Helen Mountfield KC > Matrix Chambers > London, England > Barrister Profile
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GRIFFIN BUILDING, GRAY'S INN
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Helen Mountfield KC
Position
Helen is a versatile silk with a strong leading practice in public law, human rights and equality, information, EU and employment law. Recent/notable public law cases include: R(Susan Smith) v Ministry of Defence (Supreme Court; article 1 ECHR jurisdiction); R(London Borough of Lewisham & Ors) v Ofqual & Ors (Div Court; successful rebuttal of challenge to GCSE English results); CN v United Kingdom (ECtHR; first finding of breach of Article 4 ECHR against UK); Czop & Punakova v SSWP (CJEU: rights under Citizens’ Directive; distinction between self-employed persons and workers); R(G) v Governing Body of X School (Supreme Court; article 6 ECHR, education); Burnip v Department for Work & Pensions (Court of Appeal; relevance of UN Conventions in national law); Watkins v Woolas (the Oldham East and Saddleworth election petition); and R (Woolas) v Parliamentary Election Court (Div Court; reviewability of decision of Parliamentary Election Court); R(Hurley & Moore) v SSBERR (Div Court; partly successful challenge to introduction of university tuition fees); R(E) v Governing Body of JFS (Supreme Court; race discrimination and schools); R(Green) v Gloucestershire & Somerset CC (successful library closure challenges); R (Harris) v LB Haringey; R(Hajrula) v London Councils, Secretary of State v Elias, R(Cordant Group plc) v BERR; Brown v DWP & BERR; R(Kaur & Shah) v LB Ealing (all major cases on public sector equality duties); RB & OO (Jordan) v SSHD and AH v SSHD (CA and House of Lords terrorism, Article 6); YL v Birmingham CC (House of Lords, public authorities and HRA); Re B (House of Lords – burden of proof and human rights); Ladele v London Borough of Islington (CA); Catholic Care v Charity Commission; R(Watkins-Singh) v Aberdare Girls’ High School; Ghai v Newcastle CC (human rights & religion); Pedro v DWP (CA; EU Citizens’ Directive); Stec v UK (Grand Chamber ECtHR). Other notable cases on www.matrixlaw.co.uk
Career
Called 1991 Gray’s Inn; recorder 2009; silk 2010; Deputy High Court Judge (Administrative Court) 2013. Treasury A Panel (until 2010); special advocate; member of Equality and Human Rights Commission panel. Publications include ‘Blackstone Guide to the Human Rights Act 1998’ (6th ed 2011), and edits ‘White Book’ on human rights. Lectures widely in UK and abroad, including at Harvard, NYU, Cambridge and for the Judicial Studies Board.
Memberships
Administrative Law Bar Association; Employment Law Bar Association; Employment Law Association; Bar European Group; Human Rights Lawyers’ Association; Bar Pro Bono Unit Panel.
Education
Magdalen College Oxford (BA Hons History 1st class); City University (Diploma in Law); King’s College London (Postgraduate Diploma in EU Law); Holker Scholar and Reid Scholar of Gray’s Inn.
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Education
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Helen Mountfield KC – Matrix Chambers ‘Helen provides authoritative advice on complex Equality Act issues which are at the forefront of public discussion. Her careful analysis enables instructing solicitors and their clients to manage some very sensitive issues.’
Matrix Chambers is noted for its wide-reaching expertise in education law, with a growing reputation for acting in case law-shaping cases for schools, universities, individuals, and governmental bodies. Recent highlights include David Wolfe KC‘s appearance challenging the Government’s conversion of London’s Holland Park School into part of a multi-academy trust, with notable implications for the national academisation program. Sarah Hannett KC advised the University of Essex on a high-profile threatened judicial review surrounding the university’s harassment policies. Daniel Squires KC conducted a noteworthy investigation into an independent school’s teaching of politically sensitive issues, while Helen Mountfield KC represented a visually impaired student in a race and disability discrimination claim against the Oxford Union after he was removed from a debate by security staff. The set’s profile was further bolstered with Claire Darwin KC and Nick Armstrong KC taking silk in 2023.
London Bar > Court of Protection and community care
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 2London Bar > Elections
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 2Helen Mountfield KC – Matrix Chambers ‘Helen is an incisive silk, with very strong emotional intelligence and client management skills.’
Matrix Chambers has an excellent reputation for handling the full spectrum of contentious and non-contentious work in the election law space. Gavin Millar KC is a highly regarded election law expert, and Helen Mountfield KC is sought after for her expertise in advising on election petitions. In recent instructions, Sarah Sackman successfully represented the respondent local councillor in Buchan v Elliott, defeating an election petition challenging the result of a Hartlepool Borough Council election – at issue in this case was if statements made on the victor’s leaflets about the second-placed a minor party candidate’s support for a locally controversial housing development were political or personal.