Garden Court North Chambers

Immigration, Community care and mental health, Housing, Injunctions and breaches of injunction, Public law (judicial review)

Joseph Markus was called to the Bar in 2012. He specialises in publicly funded cases in the fields of housing, and community care, with a particular focus on public law. He has been instructed in a number of high-profile cases across his practice areas from County and High Court level to the Supreme Court.

Joe has a particular interest in Gypsy/Traveller cases and has experience of Mobile Homes Act and trespasser possession claims across both England and Wales.

Joseph is also a member of the Equality and Human Rights Commission Panel of Preferred Counsel (‘B’ Panel). He has particular expertise in claims brought under the Equality Act 2010, both in a housing context and otherwise. 

Joseph is a judicial review specialist, with a practice covering his core areas of practice as well as a range of other fields. Some examples of his work in this area include: 

R (Elkundi) & Ors v Birmingham City Council [2022] EWCA Civ 601 and [2021] EWHC 1024 (Admin): These linked cases concerned a systemic challenge to the defendant’s system of dealing with rehousing those to whom it owes housing duties under homelessness legislation. Various claimants were awarded mandatory orders requiring the defendant to rehouse them. R (Kiarie) v SSHD [2017] UKSC 42: This was the successful challenge to the “deport first, appeal later” scheme, on the basis that it was incapable of fair operation in the claimant’s case

Joe was a finalist in the Legal Aid Newcomer category in the 2016 Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year awards.

English

Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) Panel of Preferred Counsel (“B Panel”); ILPA; HLPA; Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers; and Liberty.

LLB (Hons), First Class: University of Manchester; LLM, Distinction: University College London; BPTC.