Marc Willers

Practice

Marc specialises in the following areas:

• town and country planning law with a particular emphasis on the representation of Gypsies and Travellers
• public and administrative law
• human rights and discrimination
• civil actions against the police, and
• prisoners' rights.

Marc was called to the Bar in 1987 and is a member of Lincoln's Inn. He was called to the Irish Bar in 1992 and has been a registered pupil supervisor for more than 10 years.

Publications

Marc is the co-editor and co-author of a book entitled Gypsy and Traveller Law which was published by the Legal Action Group and the Commission for Racial Equality in 2004 (the second edition was published in 2007). Marc is also one of the authors of the chapter on the rights of Gypsies and Travellers included in the book Your Rights published by Liberty, and is a regular contributor to the LAG magazine and other legal publications.

Other activities

Marc has presented a number of seminars on the law relating to Gypsies and Travellers for: the Legal Action Group; Shelter; the Gypsy and Travellers Law Reform Coalition; the Commission for Racial Equality and other non-governmental organisations.

Each year Marc helps run a course held in Strasbourg on Roma Rights for the Council of Europe. Marc has also presented a number of seminars on human rights abroad: in 2003 he was instructed as an expert on the European Convention on Human Rights by the Council of Europe and travelled to Moscow to present a seminar, organised by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees - on the ECHR and its relevance for the protection of refugees and asylum seekers; in 2004 Marc travelled to Armenia to help conduct a five day training session organised by Interights and the Netherland Helsinki Committee for lawyers on the application of the Convention to cases arising within their own jurisdiction; and in 2007 Marc travelled back to Russia to present a human rights course in Rostov on Don for the Council of Europe.

Marc is a trustee of Friends Families and Travellers (a charity working to promote the rights of Gypsies and Travellers in the UK).

Societies

The Administrative Law Bar Association.

Notable cases

• Mole Valley v Smith [1992] 3 PLR 22 (Gypsies - planning injunction)
• Maidstone BC v SSE and Dunne [1996] JPL 584 (Gypsies - planning - statutory definition)
• R v Basildon DC ex parte Clarke [1996] JPL 866 (Gypsies - judicial review)
• Coster v UK [2001] 33 EHRR 20 (Gypsies - articles 8 and article 1 of protocol 1 of ECHR - one of the 5 cases considered by the ECtHR when it gave judgment in Chapman v UK),
• R v Thomas Clarke [2002] EWCA Crim 753, [2002] JPL 1372 (Gypsies - scope of defence in enforcement notice prosecution)
• R v Kearns [2002] 1 WLR 2815 (article 6 of the ECHR - compulsory questioning - right to silence and presumption against self incrimination)
• Gypsy Council v UK [2002] Application no. 66336/01 (article 11 of the ECHR - decision to ban a traditional Gypsy horse-fair)
• R (U) v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis and the Secretary of State for the Home Department [2003] 1 WLR 897 (final warning scheme compatibility with article 6 of the ECHR)
• R (Clarke) v Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions [2002] EWCA Civ 819 and [2002] JPL 1365 (Gypsies - planning permission - suitability of bricks and mortar accommodation)
• Doncaster MBC v FSS and John Buck[2003] EWHC 995 Admin (Gypsies - planning permission - availability of education for children)
• R (William Lee) v FSS and Dartford BC [2003] EWHC 3235 Admin (Gypsies - proportionality - article 8 of the ECHR - temporary planning permission)
• Basildon DC v FSS and Rachel Cooper [2004] EWCA Civ 473 (Gypsies - planning - statutory definition)
• R (Dartford BC) v FSS and William Lee [2004] EWHC 2549, [2005] JPL 546 Admin(Gypsies - planning - green belt)
• R (Basildon DC) v FSS and Temple and Dennard [2004] EWHC 2759 Admin and [2005] JPL 942 (Gypsies - planning - green belt and 'very special circumstances' test)
• Coates v South Bucks DC [2004] EWCA Civ 1378 and [2005] JPL 668 (Gypsies - planning injunction - article 8 of the ECHR and proportionality test)
• Smith v FSS and Mid Beds DC [2005] EWHC Civ 859 (Gypsies - planning - discrimination)
• Wycombe DC v Wells [2005] EWHC 1012 (Gypsies - enforcement notices - the scope of the statutory defence)
• Wilson v Wychavon DC and FSS [2005] EWHC 2970 (Gypsies stop notices - compatibility of legislation with articles 8 and 14 of the ECHR)
• South Bucks DC v Smith [2006] EWHC 281 (Gypsies - planning injunction - stay pending the determination of a fresh planning application)
• R (O'Brien) v Basildon DC [2006] EWHC 1346 Admin (Gypsies - direct action - article 8 of the ECHR)
• Wychavon DC v Rafferty [2006] EWCA Civ 628 (Gypsies - committal for breach of a planning injunction)
• R (Jeeves and Baker) v Gravesham BC [2006] EWHC 1249 Admin (Gypsies - non-determination of planning application by local authority)
• University of Oxford v Broughton and Others [2006] EWHC 1233 QB (restrictions placed on the right to legitimate protest - articles 10 and 11 of the ECHR)
• R (Lisa Smith) v London Development Agency and SSTI [2007] EWHC 1013 (Admin) a judicial review challenge to the Compulsory Purchase Order of land used as a Gypsy site for the purposes of the Olympics
• McCarthy and Others v Basildon DC and the Equality and Human Rights Commission [2008] EWHC 987 (a judicial review challenge to a decision to take direct action to evict a large encampment of Irish Travellers)

Year of Call

Education

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