Michelle Pratley > Chambers of Charlie Cory-Wright KC and Richard Harwood KC > London, England > Barrister Profile

Michelle Pratley

020 7832 1111 clerks@39essex.com

Position

Barrister with a broad administrative and public law practice and particular expertise in the areas of community care, mental capacity, mental health, regulation and education law. In these fields Michelle is instructed by a range of firms, public bodies, local authorities and regulators to undertake advocacy as well as advisory matters. Acts in judicial reviews including in relating to community care entitlements for adults and children. Particular experience in the Court of Protection, where she has acted in cases concerning deprivation of liberty, forced marriage, involuntary sedation and ‘best interests’ disputes concerning residence, care and contact. Recommended in Chambers and Partners in the areas of Court of Protection and education law (2013 and 2014); described as being ‘super-efficient and [able to] get straight to the crux of the matter’ and ‘a formidable presence in the Court of Protection’. Recommended in the field of education law in Legal 500 (2011-14), with expertise in complex special educational needs cases as well as university discipline, school admissions and exclusions, and all aspects of discrimination law. Regulatory practice includes providing advice to financial regulators, acting in disputes with regulators in the British Virgin Islands and acting in long-running fraud and money laundering proceedings that led one of the largest confiscation orders ever made in a common law jurisdiction.

Career

Called 2006, Lincoln’s Inn; solicitor, Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Sydney (2002-03); legal officer, Australian Human Rights Commission, Sydney (2003-04); researcher for Keir Starmer QC, Doughty Street Chambers, London (2005-06); admitted as a barrister in the British Virgin lslands (2007).

Memberships

Administrative Law Bar Association; Human Rights Lawyers’ Association.

Education

Crookwell High School, Australia; University of New South Wales (2002 BA/LLB); British Chevening Cambridge Australia Trust Scholarship (2004); Darwin College, Cambridge (2005 LLM); Sir Isaac Wolfson Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn (2006).