leicester Medical Law Moot Competition

• Headnote writer, Journal of Planning and Environmental Law, Nov 2021 – Present.

• “Zambrano EUSS rules declared unlawful on appeal (R (Akinsanya) v SSHD)”, LexisNexis, Feb 2022.

• “Article 14 ECHR in the Supreme Court”, Judicial Review, 2021.

• “MS (Pakistan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Case Comment)”, Sep 2020, Journal of Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Law Issue 34(3).

• “Patel v Secretary of State for the Home Department; Shah v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Case Comment)”, Jun 2020, Journal of Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Law Issue 34(2).

• “Secretary of State for the Home Department v Vomero (Case Comment)”, Dec 2019, Journal of Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Law Issue 33(4).

• Author, Bloomsbury Immigration Law Briefing, Aug 2019 – Dec 2019.

• Editor, ILPA Monthly, Aug 2019 – Jul 2020.

Memberships

• Administrative Law Bar Association

• Human Rights Lawyers Association

• Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association

• National Infrastructure Planning Association

• Planning and Environmental Bar Association

• United Kingdom Environmental Law Association

Publications

• Headnote writer, Journal of Planning and Environmental Law, Nov 2021 – Present.

• “Zambrano EUSS rules declared unlawful on appeal (R (Akinsanya) v SSHD)”, LexisNexis, Feb 2022.

• “Article 14 ECHR in the Supreme Court”, Judicial Review, 2021.

• “MS (Pakistan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Case Comment)”, Sep 2020, Journal of Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Law Issue 34(3).

• “Patel v Secretary of State for the Home Department; Shah v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Case Comment)”, Jun 2020, Journal of Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Law Issue 34(2).

• “Secretary of State for the Home Department v Vomero (Case Comment)”, Dec 2019, Journal of Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Law Issue 33(4).

• Author, Bloomsbury Immigration Law Briefing, Aug 2019 – Dec 2019.

• Editor, ILPA Monthly, Aug 2019 – Jul 2020.