Leila Ghahhary > Kate Blackwell KC > Manchester, England > Barrister Profile

Leila Ghahhary

0161 832 5701 leila.ghahhary@lincolnhousechambers.com

Work Department

Public Inquiries
Inquests
Judicial Review
Equality and Human Rights Health
and Safety Licensing
Trading Standards / Consumer Protection
Food Safety
Environmental Protection
Fraud
Professional Disciplinary
Housing, Planning and Highways
(Enforcement)

Position

Leila is an established and well-regarded junior who specialises in public, regulatory and common law.

Leila is regularly instructed to represent and advise local and central government departments, individuals and, a variety of public and private organisations before a range of UK courts, tribunals and constitutional panels across a multitude of legal areas and issues arising under public law, regulatory law and common law including:

• Public Inquiries
• Inquests
• Judicial Review
• Equality and Human Rights
• Health and Safety
• Licensing
• Trading Standards / Consumer Protection
• Food Safety
• Environmental Protection
• Fraud
• Professional Disciplinary
• Housing, Planning and Highways (Enforcement)

Leila has been instructed in matters of national significance such as the Manchester Arena Inquiry, Gosport Independent Panel Inquiry and, the Hillsborough Inquests.

Leila has been appointed onto:

• The Attorney General’s Panel of Counsel. She regularly receives instructions from the Government Legal Department to represent and advise a variety of government departments on a range of public law and civil matters.
• The Panel of Specialist Advocates in Health and Safety and Environmental Law providing advice and representation to the Health and Safety Executive, the Environment Agency, the Office of Rail and Road, the Care Quality Commission, the Office of Nuclear Regulation and, Natural Resources Wales.
• The Equality and Human Rights Commission Panel of Counsel providing advice and representation to the Commission on matters relating to equality, public and human rights law.

Prior to joining Lincoln House Chambers, Leila spent 9 years working in-house as a Local Government Lawyer within the Common Law Department of a Greater Manchester Local Authority. The work Leila undertook in this role was varied, complex, voluminous and covered the whole range of common law and statutory and corporate functions of a local authority, in relation to a wide range of legal issues relevant to all departments and levels of seniority within local government. Leila regularly represented the Council conducting court proceedings on a wide range of civil, criminal and regulatory matters, in all manner of courts and tribunals. Since joining the independent Bar, Leila continues to enjoy instructions from many local authorities on all aspects of local government business.

Leila’s experience covers both the enforcement and administrative aspects of Public and Regulatory Law. Leila provides advice and assistance to both prosecution and defence on all aspects and stages of the regulatory enforcement process including: enforcement notices, the investigation, the decision to prosecute, PII and disclosure issues.

Leila accepts instructions on all types of regulatory and public law matters, her practice is not limited to the above list of areas. In this regard, Leila’s background of experience brings to any case the added advantage of first hand understanding of the wider statutory, public law and corporate issues which affect governance in a public law and regulatory arena.

Leila also regularly delivers seminars and provides training to other legal professionals. These training courses are prepared and presented by Leila and have covered a variety of legal areas and issues. In particular she regularly provides such training to Local Government Officers on all stages of criminal investigations, disclosure and the preparation of a case for prosecution. In this regard Leila is accredited in Criminal Investigation Management by the University of Portsmouth.

Career

Called 2010; Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn.

Memberships

Health and Safety Lawyers Association
Administrative Law Bar Association
Criminal Bar Association

Education

LLB (Hons)
LLM
Bar Vocational Course
The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn
Inter-provider National Moot Winner