Francis Taylor Building

Esther read Jurisprudence at Merton College, Oxford, and has a master’s degree in EU Law from the European University Institute, Florence. Prior to coming to the Bar she spent a year as Judicial Assistant to Lord Justice Lloyd Jones (as he then was) at the Court of Appeal, working on cases involving issues of public and EU law.

Recent and current work includes:

• Acting for an interested party in the examination into the proposed DCO to relocate the Cambridge Waste Water Treatment Plant, including making submissions at DCO hearings.
• Acting for the Open Spaces Society (led by Richard Honey KC and Ned Westaway) intervening in Darwall v Dartmoor National Park Authority [2023] EWCA Civ 927 in support of the successful Appellant. The Court of Appeal accepted the Intervenor’s and the Appellant’s argument that the right to access common land for open-air recreation included a right to “wild camp” on that land.
• Acting for the Green Lane Association in a five-day inquiry into whether a Definitive Map Modification Order made by Kirklees Council should be confirmed, which raised complex legal issues concerning the “discovery of evidence” under s.53 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, whether use was “by right” or “as of right” and the impact of settlement of land on the ability to imply dedication of a right of way.
• Acting for Dacorum Borough Council (led by Simon Bird KC) in a five-week inquiry recovered by the Secretary of State in an appeal against a refusal of planning permission for a new urban extension to Tring comprising up to 1,400 dwellings, a new local centre and sports/community hub, primary school, secondary school and public open space, on a site located in the Metropolitan Green Belt.

Esther has undertaken cases for Advocate and the Environmental Law Foundation and is happy to work on a pro bono basis in appropriate cases.