Thomas More Chambers

Jack joined Chambers in October 2024, on successful completion of his pupillage. He is developing a busy mixed practice and accepts instructions across all of Chambers’ main areas of expertise.

Background

Prior to pupillage, Jack was a judicial assistant to Dame Victoria Sharp (President of the King’s Bench Division) in the Court of Appeal. Jack also completed the Fox Scholarship, which involved a 10-month placement at one of Canada’s leading litigation firms. This included a period working as a ‘clerk’ (equivalent to a judicial assistant in England & Wales) at the Ontario Court of Appeal.

Jack has volunteered as an Employment Tribunal representative through the Free Representation Unit (FRU) and the Cleaners and Allied Independent Workers Union (CAIWU). He also enjoys mentoring future barristers at various stages, including applications for pupillage (through ‘Young Bar Mentoring’), Inns of Court scholarships and the Fox Scholarship.

Before coming to the Bar, Jack successfully completed the TeachFirst Leadership Development Programme.

General Civil

Jack regularly appears in proceedings in the County Court and has also appeared in the High Court. Jack has experience of representing clients in contractual/tortious disputes, personal injury claims, insolvency proceedings and possession proceedings.

Employment & Discrimination

Jack has experience of representing claimants in the Employment Tribunal through volunteering with the FRU and CAIWU.

Whilst in Toronto, Jack advised a distinguished Canadian law professor who was navigating a sensitive faculty dispute involving allegations of ‘reprisals’ (similar to victimisation in the UK). Jack gained further experience of employment law matters during pupillage under the supervision of Faisal Saifee.

Jack is keen to develop his practice further in matters involving employment and discrimination law.

Public & Human Rights

Jack gained practical experience in these areas during pupillage. This included assisting with an advice on the merits of a judicial review of the terms of a probation licence (with Mathew Sherratt KC) and assisting with a successful statutory review of the Home Secretary’s decision to refuse British citizenship on good character grounds (with Faisal Saifee).

In his previous role as a judicial assistant, Jack worked on numerous judicial reviews (both at first instance and on appeal), including:

• R (Balkwell) v Chief Constable of Essex Police [2022] EWHC 1288 (Admin): judicial review on Wednesbury irrationality and Article 2 ECHR grounds of a decision not to reopen a murder investigation
• R (Miller) v College of Policing [2021] EWCA Civ 1926: appeal against dismissal of judicial review of the CoP’s guidance concerning ‘non-crime hate incidents’ which succeeded on Article 10 ECHR proportionality grounds
• R (Archer) v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis [2021] EWCA Civ 1662: unsuccessful Article 5 ECHR challenge to police’s decision to detain a minor for his own protection

Jack also spent a year at Stockwoods LLP, Canada’s leading public law litigation firm, where he worked on a variety of administrative law and constitutional law matters relating to data privacy, COVID-19 vaccine exemptions, indigenous rights and press freedom.

Jack has a strong interest in public law (including matters that intersect with criminal law) and is keen to build his practice in this area.

Criminal

Jack defends at all stages in the Crown and Magistrates Courts, including trials, sentences and interim hearings. He has experience of drafting written legal applications and grounds of appeal to the Court of Appeal.

Recent instructions include:

• R v SF (Northampton Crown Court): successfully persuaded the CPS to drop charges of assault against an emergency worker on behalf of a client suffering from extreme psychiatric issues
• R v AM (Kingston Crown Court): trial concerning assault on an emergency worker
• R v DP (Staines Magistrates’ Court): successfully defended a 30-year-old autistic man accused of riding an e-scooter without insurance, whilst drunk and whilst banned from driving
• R v LD (Norwich Crown Court): POCA proceedings – successfully applied to vary a confiscation order from roughly £150,000 to a four-figure sum
• State of Mauritius v BM (Supreme Court of Mauritius): researched grounds of appeal against a murder conviction in Mauritian criminal proceedings (led by Mathew Sherratt KC, ongoing)
• R v GS (Lincoln Crown Court): trial concerning intentional strangulatio

Family

Jack is regularly instructed to represent both applicants and respondents in private law children and finance proceedings, as well as applications for non-molestation orders.

Recent instructions include:

• L v P: represented the respondent mother at a final hearing involving internal abduction
• A v A: financial remedies – secured a positive settlement for the respondent at the FDR
• W v W: non-molestation proceedings – parties agreed to an undertaking at the directions hearing

Awards

Pupil Residential Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn (2023) Harold G. Fox Scholarship (2022) Sir Louis Gluckstein Advocacy Competition (1st place), Lincoln’s Inn (2021) Lord Denning Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn (2021) Bar Course Residential Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn (2021) Bar Vocational Studies Scholarship, City University (2021) European Human Rights Moot Court Competition (3rd place out of 65 teams), ELSA (2021)

BA History, University of York (First-Class Honours) GDL, Oxford Brookes University (Distinction) Bar Vocational Studies, City Law School (Very Competent)