Chevan Ilangaratne > Chambers of Sara Lewis KC > Birmingham, England > Barrister Profile

Before coming to the Bar, Chevan worked in a number of legal charities providing advocacy and advisory services in areas including disability rights, whistleblowing, and children’s rights. Chevan helped represent children in school exclusion hearings; advised on the Human Rights Act 1998 and Covid-19 regulations; acquired expertise in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; and worked on public law appeals before the European Court of Human Rights and the Supreme Court of Canada.

As a Legal Adviser at the whistleblowing charity Protect, Chevan advised workers in the public, private and third sector on the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, and prepared training materials for various employers on implementing appropriate ‘speak up’ arrangements. He conducted research for Protect’s third-party intervention in the Court of Appeal case of Gilham v MoJ [2017] EWCA Civ 2220, and subsequently its successful intervention in the Supreme Court (Gilham v MoJ [2019] UKSC 44).

Chevan undertook an LLM at the University of Cambridge, covering, among other areas, medical law with a module on clinical negligence; international human rights law; and data protection law.