Matrix Chambers

Catherine Dobson has a broad practice spanning public, environmental, regulatory and human rights law. She is particularly recognised for her expertise in complex matters at the intersection of environmental regulation, constitutional and public law, and is regularly instructed in high-profile and technically demanding cases.

Catherine has acted in significant judicial reviews and Supreme Court proceedings, including Privacy International v Investigatory Powers Tribunal and R (Miller) v The Prime Minister. She acted for Friends of the Earth in landmark challenges to the Government’s Net Zero Strategy and Carbon Budget Delivery Plan.

Her environmental practice encompasses climate change, planning, nuisance, water and nuclear regulation, with particular expertise in the interaction between domestic, European and international environmental law. She also has substantial experience in energy and nuclear regulation and public international law. She is co-author, with Stephen Tromans KC, of the forthcoming edition of Nuclear Law (Hart, 2026).

Catherine is currently instructed for the Government in Supreme Court proceedings in Manchester Ship Canal v United Utilities, concerning sewerage discharges under the Water Industry Act 1991. She is sole counsel for the Office for Environmental Protection in two investigations and is increasingly instructed in complex environmental group litigation, including claims concerning pollution of the River Wye and catastrophic flooding in Malawi.

Catherine is on the Attorney General’s A Panel of Counsel as well as the panel of specialist Public International Law counsel. She has taught constitutional law at Cambridge University for over 15 years and is a Fellow of St Edmund’s College, Cambridge.