Jamie Burton KC > Doughty Street Chambers > London, England > Barrister Profile
Doughty Street Chambers Offices
53-54 DOUGHTY STREET
LONDON
WC1N 2LS
England
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Jamie Burton KC
Work Department
Position
Jamie Burton is both a public lawyer and an experienced civil litigator, with particular expertise in human rights, discrimination and social welfare.
Head of Chamber’s Community Care and Health Team, Jamie is a leading authority on health and social care, homelessness, social security and the rights of disabled people, children and migrants. He is an expert in judicial review and regularly appears in the higher courts, including the Supreme Court.
Jamie’s civil practice encompasses high value claims in tort and contract, including group claims/class actions. He acts for public authorities and private parties. He is particularly well known for bringing civil claims against the police on behalf of victims of crime.
Career
Year of Call: 1999; Inner Temple; Year of Silk: 2021
Jamie is a member of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s A Panel of counsel and is regularly instructed by charities and NGOs. He also advises public authorities at the level of policy in relation to their statutory and human rights obligations. He is instructed by companies in commercial judicial review and public procurement claims.
Jamie acts for families in inquests and represented residents affected by the fire at the Grenfell Tower Public Inquiry.
Internationally, Jamie has undertaken work in Europe, India, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.
He has written on human rights, public law and equality law. He co-authored “Children in Need”, published by LAG (see here) and Butterworths’ PI Litigation Service, Division XXIV ‘Liability of Public Authorities’ (see here).
Jamie is also Chair and co-founder of ‘Just Fair’, a registered charity that works exclusively on human rights issues, particularly economic, social and cultural rights. Just Fair has had a significant impact on the public debate on human rights in the UK. It has produced several landmark reports on the housing crisis, food poverty and disability rights. Jamie represents Just Fair at the UN and in 2016 he made submissions to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights about the UK’s compliance with its human rights obligations.
Memberships
Housing Law Practitioners Association; the Constitutional and Administrative Law Bar Association; Environmental Law Foundation; Critical Legal Group; UNICEF Expert Group on the EU Convention on the Rights of the Child; Expert Group for Housing Rights Watch on issues pertaining to homelessness in the EU; Chair of “Just Fair”, the only domestic human rights charity that seeks to advance the fulfilment and better recognition of economic, social and cultural rights in the UK.
Education
Hynland Secondary Scool, Glasgow (1992, Scottish Highers); Bristol University (1998, LLB, 2:1); Inns of Court School of Law (1999, BVC, very competent); London School of Economic Science (2002, introductory economics); Institute for Human Rights, Abo Akademie University, Turku, Finland (2006, economic and social rights).
Leisure
Football, tennis, theatre.
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Social housing
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3Jamie Burton KC –Doughty Street Chambers ‘Jamie is a brilliant and fearless advocate. He is committed to social welfare and housing issues and very strong in cross-examination.’
London Bar > Police law (claimant)
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3Jamie Burton KC – Doughty Street Chambers ‘Jamie is incredibly bright, good with vulnerable clients, very detailed in his analysis, leaving no stone unturned. Very clear in his advice and hugely knowledgeable. He is an excellent orator and advocate, calm yet incredibly persuasive.’
London Bar > Administrative law and human rights
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 4Jamie Burton KC – Doughty Street Chambers ‘Jamie is incredibly bright, good with vulnerable clients, very detailed in his analysis and leaves no stone unturned. He is an excellent orator and advocate, calm yet incredibly persuasive.‘
Doughty Street Chambers is a ‘leading human rights set‘ which is also noted for its ‘strong reputation for public law‘. The team of ‘high calibre counsel‘ is well known for its strength in acting for claimants in a wide range of high-profile judicial reviews and complex human rights, administrative and constitutional cases. The ‘highly respected‘ Edward Fitzgerald KC recently appeared before the Privy Council in Attorney General v Rolle, a case concerning citizenship rights for children born in The Bahamas to unmarried parents. Joe Middleton KC, who took silk in 2023, is well versed in advising on cases concerning constitutional challenges to the death penalty in multiple African countries. In another matter, Jamie Burton KC is acting in a judicial review concerning the Secretary of State’s policy about the height of kerbs, contending the policy does not require high enough kerbs for guide dog and white cane users.
London Bar > Court of Protection and community care
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3Jamie Burton KC – Doughty Street Chambers ‘Jamie has a brilliant strategic mind, is exceptionally good with clients, is approachable, and is committed to getting a good result.’