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 > Public international law
(2023 Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC –Matrix Chambers ‘Blinne is a very impressive, intelligent, talented and fearless barrister. She learns the details of the issues very quickly and shows very impressive knowledge of the law. Her advice is clear, detailed and provides a clear outline of the potential courses of action and the benefits and risks.’
London Bar > Extradition
(2023 Silks)Ranked: Tier 1London Bar > Inquests and inquiries
(2023 Silks)Ranked: Tier 1London Bar > Administrative law and human rights
(2023 Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC – Matrix Chambers ‘Her eye for detail is extraordinary.’
London Bar > International human rights and criminal law
(2023 Silks)Ranked: TierBlinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC – Matrix Chambers ‘Blinne has deservedly been made Kings Counsel. She is one of the leading silks of her generation in this area.’
Lauded as a ‘go-to set in international human rights law’ Matrix Chambers is equipped to handle high-profile criminal cases concerning bribery and corruption and the most complex human rights cases on torture and genocide. Michelle Butler is currently acting for the Israeli Hostage and Missing Persons Families Forum and the Raoul Wallenberg Centre in the ICC investigation into the perpetration of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Hamas in Israel on the 7th of October 2023; Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC is representing the claimant in the South Africa v Israel ICJ case, in which the South African government alleges that Israel’s military response in Gaza to said attacks amount to genocide. Jessica Jones appears in both Saifullah v Secretary of State for Defence and Noorzai v Secretary of State for Defence on behalf of the claimants who allege the Secretary of State for Defence did not properly investigate allegations of unlawful killing of Afghan civilians by UK Special Forces, while Edward Craven acts in the independent inquiry relating to the incident. Lord Hermer KC is now the Attorney-General for England and Wales.
London Bar > Crime
(2023 Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC – Matrix Chambers ‘Blinne is just a brilliant all-rounder. She is a hard-working and charismatic silk.’
Matrix Chambers has an established reputation as ‘one of the very best sets in London for criminal work‘, with noted expertise in cases involving high-profile individuals or international elements. Helen Law is acting as counsel for the first defendant in relation to the prosecution of five Bulgarian nationals under the Official Secrets Act 1911, alleged to have been spying in the UK on behalf of Russia. Clare Montgomery KC recently prosecuted a woman for taking a three-year-old British child to Kenya for female genital mutilation, with the woman the first person to be convicted of assisting a non-UK person to perform FGM. Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC and Robbie Stern are both well known for their experience in protest cases, while Vedrana Pehar regularly defends those charged with serious violence, drugs, and sexual offences.