Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC > Matrix Chambers > London, England > Barrister Profile
Matrix Chambers Offices
GRIFFIN BUILDING, GRAY'S INN
LONDON
WC1R 5LN
England
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Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC
Position
Blinne is a human rights and international law expert with a broad criminal, civil and public law practice. She advises and acts for individuals, States, Non-Governmental Organisations, and other national and international bodies, arguing novel, complex and often high-profile points of law before domestic courts, including the Supreme Court, and before international courts and tribunals, including the International Court of Justice.
Her domestic practice includes cases involving the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of protest, discrimination and equality, international law, environmental law, national security, prisons, police.
Blinne was nominated Public International Law Junior of the Year in 2022. She was shortlisted for Barrister of the Year in 2022, Crime Junior of the Year in both 2020 and 2021, and for Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year in 2021. She was Times Lawyer of the Week in January 2022 and Irish Legal News Barrister of the Month in February 2022 for her defence of one of protesters who toppled the statue of the slaver Edward Colston in Bristol. She was appointed a Visiting Fellow at Harvard Law School in 2016, and a Pegasus Fellow to the Centre for Constitutional Right in New York in 2010.
She is called to the Bars of Ireland, North and South, in addition to the Bar of England and Wales. She is also on the International Criminal Court’s List of Counsel.
Languages
Fluent French, Basic Irish, Learning Arabic
Memberships
- Bar Human Rights Committee (former Vice Chair, current Executive Officer)
- Administrative Law Bar Association
- Criminal Bar Association
- Human Rights Lawyers Association
Education
- BA (Modern and Medieval Languages) Queens’ College, Cambridge (First Class Honours) Graduate Diploma in Law, University of Westminster (Distinction)
- Bar Vocational Course, Inns of Court School of Law (Outstanding)
- LLM International Legal Studies, New York University (equivalent Distinction)
- Visiting Fellowship, Harvard Law School (2015)
Fellowships and Awards
- Pegasus Scholarship, Inns of Court
- Phoenicia Scholarship, Bar European Group
- International Scholarship, Centre for Capital Punishment Studies
- Buchanan Prize, Lincoln’s Inn
- Bairstow Scholarship, ICSL
- St Thomas More Bursary, Lincoln’s Inn
- Lord Bowen Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn
- Hardwicke Award, Lincoln’s Inn
- Foundation Scholarship, Queen’s College, Cambridge University
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > International crime and extradition
(2023 Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC– Matrix Chambers ‘Blinne combines meticulous preparation, common sense and an undoubted flair for advocacy to deliver excellent results. Her appointment as silk was very well deserved.’
London Bar > Administrative law and human rights
(2023 Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC – Matrix Chambers ‘Blinne is a first-class human rights advocate, powerful and incredibly bright.’
Matrix Chambers is ‘a very strong public law and human rights set‘. Claimant work forms the key pillar of the practice, and the set reports an increase in mandates relating to government policies. Jessica Simor KC ‘clearly and concisely articulates complex legal arguments, and she is always prepared to challenge the status quo‘. In recent work for the team, Simor KC led Emma Foubister for the claimants in R (Friends of the Earth Ltd and others) v Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, a judicial review challenging the legality of the Government’s Net Zero Strategy; the High Court ruled that the strategy breached the Government’s obligations under the Climate Change Act. Edward Craven is ‘an exceptional barrister with an incredible mind‘. In a boost to chambers, Nick Armstrong KC, Claire Darwin KC and Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC were all elevated to silk in March 2023.
London Bar > Public international law
(2023 Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC –Matrix Chambers ‘The depth of her knowledge on tactics, procedure and the substantive issues of the case, both legal and factual is frankly staggering. She has a brilliant mind but it is not just that, she works extremely hard for her clients and brings real commitment to the case. She is also very good in court.’
London Bar > Crime
(2023 Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC – Matrix Chambers ‘Blinne is wonderful. She maintains rigorous independence and professionalism.’
(2023 Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC – Matrix Chambers ‘Blinne is an all-round star performer. Her strength is in the detail and her specialism is protest related cases.’
Primarily acting for the defence, Matrix Chambers is a strong criminal law set, with particular expertise in cases with human rights components. Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC, who took silk in March 2023, has a track record of cases where Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights is run as a defence – she is instructed to represent two members of Palestine Action, who used parliamentary visitor passes to gain access to the member’s lobby where they doused a statue of Lord Balfour with tomato ketchup. Tim James-Matthews and Clare Montgomery KC represented the defendants in Director of Public Prosecutions v Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court, a prosecution appeal concerning the acquittal of individuals who dug tunnels in an attempt to interfere with construction of HS2. The set also has a track record of work relating to terrorism offences.
London Bar > Inquests and inquiries
(2023 Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC – Matrix Chambers ‘Blinne is an outstanding barrister. Her technical knowledge is exceptional, which is reflected in her comprehensive and compelling drafting. She always goes the extra mile for her clients.’