Elizabeth Mottershaw > Garden Court North Chambers > Manchester, England > Barrister Profile

Elizabeth Mottershaw

01618176377 emottershaw@gcnchambers.co.uk View profile View profile

Work Department

Housing
Discrimination
Immigration & asylum
Court of Protection
Public law
International
International criminal & humanitarian law
International human rights law

Position

Elizabeth was ranked as a rising star in the 2023 edition of the Legal 500 in both immigration and social housing.

Elizabeth’s practice focuses on housing, homelessness, and immigration. Her particular interest in vulnerable clients is seeing her develop a growing Court of Protection practice. She appears in possession, injunction, committal, unlawful eviction, and disrepair claims and in appeals against local authority decisions as to homelessness duties. She appears in human rights and asylum appeals. Elizabeth frequently acts for clients with complex mental health problems including PTSD and personality disorders, and regularly works with clients with serious drug and alcohol problems. Her work includes judicial review. Elizabeth also accepts instructions on international human rights law and international humanitarian law.

Career

Having worked in human rights since 1998, Elizabeth was called to the Bar in 2015. Prior to being called to the Bar Elizabeth worked for Amnesty International in research, policy and management roles. Her work took her to Yemen, Iraq, and the Philippines where she interviewed many people, in highly stressful circumstances, about their experiences of human rights abuse, persecution, and conflict. She also developed guidelines on gathering information from vulnerable individuals, including victims of torture and children. This experience informs both her interaction with clients and her advocacy on their behalf. Her move to the Bar was driven by a desire to apply her skills and knowledge to securing concrete change for individuals.

After working at Amnesty International, Elizabeth moved into research and advisory work working for think tanks, NGOs, and universities. This work focused on using human rights law, including the Human Rights Act 1998, to combat poverty and inequality. She has published in leading academic journals, provided training on the effective use of international law in human rights research and campaigning, and participated in various expert meetings and seminars.

She became a tenant at Garden Court North Chambers in 2016 after completing pupillage under the supervision of Ben McCormack.

Elizabeth is Chair of Asylum Aid, a charity providing legal representation to the most vulnerable of those seeking asylum and protection: unaccompanied children, people who have experienced torture and gender-based violence, people who have been trafficked, and those who are stateless. She is also a trustee of the Helen Bamber Foundation, a charity providing psychological, medical, and practical support to survivors to help them rebuild their lives.

Memberships

• Bar Human Rights Committee
• Young Legal Aid Lawyers
• Human Rights Lawyers Association.

Education

MA (Oxon) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics;
MPhil (Oxon) in Modern Middle Eastern Studies;
LLM in Public International Law (Distinction) – LSE; GDL (Distinction) – University of Law, Manchester;
BPTC (Very Competent) – BPP University, Manchester;