Kings Chambers
Barristers
Constanze Bell
Position
Before coming to the bar Constanze worked in the NGO sector. She was part of the legal team for ‘Control Arms’, a coalition of NGOs working to secure a human-rights orientated Arms Trade Treaty and attended the July 2012 Arms Trade Treaty Diplomatic Conference and negotiations at the UN in New York.
Constanze retains an active interest in human rights law and, in particular, in planning, regulatory and environmental cases involving human rights issues.
In 2022 Constanze was awarded a Pegasus Scholarship by Inner Temple and undertook a 3-month placement with Chapman Tripp, Wellington.
Career
Constanze practices in all areas of town and country planning law, including in the specialist areas of compulsory purchase and highways. Her clients include developers, local planning authorities and local action groups. She regularly appears in inquiries as an advocate and is instructed to both bring and defend statutory challenges in the High Court. She has a busy advisory practice and regularly assists with complex enforcement cases, submissions for local plan consultations and advice regarding prospects of success on appeal. Constanze is one of the 'Highest Rated Planning Juniors under 35' and a ‘Top-rated Planning Junior’ (2022 Planning Resource Planning Law survey).
She was appointed to the Attorney General’s Regional Panel in April 2018 and to the Panel of Special Advocates for Health & Safety and Environmental Law in March 2019.
She is Assistant Editor of the third edition of Patterson and Karim on Judicial Review. She is a Specialist Contributor to the judicial review chapter to Bullen & Leake (First Supplement, 19th Edition). She is also a member of the Kings Chambers author team who write for and produce the quarterly bulletin for the Encyclopaedia of Local Government Law.
Constanze is a member of the Environmental Law Foundation and is willing to consider acting pro bono when instructed by ELF in appropriate cases.
Constanze is a founding member and committee member of the ‘Women in Planning’ network’s Yorkshire branch. She was recognised as a ‘Woman of Influence’ in The Planner magazine’s 2022 survey.
Memberships
PEBA (Planning & Environmental Bar Association)
ELF (Environmental Law Foundation)
Women in Planning
Northern Circuit/ North Eastern Circuit
Education
History & Philosophy of Science BSc (hons), Graduate Diploma in Law