Raphael Hogarth

Raphael is ranked as an “Up and Coming” junior in administrative and public law by Chambers and Partners, and as a “Rising Star” in public law and human rights by the Legal 500.

He has acted for individuals, companies, NGOs, central government departments, regulators and local authorities in public law disputes.

He has extensive experience of working on strategic litigation, including obtaining costs-capping orders in public interest proceedings and advising on the interplay between judicial review and wider campaigning strategy.

He is also particularly interested in the use of public law to advance and defend commercial interests, and has acted in several disputes in which commercial entities have challenged regulatory decisions, procurement processes or subsidy-related decisions.

Recent highlights include:

• R (Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain) v Central Arbitration Committee (Interested Party: Deliveroo) [2023] UKSC 43 – acted for Deliveroo in a Supreme Court appeal about whether collective bargaining legislation breaches riders’ rights under Article 11 ECHR. This was one of The Lawyer’s Top 10 appeals of 2023.
• R (West Coast Railway Company Ltd) v Office of Rail and Road [2023] EWHC 3338 (Admin) – acted for the UK’s largest heritage railway company, operator of the so-called ‘Hogwarts Express’ Jacobite service, in a judicial review of a certification decision by the rail regulator.
• Arkorful v Social Work England [2024] EWHC 73 (Admin) – acted for the successful regulator in two joined High Court appeals of adjudicators’ decisions in fitness to practise proceedings.
• R (Good Law Project) v Prime Minister & Others [2022] EWCA Civ 1580 – acted for the Claimant before the High Court and Court of Appeal in this case concerning the use of private email accounts and phones for government business.
• R (Gardner & Harris) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care [2022] EWHC 967 (Admin) – acted for the successful Claimants in a judicial review of the government’s decisions in relation to care homes during the first wave of the pandemic. This was one of The Lawyer’s Top 20 cases of 2022.
• R (A and others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 360 (Admin) – acted for the successful Home Secretary in a challenge to the government’s flagship asylum reforms.
• R (Good Law Project) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Interested Parties: (1) Bunzl (2) Tulchan Communications (3) Lord Feldman) [2022] EWHC 2888 (TCC) – successfully obtained a costs-capping order in a challenge to the award of a high-value PPE contract to a firm with links to the former chair of the Conservative Party.
• R (Good Law Project) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Pharmaceuticals Direct Limited) UKSC 2022/0082 (public settlement reached) – acted for the Appellant in a Supreme Court appeal about service in judicial review proceedings.
• In the matter of the Prime Minister – instructed by the Good Law Project, with Jason Coppel KC, to advise on the Parliamentary process for disciplining MPs following the announcement that Boris Johnson had been fined for a lockdown breach (published here), and then on the procedure for the Privileges Committee’s inquiry into Boris Johnson (published here).

Raphael is ranked as an “Up and Coming” junior in data protection by Chambers and Partners, and as a “Rising Star” in data protection by the Legal 500. He is frequently instructed in data protection, privacy, technology and information law matters.

Recent experience in the data protection and privacy field includes:

• Clearview AI v Information Commissioner [2023] UKFTT 00819 (GRC)  – acted for the successful US facial recognition company in this high-profile challenge to enforcement and penalty notices issued by the Commissioner for alleged breaches of the GDPR and UK GDPR.
• Proceedings against a social media company – advice to a platform in relation to proceedings for alleged breaches of data protection legislation.
• Threatened class action against a technology company – instructed in relation to a threatened class action against a company in the artificial intelligence sector for alleged data breaches.
• Company’s handling of communications data – advice on businesses’ duties in respect of requests and demands for communications data by the intelligence/security services or police made under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016.
• Local government privacy dispute – instructed by a local authority in relation to a complex and long-running dispute with public officials concerning alleged breaches of their privacy in disclosures to the press.
• Advising and acting for the Information Commissioner in relation to various enforcement action under data protection legislation.
• Advising and acting for controllers in relation to data breach proceedings before the civil courts, and other contentious data protection issues.

Recent experience in the Freedom of Information field includes:

• Cabinet Office v Information Commissioner and Tommy Sheppard MP (UA-2021-000017-GIRF) – acting for Tommy Sheppard MP in an Upper Tribunal appeal concerning a request for polling information on attitudes to the Union. The hearing was reported on the front page of The National, which has covered the appeal here, here, here, and here.
• Ingle v Information Commissioner and Cambridgeshire County Council [2023] UKUT 80 (AAC)  – acted for the successful Information Commissioner in an Upper Tribunal appeal concerning the personal information exemption under FOIA.
• R (Good Law Project) v Prime Minister & Others [2022] EWCA Civ 1580 – acted for the Claimant in an appeal concerning the use of non-government communications systems such as WhatsApp for government business, including on the basis that such use hinders the effective operation of FOIA.
• Acting for requesters and the Information Commissioner in several appeals before the First-tier Tribunal.
• Advising several public authorities on complex or politically sensitive FOIA matters.

Raphael accepts instructions across the full range of commercial and statutory employment matters.

Recent highlights in the appellate courts include:

• R (Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain) v Central Arbitration Committee (Interested Party: Deliveroo) [2023] UKSC 43 – acted for Deliveroo in a Supreme Court appeal about collective bargaining rights.  This was one of The Lawyer’s Top 10 appeals of 2023.
• Boydell v NZP Ltd [2023] EWCA Civ 373 – acted for the successful employer in proceedings to restrain a departing employee from breaching non-compete, non-deal and non-solicit clauses. See podcast episode.

Raphael also regularly appears in the Employment Tribunal, acting in unfair dismissal, discrimination and other statutory claims. He is frequently instructed from an early stage in proceedings in order to advise on tactical issues. Raphael’s recent Tribunal experience includes:

• Fraser v Equinox Kensington Ltd (2204802/20) – acted for the successful Respondent in this four-day race discrimination and unfair dismissal trial concerning an alleged breach of the employer’s data protection policy.
• X (a sales executive) v Y (a technology corporation) (ongoing) – acting for the Respondent in ongoing disability discrimination proceedings.
• X (a healthcare professional) v Y (a professional services company) (2023) – acted for the Respondent in relation to a claim for pregnancy and maternity discrimination, unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal.
• X (a technology executive) v Y (a med-tech startup) (2022) – acted for the Respondent in sexual orientation discrimination and unfair dismissal proceedings.
• X (a warehouse operative) v Y (a major retailer) (2022) – acted for the Respondent at a successful judicial mediation in pregnancy discrimination proceedings.
• X (a care worker) v Y (a local authority) (2022) – acted for the Respondent in disability discrimination proceedings.

Raphael accepts instructions from economic operators and authorities.

In the procurement sphere, he has experience of acting in civil proceedings before the Technology and Construction Court and judicial review proceedings before the Administrative Court.

Raphael also accepts instructions in subsidy control matters, including advisory work and judicial reviews of subsidy control decisions before the Competition Appeal Tribunal. He has delivered training for public bodies on the new subsidy control regime and has significant experience of bringing and defending judicial review challenges (see ‘Public Law’ section above).

Recent highlights include:

• Consultant Connect Limited v (1) NHS Bath ICB (2) NHS Gloucestershire ICB and (3) NHS Bristol ICB (Interested Party: Monmedical Limited) [2022] EWHC 2037 (TCC) – acted for the successful Claimant in this wide-ranging public procurement challenge, in which the Court made the first ever contract shortening order upon finding several breaches of the Public Contract Regulations 2015.
• R (Good Law Project) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Interested Parties: (1) Bunzl (2) Tulchan Communications (3) Lord Feldman) [2022] EWHC 2888 (TCC) – acted for the Claimant in a judicial review of the award of a high-value PPE contract to a firm with links to the former chair of the Conservative Party.
• R (Good Law Project) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Pharmaceuticals Direct Limited) UKSC 2022/0082 (public settlement reached) – acted for the Appellant in this Supreme Court appeal about extending time in a claim for breaches of the Public Contract Regulations 2015.

Raphael is ranked as a “Rising Star” in education law by the Legal 500. He accepts instructions from local authorities, schools, universities, parents, students and education campaigners.

His recent experience includes:

• Acting for a Russell Group university in a public law dispute with a former student about an exclusion for ‘contract cheating’.
• Acting for a student in a public law dispute with a university about its approach to a complaint of religious discrimination.
• Acting for an inspectorate in a dispute with an education provider about the legality of an inspection report.
• Acting for a campaigning NGO in a dispute with a university concerning its equality policies, in particular in relation to transgender issues.
• Advising an NGO on reforms to higher education regulation.
• Advising a local authority on an application for assistance with boarding school charges.
• Advising a local authority on the legality of changes to its school transport policy, and compatibility with its human rights and equality law obligations.
• Acting for a local authority in a complex challenge to an Education and Healthcare Plan, dealing with expert evidence concerning the efficacy of ‘Applied Behavioural Analysis’ in educating autistic children.