Josephine Gillingwater

Josephine practices in all areas of public law and human rights, including judicial review proceedings and claims under the Human Rights Act 1998. She has a particular interest in environmental litigation. Her recent experience includes:

• R (ALX) v Chancellor of the Exchequer [2025] EWHC 1467 (Admin) – human rights challenge on behalf of parents of children with special educational needs against the Finance Act 2025, which imposed VAT on private school fees (as a pupil, assisting Tom Cross KC).
• R (Siderise Ltd) v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea [2025] EWHC 1178 (Admin) – a judicial review challenge to a ban of certain contractors and suppliers from local government contracts following the Grenfell Inquiry (as a pupil, assisting James Goudie KC and Aliya Al-Yassin).
• Advised the Home Office on the compatibility of secondary legislation with Articles 6 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (as a pupil, assisting Christopher Knight).
• Advised on a damages claim under the Human Rights Act 1998 for breach of Article 1 of the First Protocol (A1P1) to the European Convention on Human Rights (as a pupil, assisting Joanne Clement KC).
• R (The Lifescape Project) v The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero – a judicial review challenge under the Climate Change Act 2008 of the Biomass Strategy which relies on biomass as a “low carbon fuel” to reach net zero (as a pupil, assisting Peter Lockley).
• A disability discrimination claim against a school before the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) (as a pupil, assisting Paul Greatorex).
• Advised on a prospective appeal from the High Court in a judicial review concerning apparent bias by a public body in the healthcare sector (as a pupil, assisting Daniel Stilitz KC and Patrick Halliday).

Josephine has experience across a wide range of areas including treaty interpretation, immunities, the law of international organisations, international human rights law, international environmental law, international investment law, State responsibility, transboundary disputes, and the law of the sea. Her recent experience includes:

• Advised an intergovernmental organisation on the enforceability of agreements with States (as a pupil, assisting Professor Philippe Sands KC, Ruth Kennedy and Lucy Jones).
• Advised a consortium of States on the negotiation of an international treaty on marine biodiversity (the BBNJ Agreement, now called the High Seas Treaty) (assisting Professor Makane Moïse Mbengue).
• Minerali Industriali SRL v Republic of Tunisia, ICSID Case No ARB/24/52 – a dispute under the Italy-Tunisia BIT relating to sand mining (assisting Ali Al-Karim).
• Assisted in an UNCITRAL arbitration arising from a contract for the provision of goods and services to an intergovernmental organisation.
• Advised the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on fossil fuel subsidy reform.
• Advised a political organisation on the right to self-determination of an Indigenous group (assisting Ali Al-Karim).

Before coming to the Bar, Josephine worked in arbitration and has experience in matters conducted under the ICC, UNCITRAL and LCIA rules. She has often worked on cases with an international element raising issues of private international law. Her experience in this field includes:

• Assisted in an ICC arbitration governed by English law relating to a West African subsea project and LNG sales to third parties during the lifetime of a sales agreement.
• Assisted in an ICC arbitration governed by English law arising in the energy sector in the Caribbean.
• Assisted in an LCIA arbitration governed by Sri Lankan law against a state-owned entity relating to a construction project.
• Assisted in an UNCITRAL arbitration governed by the UNIDROIT Principles arising from a contract for the provision of goods and services to an intergovernmental organisation.

Josephine practices across statutory and commercial employment matters. Her recent experience in this area includes:

• A preliminary hearing to determine whether the employment tribunal has international and territorial jurisdiction in a cross-border unfair dismissal and disability discrimination claim (as a pupil, assisting Andrew Smith).

Josephine practices in data protection, privacy and information law. Her recent experience includes:

• A claim in the High Court against Meta regarding the right to object to personalised advertising under Article 21 of the UK GDPR (as a pupil, assisting Heather Emmerson).

Josephine practices in procurement disputes. Her recent experience includes:

• R (Siderise Ltd) v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea [2025] EWHC 1178 (Admin) – a judicial review challenge to a ban of a company from local government contracts following the Grenfell Inquiry (as a pupil, assisting James Goudie KC and Aliya Al-Yassin).

Josephine is a contributing author to the chapter on the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) in International Encyclopaedia of Laws: Sports Law. She has a particular interest in sports arbitration.