Claire Darwin KC > Matrix Chambers > London, England > Barrister Profile
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GRIFFIN BUILDING, GRAY'S INN
LONDON
WC1R 5LN
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Claire Darwin KC
Work Department
Claire Darwin KC is a leading expert in employment and equality rights. Her discrimination work spans the fields of employment, goods and services, pensions, premises, education, and public law.
Position
Claire has been recognised by the legal directories as a leading barrister for employment, education, and public law for many years. According to the directories ‘on complex disability discrimination cases there is no one better’, and Claire is said to be ‘well known for her strength in discrimination cases’.
Career
Called to the Bar 2005. Appointed King’s Counsel 2023. Appointed a Recorder (part-time Circuit Judge), 2023. Appointed to the Attorney General’s A Panel in 2017 and reappointed for a further term in 2021. Also appointed to the B and C Panels. In 2018 she was appointed to the Attorney General’s Panel of Special Advocates, and she is a member of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s current Panel of Preferred Counsel.
Shortlisted for the 2023 Public Services and Charities Silk of the Year. One of eight barristers shortlisted for The Lawyer’s Barrister of the Year Award 2020, for which she received a Commendation. Named as one of the UK’s “Hot 100 Lawyers” by The Lawyer magazine in January 2020.
Languages
German, Spanish, basic French.
Memberships
Employment Lawyers Association (ELA); Employment Law Bar Association (ELBA) (elected member of ELBA Committee since 2019); Industrial Law Society; Association of Partnership Practitioners, Education Law Association, European Employment Lawyers Association, the UK Association for European Law (UKAEL) and the Bar European Group.
Education
St Catharine’s College, Cambridge (2002, MA History);
University of Heidelberg, Germany (2000 – 2001);
City University (2004, CPE/GDL).
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Education
(2023 Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Claire Darwin KC – Matrix Chambers ‘Claire is extremely efficient and delivers thorough written advice and submissions with particular skill, showcasing her specialist understanding of education law. She expertly pieces together persuasive arguments.’
(2023 Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Claire Darwin KC – Matrix Chambers ‘A real eye for detail and particularly strong on all matters relating to disability discrimination. Her knowledge is exceptional, as is her advocacy. On complex disability discrimination cases there is no one better.’
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 > Employment
(2023 Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Claire Darwin KC – Matrix Chambers ‘She is a go to barrister for statutory employment law claims. A very confident advocate who is well respected by the judiciary.’
The employment team at Matrix Chambers has been kept busy advising on industrial relations cases, equal pay claims, restrictive covenants and discrimination matters, to name a few areas of instruction. James Laddie KC garners praise as ‘the barrister you want on your side on the most complex, sensitive and reputationally-concerning matters‘. Mathew Purchase KC is well-known for representing claimants, employers and trade unions before all levels of the judicial system. Turning to the juniors, Tom Gillie‘s caseload spans whistleblowing, discrimination and human rights matters, while Nathan Roberts successfully acted as sole counsel for the Group Chief Investment Officer of an international business before the Employment Tribunal in an automatic unfair dismissal and whistleblowing claim, resulting in an award of over £1.6m. Recent growth for the set includes Edward Kemp joining the team from Littleton Chambers and Claire Darwin KC and Laura Prince KC being elevated to silk.
London Bar > Administrative law and human rights
(2023 Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Claire Darwin KC –Matrix Chambers ‘A confident advocate who has impressive mastery over complex areas of law.’
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.