Francis Taylor Building

Claire is building a busy practice across all of Chambers’ practice areas. Before her call to the Bar in 2021, Claire gained valuable experience of the intersection between environmental and human rights law in her work for the United Nations in Geneva, the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and a number of NGOs. The breadth of Claire’s previous experience with international organisations, a government department and campaign groups means she is already well-practised in considering complex and sensitive legal issues from a range of perspectives.

Given Claire’s previous career, she is frequently instructed to advise on matters where there is an overlap between environmental and human rights law. She has advised campaign groups in relation to a gold mine, a proposed oil terminal and the Port of London’s proposed Harbour Revision Order. The law of chemical regulation is of particular interest to Claire. She has recently advised on the lawfulness of industrial discharges containing PFAS (“forever chemicals”), participated in an investigation into PFAS contamination by the ENDS Report and written about this area for Chambers’ Environment Law Blog.

Some of Claire’s most recent planning work involved advising a major developer in relation to the translocation of protected species, advising an environmental NGO on potential breaches of conditions attached to a planning permission for a gold mine and advising a local authority on housing developments involving s.73 and s.96A applications. Claire is currently instructed as sole and junior counsel defending several planning judicial reviews on retail and permitted development rights.

Claire is developing a busy inquiry practice. She acted as sole counsel for a successful Rule 6 Party in a high-profile five-day planning inquiry encompassing issues such as designated Local Open Space, a Grade I listed heritage asset, ecology and the provision of affordable and market housing. She recently acted as junior counsel to Suzanne Ornsby KC in a two-week planning inquiry on behalf of the successful South Gloucestershire Council and was instructed as sole counsel for a Rule 6 Party in a three-day planning enforcement inquiry where Claire secured a costs award against the appellant. Claire is currently instructed as sole counsel for a London-based local authority in an upcoming four-day inquiry centred a proposed housing development where affordable housing and viability are main issues. Claire is keen to continue developing her inquiry practice as she enjoys working as part of a team and cross-examining expert witnesses. She has a particular interest in planning inquiries with a heritage element and most her inquiry work so far has involved potential impacts of a development on a listed heritage asset.

In terms of her environmental work, Claire’s recent work has focused on international maritime law. She is currently instructed as junior counsel in a judicial review concerning the lawfulness of UK fishing opportunities and has been involved in another international fisheries law dispute. She has been instructed on several occasions to advise on claims in statutory nuisance with one recent advice considered the merits of appealing a court’s refusal to quash an abatement notice.

Since coming to Chambers, Claire has assisted with a wide range of work raising complex issues of domestic and EU environmental law, including the application of human rights law in an environmental context and challenges involving Habitats Regulations Assessments. Claire conducted research and drafted advices and skeleton arguments on matters including major energy projects, commons and village greens, flood defence works, sewage pollution from storm overflows, charitable exemptions from the Community Infrastructure Levy and permitted development rights in a conservation area. Claire also provided research and drafting assistance during a two-week planning inquiry on a proposal for a major solar farm in an historic parkland containing listed heritage assets.

Alongside practice at the Bar, Claire regularly contributes to policy and educational initiatives in the field of environmental law. Claire was invited to deliver a workshop on the Rights of Nature alongside environmental lawyers working in the UK and internationally, representatives from NGOs and academics. She co-authored the Environmental Justice Network Ireland, Queen's University Belfast School of Law and Lawyers for Nature’s submission to the Irish Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss and supervised LLM students at the University of Essex on a project focusing on the right to a healthy environment in the UK. She is a regular contributor to Chambers’ Environmental Law Blog and an expert contributor to Lexis Nexis’ environmental module on the law of sewers and drains.