Grace is a solicitor in our Public Law and Human Rights team. She has a diverse public law caseload including judicial review challenges, complaints and civil claims.
She has worked on several high-profile public interest judicial review cases on behalf of campaign groups, as well as claims to enforce individual’s rights, especially those of vulnerable people. Grace has an interest in cases concerning the rights of children and young people, and those subject to immigration control. She advises asylum seekers and victims of trafficking provided with inadequate accommodation and support
Grace spent part of her training in the Crime Fraud and Regulatory team where she gained experience of cases at all stages of the criminal justice process. She assisted in the defence of an alleged anarchist prosecuted under terrorism legislation and worked on complex extradition matters. Grace draws on this experience to represent people affected by the criminal justice system and to challenge unlawful decisions by the police, CPS and Disclosure and Barring Service.
Education and career
- Grace graduated from the University of Oxford in 2010 with a BA in History.
- She holds an MA from SOAS, University of London and a Graduate Diploma in Law from City, University of London.
- Before joining Bindmans, Grace worked for a number of advice charities and then as a paralegal specialising in public law and community care. She moved into law after a previous career in journalism and communications.
- She qualified as a solicitor in 2022.
Experience and cases
Grace’s casework includes:
Public interest judicial review
- With John Halford, acting for doctors’ advocacy group Anaesthetists United and the bereaved parents of Emily Chesterton in a judicial review of failures by the General Medical Council to safely or adequately regulate the new professions of Physician Associate and Anaesthesia Associate.
- Alongside John Halford and Caroline Robinson, represented campaign group WASPI in successful judicial review proceedings challenging the Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman’s failure to offer adequate redress for the up to 3.8 million 1950s women given inadequate notice of changes to their State Pension Age. A great number of women were denied the opportunity to properly plan for retirement and experienced significant financial hardship.
- Represented the National Union of Journalists as an intervener in Liberty’s Court of Appeal casechallenging the bulk surveillance regime in the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, known as ‘the Snoopers Charter’.
Migrants’ rights
- Securing alternative accommodation for a number of vulnerable asylum seekers who were held by the Home Office at the former military base Wethersfield, and pursuing civil claims for damages
- Assisting Afghans seeking relocation to the UK under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy for those at risk from the Taliban due to their work with the UK.
- Secured alternative accommodation for a family of asylum seekers who had been living in a hotel for more than two years.
- Successfully prevented the termination of care leaver support to a 19-year-old asylum seeker and victim of trafficking.
- Acting in a civil damages claim against the Home Office for unlawful detention in an immigration removal centre on behalf of a client with serious health conditions.
- Part of the team that assisted with claims for compensation for a group of individuals falsely accused by the Home Office of cheating on a TOEIC English language test.
Criminal justice
- Advised on the Victim’s Right to Review scheme and judicial review challenges to non-prosecution decisions.
- Assisting with successful requests for deletions of cautions wrongfully administered to victims of domestic abuse.
Professional memberships
- Young Public Lawyers’ Group
- Young Legal Aid Lawyers
- Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers
