Claire practices in a wide range of public and civil areas. She joined Garden Court after successfully completing pupillage under the supervision of Nadine Finch and Liz Davies.

Practice

Housing

Claire has expertise in a wide range of housing-related matters. She regularly represents clients facing possession proceedings and eviction against both public and private landlords, where she consistently obtains positive outcomes for her clients. She has substantial experience with possession and injunction claims based on anti-social behaviour.

Tenant's claims for illegal eviction, harassment, disrepair, nuisance or derogation from grant also form a significant part of Claire's practice. Her opinions are thorough, user-friendly and offer strategic advice on progressing the claim.

Public Law

Claire is instructed in judicial review claims stemming from immigration detention and community care matters.

Claire advises in cases raising community care and mental capacity issues. She offers practical advice on securing positive results and sensitive handling of complex cases.

In particular, Claire gained experience in cross-over community care and immigration issues when assisting on the case of R (Clue) v Birmingham CC [2010] EWCA Civ 460, which concerned the availability of local authority support for families with pending ILR application.

Claire has gained expertise in a wide range of asylum and immigration matters, which enables her to provide inter-disciplinary advice on immigration issues arising in housing or community care matters.

She has a particular interest in immigration detention, with a strong record of obtaining bail for clients (including as a BID volunteer) and challenging the legality of immigration detention.

Clinical Negligence & Personal Injury

Claire acts in personal injury matters, including fatalities and clinical negligence claims.

Complex Tort and the Environment

As well as practising in a range of civil areas, Claire is instructed in complex tort cases, where environmental damage leads to claims for personal injury and financial loss. These regularly involve negligence committed abroad and Claire advises on the private international law issues which typically arise, such as forum and jurisdiction.

Claire is currently instructed in proceedings against Shell subsidiaries in Nigeria by local communities and fishermen for extensive oil spillage affecting their livelihoods and causing long-term damage to the environment.

She is also instructed by a group of farmers in Colombia in proceedings against former subsidiaries of BP for the damage caused to their farms and livelihoods as a result of the construction of the OCENSA pipeline.

Claire has experience working on large group litigation cases and advises on the procedural issues which emerge in such proceedings.

Background

Before joining the bar, Claire worked for three years at Leigh Day and Co solicitors. She was particularly involved in the 'Trafigura case' in which some 30,000 claimants from the Ivory Coast sued oil multinational Trafigura for compensation following a toxic waste spillage in Abidjan. This became the largest group litigation case in the UK and resulted in a compensation settlement for the claimants.

Claire also worked for a year as a legal advisor for refugees at Africa and Middle-East Refugee Assistance (AMERA), an NGO based in Cairo, Egypt. There, she provided legal advice and representation to refugees from across Africa, but specialised in francophone countries.

Profile updated May 2013

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