Doughty Street Chambers

Jamie Burton is both a public lawyer and an experienced civil litigator, with particular expertise in human rights, discrimination and social welfare.

Head of Chamber’s Community Care and Health Team, Jamie is a leading authority on health and social care, homelessness, social security and the rights of disabled people, children and migrants. He is an expert in judicial review and regularly appears in the higher courts, including the Supreme Court.

Jamie’s civil practice encompasses high value claims in tort and contract, including group claims/class actions. He acts for public authorities and private parties. He is particularly well known for bringing civil claims against the police on behalf of victims of crime.

Year of Call: 1999; Inner Temple; Year of Silk: 2021

Jamie is a member of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s A Panel of counsel and is regularly instructed by charities and NGOs. He also advises public authorities at the level of policy in relation to their statutory and human rights obligations. He is instructed by companies in commercial judicial review and public procurement claims.

Jamie acts for families in inquests and represented residents affected by the fire at the Grenfell Tower Public Inquiry.

Internationally, Jamie has undertaken work in Europe, India, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

He has written on human rights, public law and equality law. He co-authored "Children in Need", published by LAG (see here) and Butterworths’ PI Litigation Service, Division XXIV ‘Liability of Public Authorities’ (see here).

Jamie is also Chair and co-founder of ‘Just Fair’, a registered charity that works exclusively on human rights issues, particularly economic, social and cultural rights. Just Fair has had a significant impact on the public debate on human rights in the UK. It has produced several landmark reports on the housing crisis, food poverty and disability rights. Jamie represents Just Fair at the UN and in 2016 he made submissions to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights about the UK’s compliance with its human rights obligations.

Housing Law Practitioners Association; the Constitutional and Administrative Law Bar Association; Environmental Law Foundation; Critical Legal Group; UNICEF Expert Group on the EU Convention on the Rights of the Child; Expert Group for Housing Rights Watch on issues pertaining to homelessness in the EU; Chair of “Just Fair”, the only domestic human rights charity that seeks to advance the fulfilment and better recognition of economic, social and cultural rights in the UK.

Hynland Secondary Scool, Glasgow (1992, Scottish Highers); Bristol University (1998, LLB, 2:1); Inns of Court School of Law (1999, BVC, very competent); London School of Economic Science (2002, introductory economics); Institute for Human Rights, Abo Akademie University, Turku, Finland (2006, economic and social rights).

Football, tennis, theatre.