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Junior

Barrister

Jonathan Worboys

Jonathan is recognised as a leading junior, with a practice spanning all areas of public, commercial and international law. He is regularly instructed in high-profile and significant cases, often at the intersection of private, public and international areas of law. Jonathan has a particular focus on disputes with an international dimension. He has been nominated for ‘International Law Junior of the year’ previously at the Legal 500 Bar Awards.

The legal directories describe Jonathan as a “highly sought after practitioner”, a “thoroughly modern lawyer”, a “go-to junior” and “a star in the making”. Jonathan is further recognised for his “clear and pragmatic” and “precise and thoughtful” advice on the “most complex issues”. As an advocate, Jonathan has been described as “persuasive and charming”, “polished” and as having “terrier-like qualities”.

Jonathan’s clients are wide-ranging and include States (seven different States in the last eight years), UK Government departments (e.g. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Department for Business and Trade, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster), businesses and multinational corporations, high-net worth individuals, NGOs, civil society groups and international organizations (multinational development banks and specialised agencies of international organizations). Jonathan appears as sole counsel and as part of a team before domestic and international courts and tribunals.

Jonathan has experience acting in cases before a variety of courts and tribunals, including: all levels of the English courts (High Court; Court of Appeal; Supreme Court); the courts of British Overseas Territories; specialist domestic tribunals (Special Immigration Appeals Commission, Investigatory Powers Tribunal); international arbitration tribunals; the International Court of Justice; the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea; the European Court of Human Rights; the International Criminal Court; internationalised tribunals such as the Kosovo Specialist Chambers. He also has experience working on cases before UN Special Procedures (UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; UN Special Rapporteurs; UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances) and the UN Human Rights Council (e.g. during Universal Periodic Reviews). He appears in a range of public, commercial and international law cases, including commercial judicial reviews, jurisdiction challenges and inter-State disputes.

Recent examples of Jonathan’s practice include:

  • R (C3) v State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Syria consular assistance and repatriation; applicability of Article 6 ECHR to consular decisions; acting for the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs);
  • R (Al-Haq) v Secretary of State for Business and Trade (exports in the Gaza conflict, the Lawyer Top 20 Cases 2025; acting for the Secretary of State for Business and Trade);
  • R (FTDIHL Holdings Limited) v Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (divestment under the National Security and Investment Act 2021);
  • Ferguson and others v United Kingdom (same sex marriage rights in Bermuda; acting for the UK before the European Court of Human Rights);
  • Viegas and others v Cutrale and Fundao Group Litigation (competition group action; anti-suit injunctions in the context of group litigation);
  • Chagos Archipelago (acting for the UK and Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs in litigation and negotiations concerning the Chagos Archipelago, from 2015-present);
  • Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (acting for the Government of Sudan in respect of its dispute with the Government of Ethiopia relating to the GERD dam).

Jonathan commenced practice at the Bar in 2015. Prior to this, he worked as a consultant in international law and in the arbitration team at WilmerHale, London. He was also a Visiting Lecturer at King’s College London. In 2024, Jonathan was appointed as Constitutional Counsel to the Overseas Territories Department at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, to advise the Secretary of State on disallowance procedures in the British Overseas Territories. He is on the Attorney General’s B panel of civil and public international law counsel. He is also a Senior Legal Adviser at the Public International Law & Policy Group in Washington DC.

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Barrister

Jack Steele

Jack practises in all of Chambers’ core areas of practice including public & human rights, commercial, employment, public international law, information, technology & media, and sport.

Prior to coming to the Bar, Jack worked for several years at the human rights NGO Reprieve, where he assisted on death penalty, torture, extrajudicial killing and unlawful detention cases. He worked previously as a teaching fellow in political philosophy at Harvard University, as a paralegal at the Infected Blood Inquiry, and as a legal analyst at Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer.

He holds a first-class BA in Jurisprudence from Oxford University and a LLM from Harvard Law School.

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Barrister

Josephine Gillingwater

Josephine Gillingwater is currently seconded to the Supreme Court as Judicial Assistant to Lord Lloyd-Jones.

Josephine has experience across Chambers’ practice areas including public law and human rights, public international law, commercial law, employment and discrimination law, data and information law, procurement, and sports law.

Before coming to the Bar, Josephine worked in international arbitration at Freshfields, WilmerHale, and the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA). She also worked at the International Law Commission of the United Nations. She has volunteered with several pro bono organisations including the Free Representation Unit (FRU), Advocate, the Environmental Law Foundation, and Support Through Court.

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Barrister

Ishaani Shrivastava

Ishaani’s principal areas of practice are public, public international and employment law.

After being called, and before taking tenancy in 2014, Ishaani worked as a Kaufman Fellow at the AIRE Centre and at Leigh Day & Co solicitors. She holds a first-class B.A. in Law, an LL.M. from the University of Cambridge, and an LL.M. from Harvard Law School.

In 2024, Ishaani was appointed to the Attorney General’s B Panel of Counsel.

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Barrister

Juliet Wells

Juliet is a sought-after junior with a wide-ranging practice spanning public law, commercial law, group litigation, international law, and costs and litigation funding. Many of her cases involve issues at the intersection of those areas.

She is ranked as a leading junior in Chambers & Partners and Legal 500, and is a member of both the Attorney General’s C panel and specialist Public International Law panel.

Juliet is often instructed in high profile and complex litigation, regularly undertaking work beyond her level of call. The legal directories describe her as “fiercely intelligent”, “a fantastic oral advocate”, “fearless and robust”, “clinical and incisive”, “intellectually rigorous and extremely hard-working”, “technically astute”, “very impressive and intelligent”, “an excellent professional” and “detail-oriented, sharp and assertive”. She often works as part of a team in heavy litigation, and has been described as “very friendly” and “manag[ing] to raise every team member to her level of expectation and quality”.

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Barrister

Samuel Willis

Samuel practises in all of Chambers’ core areas, including commercial, public, procurement and state aid, EU, public international law, employment, data and information, and sport.

He acts in cases before a range of international and domestic courts. Current and recent highlights include:

• J v Bath and North East Somerset Council [2025] EWCA Civ 478; [2025] 3 W.L.R. 137, for the Secretary of State for Education (led by Joanne Clement KC) intervening in an appeal about the deprivation of liberty of children under Article 5 ECHR.

• The UN General Assembly’s request to the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion on the obligations of Israel in relation to the presence and activities of the United Nations, other international organisations, and third states in and in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Before coming to the Bar, Samuel was a research fellow in constitutional law at Public Law Project. In this role, Samuel assisted with drafting successful amendments to the Retained EU (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023, provided policy advice on proposed reforms to human rights law, and conducted scrutiny of treaties and other international agreements.

Samuel also worked as a trainee at the EFTA Court in Luxembourg (equivalent to a judicial assistant in England and Wales). In this capacity, Samuel worked on a wide variety of EU and EEA law matters, including state aid and competition, tax, discrimination on the basis of nationality, free movement of services, freedom of establishment, and consumer protection.

Samuel is a contributor to Tolley’s Employment Handbook, 39th edition (June 2025) and to Public Law and the UK Supreme Court: Key Cases and Decisions (August 2025). Samuel is also an editor of the Administrative Court Blog.

Samuel graduated with a Double First and an M.Phil in History from the University of Cambridge.

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Barrister

Leo Davidson

Leo accepts instructions in all areas of Chambers practice, with a particular focus on financial regulation, employment law, information law, regulatory law and public law.

He is ranked in Legal 500 2023 as a Tier 1 Rising Star in Local Government. He is “very able and provides sound, user-friendly advice”, and his “sophistication, advocacy and commercial awareness and vision are strong”. Clients also say that he “is forensic and gets into the detail and history of matters, particularly where they concern technical legal points or matters of statutory interpretation”.

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Barrister

Joseph Lavery

Joseph practises in all of Chambers’ core areas including public law and human rights, information and data law, public procurement, education and employment, and sport.

Current and recent highlights include acting in:

  • Wikimedia Foundation and another v Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology [2025] EWHC 2086 (Admin): Judicial review proceedings concerning the lawfulness of regulation 3 the Online Safety Act 2023 (Category 1, Category 2A and Category 2B Threshold Conditions) Regulations 2025.
  • NAA v An Independent Review Panel, London Borough of Haringey [2025] EWHC 1845 (Admin): Judicial review proceedings concerning the interaction between the school exclusion process and Article 4 ECHR/the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
  • Judicial review proceedings concerning the Student Loan Company’s powers to undertake investigations into suspected student loan fraud.
  • Judicial review proceedings concerning a challenge to Birmingham City Council’s decision to close adult day centres.
  • Tees Valley Combined Authority v The Information Commissioner [2025] UKFTT 215 (GRC): Proceedings concerning the application of the commercial interests exemption under the Freedom of Information Act, in which the Tribunal described Joseph’s submissions as “detailed and persuasive“.
  • Airwave Solutions Limited v Secretary of State for the Home Department: a procurement challenge concerning the UK’s Emergency Services Mobile Communications Network.

Prior to coming to the Bar, Joseph was the Judicial Assistant to Sir Geoffrey Vos, Master of the Rolls, in the Court of Appeal. In this role Joseph worked on notable and high-profile appeals spanning the breadth of civil law, including in the area of public law and human rights. Joseph has a LLM from Harvard Law School, where he studied comparative public law as a scholar of the Saint Andrew’s Society of New York, and a BA in Jurisprudence from the University of Oxford.

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Barrister

Rita Dias

Rita practises in all of Chambers’ core areas of practice including commercial, employment, public & human rights, public international law, information, technology & media, and sport.

She has worked on high-profile cases, both during the course of her pupillage and into tenancy. This has included acting in or assisting with:

  • A significant decision of the High Court relating to a £90 million ‘safety valve agreement’ entered into between the Department of Education and a local authority.
  • A landmark decision of the Court of Appeal confirming that the Court has the power, in appropriate circumstances, to order parties to court proceedings to engage in alternative dispute resolution.
  • A Supreme Court appeal concerning the privacy and free speech implications of restricted reporting orders in the context of ‘end of life’ care cases.
  • Major High Court team move litigation.
  • The first case to reach the Supreme Court on the meaning and application of the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.
  • Advisory proceedings before the ICJ on the obligations of states in respect of climate
  • Upper Tribunal proceedings relating to an enforcement notice in respect of data processing activities.

Prior to coming to the Bar, Rita graduated with a first-class degree in Law from the University of Cambridge, and a Distinction on the BCL from the University of Oxford. She was awarded the Eldon Law Scholarship in 2023.

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Barrister

Aliya Al-Yassin

Aliya practises in all areas of Chambers’ work including commercial, employment, public and human rights, data protection, sport, and public international law. She is ranked by Legal 500 as a “Rising Star” in employment, and described as being “extremely bright, commercial and responsive”.

Aliya has recently acted in several high-profile cases. Current and recent highlights include acting in or assisting with:

  • A successful application in the Commercial Court for the first post-Brexit anti-suit injunction enforcing an employee’s right to be sued in England.
  • A High Court employment and shareholding dispute against a leading F1 Team by its former CEO/Team Principal.
  • Contentious proceedings before the International Court of Justice against Myanmar concerning its responsibility for the Rohingya genocide in 2016-2017.
  • A challenge in the High Court to the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel in the context of the war in Gaza.
  • Advisory proceedings before the International Court of Justice on Israel’s aid obligations in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory following its ban on UNRWA.
  • A challenge before the European Court of Human Rights on the UK Government’s Rwanda removal policy.

Before coming to the Bar, Aliya was the Judicial Assistant to Lady Arden and Lord Kitchin in the Supreme Court, and UK Focal Point to the European Court of Human Rights’ Superior Courts’ Network, where she gained exposure to several high-profile cases across her areas of practice.  She previously trained as a solicitor at Slaughter and May, and was an associate in the firm’s Disputes and Investigations team.

Aliya has an LLB from SOAS, University of London (where she graduated top of the year, and won multiple prizes), and studied for the BCL at the University of Oxford (where she was awarded the Daniel Slifkin scholarship).

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