Victoria Hamblen > Chambers of David Berkley KC > Oxford, England > Barrister Profile

Victoria Hamblen

Work Department

Property and Estates; Commercial.

Position

Victoria Hamblen has experience in a range of commercial and public law matters, with a particular focus on property, planning, environment, mediation and international arbitration. She now has a broad commercial practice and accepts instructions in broad areas of civil law, as well as in public law and judicial review.

Victoria is also a member of the Attorney General’s Junior Junior Scheme, which provides her with opportunities to work on cases spanning diverse practice areas.

In environmental law, Victoria has experience of advising and making submissions on Strategic Environmental Assessment Regulations requirements and the legal requirements for Local Authority Sustainability Appraisals.

She is currently a pro-bono adviser for the Environmental Law Foundation(ELF), and has advised on a plethora of environmental cases, including matters relating to water quality/pollution, contaminated land and rights of way, land development environmental impacts. Victoria also has experience of providing pro-bono assistance to organisations such as Lawyers Against Poverty (LAP) on international human rights cases, including cases relating to the land rights of indigenous peoples.

Victoria has a very client-centred approach to her work. She is compassionate and approachable, and adopts a solution-focused, pragmatic and adaptable attitude.

Victoria completed pupillage at 3PB in May 2022. During her practising pupillage, Victoria represented in matters such as:

• Property: possession in trespass, and rent arrears cases;
• Commercial: small claims, fast-track trials, settlement negotiations.

Victoria has also drafted advice pieces and pleadings covering a wide variety of contentious issues, including:

• Consumer Rights Act
• Debt recovery
• Contract variation
• The law of agency and principal
• Professional negligence
• Insolvency

Victoria has also previously assisted barristers on cases involving:

• Constitutional Law: HRA and ECHR cases
• Property Law: Proprietary estoppel, Law of Prescription, Landlord and Tenant disputes, Easement abandonment
• Public Law: Judicial Review
• Privacy Law: Compliance with SAR requests, DPA breaches
• Aviation Law: Regulation 261/2004 cases
• Immigration Law: Spouse visa applications, appeals to the Home Office

Victoria took the following elective modules during the Graduate Diploma in Law and Bar Professional Training Course:

• Public International Law (UN Charter)
• Judicial Review
• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Immigration Law

Prior to the Bar, Victoria did pro-bono work with Immigration Tribunal Friends, the ULaw Law Clinic and worked as a paralegal and solicitor’s clerk at law firms specialising in immigration, family and employment.

Victoria has extensive experience working as a researcher. She conducted legal and policy research at an aerospace Consultancy, and policy and environmental science research at an Oxford-based sustainability consultancy. She also gained an insight into diverse practice areas and jurisdictions in Asia and Latin America when researching legal trends at Chambers & Partners Legal Directory.

Earlier on in her working life, Victoria co-founded and worked as an actor at Cyphers Theatre Company and taught English as a foreign language in Spain, Tanzania and China.

Victoria has a great interest in handling international work. Her first degree was in Chinese (Mandarin) and Politics of Asia and Africa. During her degree, Victoria volunteered in Tanzania, and lived and studied for a year in Beijing. She also studied modules on government and politics of the Middle East, government and politics of China, comparative political sociology of Asia and Africa, Gandhi and Gandhiism and the shaping of modern India and more.

Victoria was raised bilingual with English and Spanish, is proficient in French, and studied Mandarin at university.

Property and Estates

Victoria is well placed to handle the full breadth of residential and commercial property disputes. She takes an analytical approach to her work, working closely with clients to identify and address potential weak points in a case.

Recent work includes:

• Public and private nuisance
• Trespass
• Easements (identification, interpretation and enforcement)
• Rights of way disputes
• Breaches of covenant
• Prescription Act
• Commercial and residential landlord and tenant disputes, including rent arrears and alleged breaches of landlord obligations
• Possession hearings

Victoria is experienced in settling pleadings on claims involving injunctions, declarations and damages. She has also advised on a wide range of property disputes as to the benefit of a right of way, and nuisance. Victoria has previously assisted and advised on cases relating to proprietary estoppel and restrictive covenants, as well as broader land development planning cases, relating to Local Authority strategic environmental assessments and sustainability appraisals.

Victoria is particularly interested in handling cases relating to nuisance, which relate to broader environmental issues, and seeks to further develop this specialism. She has notable experience advising on pro-bono cases relating to a wide range of environmental impact issues. She welcomes cases which have an international dimension and representing in diverse forms of alternative dispute resolution.

Commercial 

Victoria accepts instructions across the whole range of commercial and contractual disputes and is regularly instructed at all stages of proceedings, providing advice, settling pleadings and appearing in court at interlocutory hearings and trials. Victoria welcomes instructions in all commercial matters and has a particular interest and experience in claims relating to directors liabilities, fiduciary duties, misrepresentation, incorporation of terms and penalty clauses, and the enforcement of settlement agreements.

Recent work includes:

• Advising in relation to a claim in relation to alleged breaches and dispute as to contract variations on a cruise
• Debt recovery in relation to an employment dispute involving a recruitment agency
• Acting on behalf of businesses and consumers in relation to claims under the Consumer Rights Act 2015
• Advising on the law of agency and principal in relation to a business to business contracting contract
• Advising a company on potential breaches of the Companies Act by an accountant and quantum
• Appearing in a range of interim application hearings, relating to strike out, summary judgment, set aside applications, relief from sanctions applications, and case management conferences.

Victoria has previously completed an intensive course in commercial mediation and has experience of representing clients in mediations and settlement negotiations in a wide range of commercial contexts.

Career

Year of Call: 2018

Languages

Victoria was raised bilingual with English and Spanish, is proficient in French, and studied Mandarin at university.

Memberships

• Honourable Society of Middle Temple
• UK Environmental Law Association (UKELA)
• Environmental Law Foundation (ELF)
• Planning & Environmental Bar Association (PEBA)

Education

• School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS, University of London), BA Joint Hons: Chinese and Politics
• University of Law, LLM in Bar in Practice
• University of Law, BPTC
• BPP Law, GDL