Doughty Street has been recognised for many years as one of the leading civil liberties and human rights law chambers. The team is recognised by both the Chambers & Partners and the Legal 500 as a leader in the field. Members have been influential in writing and lecturing on the implications for public law of the Human Rights Act 1998 and we are committed to providing solicitors with training and advice on the effects of the Act. Our expertise in the law of the European Convention on Human Rights gives the team a significant advantage in pursuing those areas of administrative law and practice where the impact of incorporation is the greatest. We are also at the forefront of developing an understanding as to how the European Charter of Fundamental Rights can assist our clients.

Bringing and defending challenges against public bodies in England and Wales, IM's Public Law unit has a reputation as a quick, well informed team delivering sound advice and effective representation.

The team operates in areas of activity as diverse as planning, community care, criminal process, prison law, education, electoral law and regulatory decisions. As part of the regulatory work, the team specialises in the representation of professionals facing disciplinary investigations and proceedings and challenges arising from those.

We have been involved in furnishing expert comments on aspects of the Hutton Inquiry both in the press and on TV.

We have long had a reputation as one of the foremost chambers in public law and civil liberties. We offer advice and advocacy to both specialist public law solicitors and those encountering judicial review for the first time, appearing for claimants and defendants. Our disciplines include:

* Local government and healthcare: Our cases include community care, social services, vires challenges, housing and planning. Many local authorities, health authorities, and other public sector bodies instruct Cloisters.
* Employment: HRA and natural justice issues are pursued in employment cases, for example on submissions about compatibility of domestic law with EU and ECHR jurisprudence, or rights to privacy at work. Members produced OUP’s Employment Law and Human Rights.
* Constitutional law: We appear in Privy Council cases and advise a number of foreign and commonwealth governments. Members include a distinguished professor who is co-author of the leading text Bradley and Ewing’s Constitutional and Administrative Law, and serves on a number of national and European committees. Recently, the 5,000 Chagos Islanders were represented by a Cloisters team in their claim for compensation for their removal 30 years ago to make way for a US airbase.
* Education: Work includes high profile public and private law challenges on schools admissions, assessment of special needs, closures, negligence claims, discrimination, SENT jurisdiction, bullying etc. We were responsible for the first successful challenge under the HRA to a schools admission decision. We edit the Education Law Journal case commentaries, and we have been appointed legal advisers to the disciplinary committee of the General Teaching Council.
* Care homes: We are instructed by the National Care Standards Commission and home owners, and have conducted numerous panel and representation hearings, presented and defended emergency closure applications and prosecutions, and handled appeals to the Registered Homes Tribunal (RHT) and Care Standards Tribunal (CST), and on point of law to the High Court. Members produced the OUP textbook The Care Standards Act 2000.
* Immigration: Members of Cloisters appear in cases at all levels ranging from habeas corpus to asylum adjudications. Senior members of the immigration team are known particularly for free movement related arguments, human rights and association agreement cases. We regularly write on immigration and human rights matters. The team contributes to and edits O’Dempsey and Supperstone on Immigration and Asylum.
* Social security: We are instructed in social security cases at all levels, from appeal tribunals to the Commissioners, judicial review and further appeals. We also provide advice to government and other organizations. We have significant expertise and experience in the field, and one of the team was the author of the Disability Rights Handbook (6th to 18th editions) and now co-edits the social security updates in Legal Action magazine.
* Crime: Judicial review challenges arise from the investigation of commercial and other crime, relating to privacy for example, and Cloisters continues to offer specialist expertise in this area.
* Commercial judicial review: One of our senior members is the launch editor for Commercial Judicial Review Law Reports, and also co-authored the Sweet & Maxwell book Commercial Judicial Review. We have considerable expertise in bringing public law principles to commercial disputes.

We also offer experience in discrimination, public inquiries, regulatory matters, inquests, legal aid, public procurement, civil liberties, extradition, freedom of information, and prison law.

* The firm's expertise in the most high-profile matters was demonstrated when it was appointed solicitor to the Hutton Inquiry.
* The firm was also appointed to act as solicitor to the Morris Inquiry, into professional standards and employment matters in the Metropolitan Police Service.
* The firm successfully acted for a number of power companies in judicial review proceedings brought against Ofgem. This was the first ever successful claim against Ofgem.