Helen Peden

Overview

Helen Peden is in the first six of her pupillage with Garden Court North, which began in October 2023, under the supervision of Vijay Jagadesham and Lucy Mair.

Helen spent the five years prior to pupillage working for NGOs within the refugee sector, including the British Red Cross and the Refugee Council. She is experienced in working with young and vulnerable asylum seekers, having spent more than three years advising unaccompanied children on asylum and community care issues at the Refugee Council. Helen coordinated the International Family Tracing Service at the British Red Cross for the Greater Manchester area and was involved in the service’s working group for separated children.

Helen also volunteered in Greece for a six-month period with a grassroots NGO providing asylum and family reunion advice. During her master’s studies at the University of Glasgow, Helen’s dissertation focussed on the nationality rights of children born to displaced parents.

Prior to completing the Bar Course, Helen worked as a civil litigation paralegal at two national solicitors firms.

Helen studied law at the University of Bristol, where she was a team leader at the Human Rights Implementation Centre and a caseworker at Innocence Network UK. During her year abroad in Helsinki, she represented Finland at the Jessup Moot Cup international rounds in Washington D.C.

Helen was awarded the Bruno Simma Prize for top performance in her LLM class and received the Queen Mother Scholarship from the Middle Temple for her BPTC studies.