Jamie Burton KC 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 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 > Inquests and inquiries
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 4Jamie Burton KC – Doughty Street Chambers ‘Jamie is clear, considered and was a pleasure to work with on a very technical and complex case.’
London Bar > Police law (claimant)
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3Jamie Burton KC – Doughty Street Chambers ‘Jamie is a really gifted courtroom advocate, equally adept at making legal submissions and cross examining witnesses.’
London Bar > Court of Protection: health and welfare
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 2Jamie Burton KC – Doughty Street Chambers ‘Jamie is tenacious, but also realistic and his written and oral advocacy are both excellent. His range of knowledge across housing and community care is incredibly useful.’
Doughty Street Chambers is ‘a very strong chambers, with a breadth of practice areas and leading practitioners in the Court of Protection field’. Aswini Weereratne KC has extensive experience of representing clients with mental health and capacity issues and is known for her ‘calmness in negotiations and discussions both inside and outside court’. Jamie Burton KC is currently handling a judicial review related to the treatment of an autistic man with learning difficulties, who was allegedly detained in a small room with no access to recreation and outside space. ‘Exceptional barrister’ Ulele Burnham regularly acts on behalf of protected parties and garners praises for her ‘measured and to the point advocacy’. Leonie Hirst was appointed as Judge of the Upper Tribunal, Immigration and Asylum Chamber in September 2024.
London Bar > Administrative law and human rights
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 4Jamie Burton KC – Doughty Street Chambers ‘A silk with tactical nous. He is a powerhouse of legal knowledge and a very strong cross-examiner.’
London Bar > Social housing
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 2Jamie Burton KC –Doughty Street Chambers ‘Excellent attention to detail and analysis. In advocacy, Jamie is very strong on cross-examination and anticipating developments at trial and in hearings, thinking on his feet and adapting strategies during trials and hearings if needed to achieve successful outcomes.’
Doughty Street Chambers is a ‘brilliant all-round set’. The team maintains an ‘excellent reputation’ for tenant-side representation, ‘particularly when elements of public law are involved’. Martin Westgate KC has ‘excellent legal knowledge’, having appeared alongside Sarah Steinhardt before the Supreme Court in R (Imam) v Croydon LBC – a judicial review concerning a local authority not securing suitable accommodation for a homeless claimant for nearly six years after the duty had been accepted. Jamie Burton KC has ‘excellent attention to detail’ shown in his representation in R (Zaman) v Waltham Forest LBC – a high-profile case concerning a proposed out of borough placement in Stoke-on-Trent. David Carter has advised and acted on a number of homelessness cases and Rea Murray has acted on a number of cases involving vulnerable individuals requiring representation at judicial reviews.