Hannah Slarks is shortlisted as Legal 500 Junior Barrister of the Year 2026. She practises across the breadth of public, regulatory, education and employment law. She has a particular specialism in complex discrimination and human rights matters.

Hannah is regularly instructed in cases about the most significant issues. In the past year, she has been instructed in all the leading cases exploring the impact of For Women Scotland on trans rights and single sex spaces. She acted in Strasbourg litigation regarding Russian online interference in UK elections. She appeared in the first case considering the use of isolation rooms in state schools.

Before coming to the Bar, Hannah worked with a number of charities and public bodies, including the Public Law Project, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, INQUEST and the Care Quality Commission.

  • Quotation symbolA stellar individual

    Quotation symbolChambers & Partners
  • Quotation symbolFiercely bright and tactically astute

    Quotation symbolLegal 500
  • Quotation symbolA truly persuasive advocate with a gift for eloquence.  Her intelligence sparkles in court.

    Quotation symbolLegal 500

Expertise

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Hannah is one of the leading education juniors at the Bar.  She is instructed in some of the most important judicial reviews and appellate cases regarding how educational institutions should be run.  In recent years, this has involved the first case on the use of isolation rooms in schools, a landmark judicial review on the use of top-up fees in nurseries, an important decision on the functioning of independent review panels; and ongoing litigation regarding Palestinian flags in a primary school.

She appears in the High Court and County Court on disputes between students and Universities. She regularly acts in the Administrative Court and First Tier Tribunals on matters arising from EHC plans and exclusions.

She frequently conducts independent investigations concerning complaints made by parents and by teachers. She also chairs and advises disciplinary and appeals panels.

Hannah has particular expertise in the handling of allegations of sexual misconduct against students and teachers. She conducts sensitive investigations on behalf of institutions, and acts for institutions and families in internal and court proceedings arising from these allegations.  She has also appeared in litigation on this issue at an appellate level.

Hannah also regularly acts in cases concerning freedom of speech and trans rights in educational settings.

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  • Super impressive. Terrific mastery of large amounts of detail. Very good bedside manner with clients.

    Chambers & Partners
  • Very knowledgeable in her field. Her advice is clear and pragmatic. Her advocacy style is calm and precise, which appears to play very well to education law judges.

    Legal 500
  • Hannah is a go-to junior for freedom of speech and education in public law matters.

    Chambers & Partners

Download Education CV

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Hannah practices in both the Employment Tribunal and the High Court, as well as the appellate courts. She has a particular expertise in complex discrimination and human rights law. Her clients range from investment banks, tech firms and elite private schools to individuals and charities.

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  • Completely brilliant. She is careful and thoughtful, knows the law very well, and is very good on her feet; she is a very skillful cross-examiner.

    Chambers & Partners
  • Hannah is a highly talented junior. Her star shines brightly.

    Chambers & Partners
  • Hannah is excellent.  She is very experienced in discrimination matters, with excellent technical skills.  She is incredibly responsive and brilliant with clients – she is clearly operating beyond her year of call.

    Legal 500

Download Employment CV

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In community care, Hannah acts both for and against local authorities. She defended the Government before the Supreme Court on the placement of vulnerable children in unregulated homes. She also defended the Government’s alleged failure to protect residents of care homes during the first wave of the pandemic. She acted for the claimants in the challenge to Central Government’s funding of the deprivation of liberty regime. She has appeared in important litigation about the duties owed to families with no recourse to public funds. She has acted in major challenges to the closure and privatisation of services. She also regularly acts as sole counsel in claims concerning the duties owed to children and vulnerable adults.

Hannah has wide-ranging experience in claims concerning healthcare provision, funding and governance. She has appeared in a number of high level challenges to the closure and reconfiguration of health services. She was instructed in the challenge to the compensation scheme for those who contracted Hepatitis C from contaminated blood products in the 1980s.  She has particular expertise in high-value funding disputes between ICBs and local authorities. She also appears in commercial disputes arising in a health context, including in arbitration.  She acts both for and against NHS bodies, and was instructed for NHS England in the public inquiry concerning how neonatal nurse Lucy Letby was able to serially kill babies in her care.

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  • A stellar individual

    Chambers & Partners
  • Fiercely bright and tactically astute

    Legal 500

Download Health & Community Care CV

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Clients come to Hannah for her rigorous and sensitively-handled investigations. She conducts investigations across her practice areas, but particularly in complex matters involving discrimination and human rights issues, and in schools and universities.

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  • Hannah is a creative thinker whose drafting is excellent. She takes things that are amorphous and distils them really well.

    Chambers & Partners
  • Hannah’s approach is very calm and reassuring.

    Chambers & Partners
  • She has a brilliant agility and ability to apply legal acumen and expertise to investigations.

    Chambers & Partners

Download Investigations CV

TogglePublic, Human Rights and Regulatory

Hannah is consistently instructed in high profile public law matters. In the past year, she has been instructed in every leading case concerning the fallout of For Women Scotland, as well as acting in Strasbourg litigation concerning Russian online interference in UK elections. In recent years, she has appeared in cases on issues ranging the Rwanda Removal Policy to the NHS response to Lucy Letby’s actions; from care homes during the pandemic to antisemitism in the Labour Party.

As well as acting in high level policy matters, Hannah is sought after for sensitive matters concerning the rights of individuals.

Hannah’s broad public law practice encompasses areas such as: constitutional law; unlawful detention; human rights; electoral law; regulation of financial entities; emergency services and environmental law. She acts for claimants and defendants. She has particular experience with the conduct and decision-making of political parties.

Hannah also has expertise in the public law regulation of technology. She is a co-author of a forthcoming book on Online Safety and contributes to the Panopticon blog on cases involving tech and public law issues.

Hannah has strong public law specialisms in education, community care and healthcare. These are dealt with in separate sections.

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  • Hannah punches above her weight; it is difficult for a judge to disagree with her. Polished submissions. Strategic advice She thinks about the bigger picture at all times.

    Chambers & Partners
  • She is a truly persuasive advocate with a gift for eloquence.  Her intelligence sparkles in court.

    Legal 500
  • Her advice is very clear and strategic. She is an absolute expert in the field. She has a very can-do attitude and she is very good with clients.

    Chambers & Partners
  • Brilliant in her advocacy.

    Chambers & Partners

Download Public CV

ToggleProfessional Discipline

Hannah appears in a range of professional discipline contexts, particularly in the context of higher education, health and social care and political party misconduct. She successfully defended the Leader of a Labour Council, who faced expulsion from the Party following false allegations of sexual assault.

Download Professional Discipline & Regulatory CV

Achievements

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Attorney General’s A panel

ToggleNews, Articles & Publications

The Claimant’s Pre-permission Checklist, co-authored with Clive Sheldon KC (Judicial Review, Vol. 21, 2016 – issue 2).

Tolley’s Employment Handbook (2013-16 editions, Tolley).

Public Law and Judicial Review and Representing yourself in court: on the day in A guide to representing yourself in Court, co-authored (2013, guidance published by the Bar Council).

Positive obligations to provide access to information under the European Convention on Human Rights, co-authored with Karen Steyn (2012, journal article published in Judicial Review).

The Forum for Preventing Deaths in Custody: UK experiences with cross-sector cooperation in Police involved deaths – the Need for Reform (MacAlister Ed.) (2011, book published by the British Canadian Civil Liberties Association).

Service User Experience of the First Tier Tribunal (Mental Health) (2011, report published jointly by the Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council and the Care Quality Commission).

Where Human Rights and Development Meet (or fail to do so): The Constitutional Right to Housing in South Africa (2010, journal article published in the UCL Human Rights Review).

Analytical Overview of the 4th Session the Human Rights Council (2007, report published in the Council Monitor by the International Service for Human Rights).

Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination – India 70th Session (2007,
report published in the Treaty Body Monitor, by the International Service for Human Rights).

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Hannah has two Double First Class degrees. She was rated ‘outstanding’ on the Bar Professional Training Course.

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Conversational French.

While studying, Hannah won a number of high profile advocacy competitions, including the National Debating Championships and the Times Advocacy Competition.

Lord Megarry Scholarship – Lincolns Inn 2011

Lord Mansfield Scholarship – Lincolns Inn 2010

Advocacy Scholarship – Kaplan Law School 2010

Burnett Award – Hughes Hall, Cambridge 2009 and 2010

Lord Bowen Scholarship – Lincolns Inn 2008

Hardwicke Entrance Scholarship – Lincolns Inn 2008

Mary Morrison Prize – Bristol University French Department 2008

Convocation Award – Bristol University 2007

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  • Quotation symbol

    Great at advocacy and she has emotional intelligence –all-round brilliant.

    Chambers & Partners
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    She has a confident, clear and unfussy advocacy style

    Legal 500
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    Sharp, accessible and has a ‘we’re in this together’ attitude.

    Chambers & Partners
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    Exceptionally bright, with the ability to simplify the most complex of matters, and her written work is outstanding.

    Legal 500
  • Quotation symbol

    Hannah punches above her weight; it is difficult for a judge to disagree with her. Polished submissions. Strategic advice. She thinks about the bigger picture at all times.

    Chambers & Partners
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    A highly talented junior. Her star shines brightly.

    Chambers & Partners
  • Quotation symbol

    Hannah is very clear to define the issues and see a path through to success.  Approachable and great client care too.

    Legal 500
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    Hannah is excellent.  She is very experienced in discrimination matters, with excellent technical skills.  She is incredibly responsive and brilliant with clients – she is clearly operating beyond her year of call.

    Legal 500
  • Quotation symbol

    Brilliant in her advocacy.

    Chambers & Partners
  • Quotation symbol

    Hannah’s advice is very thorough and to the point. Her performance in court is exceptional; she is a very astute advocate and tactically very aware.

    Legal 500
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    Her advocacy is sharply focused and compelling, and she is excellent at addressing difficult points raised by the judge.

    Legal 500
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    Great client service and extremely responsive. She also has an impressive ability to quickly grasp and get up to speed with complex litigation.

    Chambers & Partners