James Eadie KC KC > Blackstone Chambers > London, England > Barrister Profile

Praised as an ‘extremely strong set for public law work‘, the immigration barristers at Blackstone Chambers are frequently involved in high-profile and complex immigration cases, and are particularly well-placed for work at the intersection of immigration, human rights and public law. Multiple members of chambers were highly involved in the litigation surrounding the ill-fated Rwanda policy, with James Eadie KC and Lord Pannick KC acting for the Home Secretary in AAA v SSHD, Jason Pobjoy acting as lead junior in the case representing eleven lead refugee claimants and Charlotte Kilroy representing a claimant charity. Naina Patel recently represented six Afghan claimants in a challenge to the UK government’s ending of a policy of using bridging hotels to accommodate individuals eligible for resettlement under the ARAP scheme upon arrival in the UK.

With a reputation for being ‘the leading public and administrative law set‘, Blackstone Chambers is also highly regarded for its ‘strong core of human rights work‘. In a prominent case highlight, Sir James Eadie KC (as “Treasury Devil”, the government’s first-choice external counsel), Thomas de la Mare KC, Tom Leary and Hollie Higgins appeared for various parties in the Divisional Court in Liberty v Secretary of State for the Home Department, a judicial review challenging the Public Order Act 1986 (Serious Disruption to the Life of the Community) Regulations 2023, which were found to be ultra vires as it defined a threshold of “serious disruption” as “more than minor”. Lord Pannick KC garners praise as ‘one of the outstanding legal minds of his generation‘, and Monica Carss-Frisk KC is ‘one of the most persuasive advocates at the Bar‘. Tristan Jones KC was elevated to silk in March 2024.