Zoë Whittington > Cornerstone Barristers > London, England > Barrister Profile

Zoë Whittington

020 7242 4986 zoew@cornerstonebarristers.com

Career

Zoë specialises in the areas of health and social care (including mental capacity, mental health and community care), social housing and other public and administrative law. She also has expertise, and accepts instructions, in a broad range of other areas including property, local government law and general civil litigation.

Zoë has extensive experience of representing social and private landlords in both possession (all grounds) and anti-social injunction proceedings.  She also regularly advises and acts in relation to other housing matters including homelessness, disrepair, succession, unlawful subletting, trespassers, nuisance and HMO licensing. She has particular experience in matters involving mental health and other disabilities, including those which raise capacity issues and points under the Equality Act 2010 and her housing practice often has a mental capacity focus.

She also acts for local authorities and individuals in all aspects of health and social care work.  She appears in the Administrative Court, Court of Protection and Mental Health Tribunal and is able to advise and represent clients at all stages including pre-action and urgent interim relief applications in judicial review proceedings.  The scope of her work in this area includes ordinary residence and other funding disputes, challenges to assessments and service provision, s.17 Children Act support, mental health, CHC funding, age assessments, charging issues.

As part of her broader health and social care practice, Zoë has also developed a strong practice in the Court of Protection.  She is regularly instructed to advise and appear on behalf of both local authorities and the Official Solicitor in cases dealing with deprivation of liberty, welfare decisions, medical treatment and contested deputyship applications. She also has experience dealing with property and financial affairs matters, particularly where these interrelate with welfare issues.

As well as regular appearances in the County Court and various Tribunals, Zoë appears in her own right in the High Court and has been led in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court in housing and social care matters.  She has appeared as junior in two Supreme Court cases in 2018 – most recently in a case concerning the interplay between the Mental Health Act 1983 and deprivation of liberty in the context of restricted patients being considered for conditional discharge

Zoë is also currently a trustee and chairs the management committee for a service user led mental health charity in south east London

Education

Zoë read English Literature and Philosophy at the University of Sheffield (First Class) before undertaking the GDL (College of Law) and BVC (Inns of Court School of Law).