Marlena Valles

‘Leaders in public law with real bench strength’, Blackstone Chambers remain at the forefront of the most prominent administrative law cases and have a strong human rights law pedigree. Members of the set have led on some of the highest-profile recent administrative law cases, with James Eadie KC - as treasury devil, the government's first-choice outside silk - and the ’very bright’ Marlena Valles acting on opposite sides of Court of Appeal case R (Castellucci) v Gender Recognition Panel, in which an American who, having been re-issued with a California birth certificate with the sex field changed from male to non-binary, unsuccessfully sought a similar Gender Recognition Certificate in England. ‘The leading silk for administrative law cases’ according to some, Lord Pannick KC is currently acting with the ’simply brilliant’ Paul Luckhurst on a challenge to the Government’s decision to apply VAT to independent school fees in R (ALR and Others) v Chancellor of the Exchequer. Jason Pobjoy KC and Naina Patel KC both took silk in 2025, and each have established public law practices with recent experience acting for both claimants and defendants in a range of courts.