Isabella Buono > Chambers of David Holland KC and Jenny Wigley KC > London, England > Barrister Profile

Isabella Buono

020 7421 1337 ibuono@landmarkchambers.co.uk View profile View profile

Position

Isabella is a barrister specialising in planning, environmental and public law.

She acts for a wide range of public and private sector clients, including housebuilders, land promoters, local authorities and private individuals.

Isabella’s recent cases include:

• B&Q, Cricklewood: Acted for a developer seeking permission for a mixed-use scheme in North London, including 1,049 residential units in buildings up to 18-storeys in height, led by Sasha White KC. The application was called in by the Secretary of State and will be determined following a two-week inquiry in February 2023.
• The Green, Southall: Promoted a compulsory purchase order designed to facilitate strategic regeneration in Southall, Ealing. Isabella acted for the acquiring authority and developer at a two-week inquiry in October 2022, led by Zack Simons.
• Maitland Lodge, Billericay: Acted for a developer seeking permission for 47 homes on a Green Belt site in Essex, led by Zack Simons. Planning permission was granted following a week-long inquiry in September 2022.
• R (University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust) v Harborough District Council: Acted for Leicestershire County Council in the leading case on section 106 contributions for NHS services, led by Zack Simons. The Trust’s claim was dismissed following a two-day hearing in the High Court in December 2022.
• R (Tesco Stores Ltd) v Allerdale BC [2022] EWHC 2827 (Admin): Acted for Lidl in a claim for judicial review brought by Tesco, challenging the grant of planning permission for a new Lidl store in Cumbria, led by Sasha White KC. Tesco’s claim was dismissed following a hearing in the High Court in October 2022.

Before joining Landmark, Isabella spent nearly two years as the Judicial Assistant to the President of the UK Supreme Court, Lord Reed of Allermuir. At the Supreme Court, Isabella gained experience of a wide range of issues across her main areas of practice, including in:

• Heathrow Airport Ltd v Friends of the Earth [2020] UKSC 52 (on the Government’s approach to international climate change commitments when designating the Airports National Policy Statement);
• R (Begum) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] UKSC 7 (on the rights of an individual deprived of British citizenship after traveling to Syria and aligning with ISIS); and
• R (SC) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2021] UKSC 26 (on the compatibility of the two-child benefit cap with articles 8 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights).

Alongside her practice, Isabella teaches EU Law at St Edmund’s College, Cambridge. She has taught EU Law at Cambridge since 2017 and was elected as a Bye-Fellow of St Edmund’s in 2021.

Education

Qualifications

• Magdalene College, University of Cambridge (BA Law)
• St John’s College, University of Oxford (BCL)
• BPP, London (BPTC)

Publications

• ‘The Northern Ireland Protocol: Choppy Waters Lie Ahead’ (2022) 27(3) Judicial Review 271
• ‘Enforcing Tribunal Decisions: Where there’s bark there’s bite?’ (2021) 17(6) Freedom of Information 4
• ‘“All cards are on the table”: disclosure obligations and the Independent Review of Administrative Law’ (2021) 17(5) Freedom of Information 4
• From the stroke of midnight: EU judgments on access to environmental information – still relevant in a post-Brexit UK?’ (2021) 17(4) Freedom of Information 4
• ‘‘Fine words butter no parsnips’ – how is open justice delivered?’ (2021) 17(3) Freedom of Information 4
• ‘What remains of the public/private divide? Mixed messages on the meaning of ‘public authority’’ (2020) 17(2) Freedom of Information 4
• ‘FOIA: the terminus of information rights?’ (2020) 17(1) Freedom of Information 4
• Contributing author to P. Coppel, Information Rights: A Practitioner’s Guide to Data Protection, Freedom of Information and other Information Rights (5th ed, Hart, 2020) (five chapters dealing with exemptions to rights of access to information and data protection post-Brexit)
• Atkin’s Court Forms, Volume 40(1), Trespass to the Person (LexisNexis, 2019)
• ‘Costs in Judicial Review Proceedings: Determining Success’ (2018) 23(3) Judicial Review 145
• ‘Mass Surveillance in the CJEU: Forging a European Consensus’ (2017) 76(2) Cambridge Law Journal 250 (co-authored with A. Taylor)

Personal

Awards

Academic scholarships and prizes

• Lord Denning Scholarship and Accommodation Award (Lincoln’s Inn, 2016)
• Daniel Slifkin Scholarship (St John’s College, Oxford, 2015)
• Bundy Scholarship (Magdalene College, Cambridge, 2015)
• Orlando Bridgman Prize for Law (Magdalene College, Cambridge, 2015)
• Norah Dias Memorial Prize for Law (Magdalene College, Cambridge, 2014)
• College Prize and Scholarship (Magdalene College, Cambridge, 2013, 2014 and 2015)
• Leslie Wilson Prize (Magdalene College, Cambridge, 2013 and 2014)
• Hogan Lovells Prize (Magdalene College, Cambridge, 2013)

Mooting

• Joint winner of the Herbert Smith Freehills Disability Mooting Championship (University of Oxford, 2015)
• Winner of the Quadrant Chambers Fledglings Mooting Competition (University of Cambridge, 2015)
• Joint winner of the XXIV Old Buildings Speed Mooting Competition (University of Cambridge, 2014)