Jenni Richards KC > Chambers of Charlie Cory-Wright KC and Richard Harwood KC > London, England > Barrister Profile
39 Essex Chambers Offices
39 Essex Chambers
81 CHANCERY LANE
LONDON
WC2A 1DD
England
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Jenni Richards KC
Position
Jenni Richards QC has an extensive public law practice acting for individuals, public bodies and public interest groups in all areas affected by public law. She is recognised as being ‘as brilliant on her feet as she is on paper’ (Chambers and partners). Her expertise includes local and central government, financial services, human rights, healthcare, community care and mental health, education, prison law and immigration/asylum. She is frequently asked to advise local authorities, health bodies and regulatory bodies on a wide range of issues relating to their powers and duties, consultation processes and budgetary decision-making. Jenni acted for the claimants in the leading human rights cases of Savage v South Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Rabone v Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust. Jenni’s regulatory and disciplinary work covers a wide range of areas, with particular emphasis on financial services regulation, the regulation of health care professionals , the regulation of fertility services by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and the regulation of hospitals and care homes. She acts for regulators and for individual professionals facing fitness to practise or disciplinary allegations. Jenni has extensive experience in difficult and sensitive inquests and inquiries in which there is a public component such as the responsibility of the state in relation to the cause of death. She has been involved in numerous leading cases concerning the investigative and substantive obligations under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Jenni is often instructed in the most complex or novel cases under the Mental Capacity Act involving difficult decisions relating to capacity, medical treatment and deprivation of liberty. Jenni is an experienced, trained mediator. Cases include: Rabone v Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust [2012] UKSC 2; Wirral BC v Salisbury Independent Living [2012] EWCA Civ 84; Levinge v Health Professions Council [2012] EWHC 135 (Admin); Cheshire West and Chester Council v P [2011] EWCA Civ 1257; R (Canada Inc) v Financial Services Authority [2011] EWHC 2766 (Admin); R (AP) V HM Coroner for Worcestershire [2011] EWHC 1453 (Admin); AH v Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust & others [2011] EWHC (CoP); R (L) v Leeds City Council [2010] EWHC 3324 (Admin); R (Mwanza) v Greenwich London Borough Council [2010] EWHC 1462 (Admin); R (Lewis) v HM Coroner for the Mid & North Division of Shropshire & Secretary of State for Justice [2010] 1 WLR 1836; R (KS) v Croydon LBC [2010] EWHC 3391 (Admin); R (Manchester CC) v St Helens BC [2009] EWCA Civ 1348; Muscat v Health Professions Council [2009] EWCA Civ 1090; R (F) v Wirral BC [2009] EWHC 1626 (Admin); R (Calvert) v HM Coroner [2009] EWHC 661 (Admin); St Helens Borough Council v Manchester Primary Care Trust & anor [2008] EWCA Civ 931; Savage v South Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust & MIND [2009]1 AC 681; HK (Turkey) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2007] EWCA Civ 1357; AI v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2007] EWCA Civ 386; JE v DE, Surrey County Council and EW [2006] EWHC 3459 (Fam); Cavanagh, Bhatt & Redmond v Health Service Commissioner [2005] EWCA Civ 1578; ID & others v Home Office [2006] 1 WLR 1003; A Local Authority v Z (2005) 1 WLR 959; Uttley v Secretary of State for the Home Department (HL) [2004] 1 WLR 2278; R (A, B, X & Y) v East Sussex County Council and Disability Rights Commission [2003] LGR 529; R (Stennett) v Manchester City Council (HL); [2002] 3 WLR 584, ; R (Coughlan) v North and East Devon Health Authority (CA) [2000] 2 WLR 622.
Career
Called 1991; Middle Temple.
Languages
Working knowledge of French.
Memberships
Administrative Law Bar Association (ALBA); London Commercial and Common Law Bar Association (COMBAR); Human Rights Lawyers Association.
Education
Bancrofts School, Woodford Green; Clare College, Cambridge (1989 BA Hons Law); University of Toronto (1991 LLM).
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Court of Protection and community care
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 1London Bar > Professional disciplinary and regulatory law
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 2London Bar > Local government (including rating law)
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3London Bar > Administrative law and human rights
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 2Jenni Richards KC –39 Essex Chambers ‘Jenni is just what you hope to get when instructing a silk: she is very persuasive on her feet, and has spot-on judgement when it comes to strategy.’
39 Essex Chambers is home to ‘an incredibly strong team of counsel‘ within the public law arena, with the set acting for a diverse range of public bodies and claimants. Recent work highlights include the ‘super‘ Jenni Richards KC, Catherine Dobson and Stephanie David acting for the claimant in Jennings v Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, involving an application for a declaration that it was lawful for the claimant to use an embryo with a surrogate following the death of the claimant’s wife. The claim was brought on the grounds that preventing the use of the posthumous embryo would act as a breach of the claimant’s Article 8 rights; the High Court permitted the declaration. In a separate matter, Richards KC successfully represented the claimant in R (Timson) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, a judicial review challenge to the DWP’s policy of allowing automatic deductions, without presenting the claimant with an opportunity to make representations, from welfare benefits to pay debts to utility providers. Katherine Apps KC and Nicola Greaney KC were elevated to silk in March 2023.
London Bar > Inquests and inquiries
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3Jenni Richards KC – 39 Essex Chambers ‘Jenni is extremely bright. She can identify novel arguments and present them in an extremely powerful and persuasive way.’