Garden Court North in 2025: A Year in Review
23 December 2025
Garden Court North Chambers, Blackfriars House, Manchester. Credit: Bruntwood.
As 2025 draws to a close, the full team at Garden Court North would like to thank all of our close partners and allies who have contributed to another impactful year of supporting people’s rights through justice.
Our team wanted to take the opportunity to reflect on the key cases our Members undertook in 2025, ahead of what will be a momentous year as we celebrate our 30th anniversary in 2026.
January – March
The year began with Garden Court North’s Tom Royston appearing in the High Court to represent Mr Roberts, whose Universal Credit had been unfairly deducted by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The High Court ruled that the deductions were unlawful because the DWP’s Universal Credit scheme prevented claimants from making representations, before deductions start, about whether deductions should actually be taken from their benefit for alleged rent arrears. The judgment also made important and novel findings scrutinizing the lawfulness of automated or semi-automated decision-making by the DWP regarding benefits claims.
Garden Court North and the University of Manchester hosted the inaugural Mark George KC Memorial Lecture in March, looking at miscarriages of justice following the Hillsborough disaster. It marked the first of an annual series of lectures honouring Mark George KC, the late Head of Garden Court North who was part of the team who represented 22 Hillsborough families during the 2014-16 fresh inquests.
Garden Court North’s Pete Weatherby KC and Anna Morris KC, The Guardian’s David Conn, Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, and Professor Eithne Quinn from the University of Manchester dissected the legal failures that followed the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, and reiterated calls for a Hillsborough Law, which grew stronger throughout the year as the Law entered Parliament.
Pete and Anna also led Hamish McCallum, Mira Hammad, Christian Weaver and Lily Lewis of Garden Court North’s Covid-19 Inquiry Team, representing the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice (CBFFJ). Module 5 investigated how the Government responded to the challenges of procuring PPE equipment during the pandemic.
Later in March, Rosalind Burgin and Mira Hammad secured acquittals for Just Stop Oil protesters accused of causing a public nuisance at the Open Golf Championship, Tom Royston appeared in the Supreme Court on another social security matter, and Christian Weaver represented the family of Ryan Duffy at his inquest, which found that the presence of a police vehicle engaged in a pursuit “significantly contributed” to his and his partner’s death.
On 21 March, the High Court’s decision to limitedly grant the University of Cambridge an injunction against pro-Palestine campus protesters received international media attention. Garden Court North’s Mira Hammad and other counsel were instructed by the European Legal Support Centre amid concerns regarding university students’ right to freedom of expression and the erosion of protest rights.
April – June
April began with two key cases for Nina Grahame KC and Garden Court North’s crime team.
Nina represented Mr Dean Johnstone as he pleaded guilty to the murder of Karen Youdell at Manchester Crown Court, before representing Mrs Joanne Sharkey, who received a suspended two-year prison sentence for the manslaughter of her newborn child in 1998, on the basis of diminished responsibility. Amid nationwide media attention, Nina pointed to the “extremely complicated” nature of the sentencing, and “complex legal, pathological, psychiatric, psychological and factual issues” the case raised around post-natal trauma.
An emotional two-week inquest at Manchester Coroner’s Court ended in the inquest jury finding that neglect on the part of Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation contributed to the tragic death of Charlotte Parry, whose family was represented by Lily Lewis.
On 13 April, Garden Court North paid tribute to the Hillsborough victims and bereaved families on the 36th anniversary of the disaster.
Two weeks later, the Lampard Inquiry into deaths of mental health inpatients in Essex resumed, with Anna Morris KC and Lily Lewis representing INQUEST. The Inquiry heard about a prevalent “lack of candour” across Essex mental health trusts.
Module 7 of the Covid-19 Inquiry then began in May, investigating the different ‘Test, Trace and Isolate’ programmes implemented across the UK.
On 22 May, Garden Court North paid tribute to the Manchester Arena bombing victims and bereaved families on the eighth anniversary of the tragedy. Pete Weatherby KC represented seven of the families into the Inquiry following the attack.
The Young Legal Aid Lawyers (YLAL) awards took place on 23 May in 2025, highlighting the positive and crucial impact legal aid work has on people’s lives. The event drew speakers recognised for their expertise in legal aid work, including Garden Court North’s Christian Weaver and Anna Morris KC.
At the end of May, Pete Weatherby KC and Professor Javaid Rehman released an in-depth podcast on human rights in Iran, drawing on Professor Rehman’s six-year mandate as UN Special Rapporteur. Two weeks prior, Professor Rehman’s findings were formally endorsed in a US House of Representatives’ resolution on Iran.
On 6 June, the National Association of Welfare Rights Advisers (NAWRA) held its quarterly conference in association with Garden Court North. Tom Royston, Alexa Thompson and Rosalind Burgin drew on their expertise in social security, housing and public law to discuss potential legal challenges to the Government’s proposed ‘Pathways to Work Green Paper’ and disability benefits cuts, alongside contributions from the public law teams at Leigh Day, GMLC, and Public Law Project.
National media attention focused on the inquest into the death of Rhianan Rudd, during which the Chief Coroner identified several missed opportunities for prevention by Counter Terrorism Police, Prevent, Derbyshire County Council and a number of mental health bodies. Garden Court North’s Ciara Bartlam represented Rhianan’s mother at the 16-day inquest.
27 members of Garden Court North were among more than 1,130 judges, lawyers and legal experts who signed an open letter to the UK Government calling for action against Israel’s serious violations of international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Soon after, Rosalind Burgin secured the acquittal of a client charged with conspiracy to cause criminal damage to a factory, in protest of what they alleged was involvement in the manufacturing and export of weaponry to Israel.
Garden Court North’s protest rights team then hosted the ‘Understanding Anti-Zionism’ webinar alongside the European Legal Support Centre (ELSC) and Professor Avi Shlaim, a world-leading scholar on Israel, Palestine and the Middle East. The webinar examined the prosecution of protesters in the UK for expressions of anti-Zionism, often conflated with antisemitism.
June concluded with 167 MPs and Lords signing a letter calling for a full and undiluted Hillsborough Law, and the start of public hearings for Module 6 of the Covid-19 Inquiry. Pete Weatherby KC, Anna Morris KC, Kate Stone, Ciara Bartlam, Hamish McCallum and Lily Lewis represented bereaved families seeking justice for the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on the adult social care sector, which later head of ‘generational slaughter’ across the UK’s care homes.
July – September
Summer began with a nomination for Garden Court North as Set Outside London of the Year for The Legal 500 Bar Awards 2025, a strong endorsement of our impactful human rights work and landmark cases.
A flurry of successful protest rights and housing cases in the days following evidenced this, with Rosalind Burgin and Bethany Currie securing acquittals for three clients in a protest case, as Alexa Thompson and Misha Nayak-Oliver secured dismissals of possession claims for their vulnerable clients, allowing them and their families to remain in their homes.
On 21 July, the Government announced the Orgreave Inquiry, examining violent policing at miners’ strikes in South Yorkshire in 1984. Former Head of Chambers Mark George KC became one of the most vocal campaigners calling for the Orgreave Inquiry in the aftermath of the incident.
Tom Royston returned to the High Court at the end of July to represent two residents from Trafford, Greater Manchester, in their legal challenge to Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council over its council tax reduction scheme, which they say unlawfully deprives low-income households of crucial support. The scheme was eventually deemed unlawful and quashed.
Garden Court North’s international team featured on a high-profile case in Cyprus, where Leto Cariolou represented the Applicant in the European Court of Human Rights’ ruling that failures in the Cyprus Government’s handling of a rape allegation violated Articles 3, 8 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The Southport Inquiry began on 8 September, with Pete Weatherby KC and Christian Weaver instructed to represent different participants in the Inquiry’s examination of the circumstances surrounding and events leading up to the attack at a children’s Taylor Swift dance event in Southport in 2024.
A week later, Hillsborough Law – or the Public Office (Accountability) Bill 2025 – was introduced into Parliament. Built around its three pillars of a Duty of Candour, Duty to Assist, and Legal Funding for Bereaved Families, Hillsborough Law is intended to minimise the possibility of future cover-ups following state-related disasters and deaths. Pete Weatherby KC led the team which drafted the 2017 Hillsborough Bill, and is one of five Directors of Hillsborough Law Now, which led the meetings with ministers and officials leading to the Law’s introduction.
In September, Garden Court North co-hosted two leading events. Our inquests and public inquiries team first hosted the INQUEST Northern Conference and Quiz on 18 September, alongside Leigh Day and Ison Harrison Solicitors. The day was a massively successful fundraiser for the life-changing work carried out by INQUEST, the charity which provides expertise on state related deaths and their investigation to bereaved people, lawyers, advice and support agencies, the media and parliamentarians.
On 30 September, our immigration team co-hosted the North-West Migrants’ Rights Conference alongside Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit (GMIAU). The event brought together lawyers, academics, media, campaigners, and those with lived experience in a safe space for compassionate, humanising rhetoric around immigration, contrary to the current climate of hate, hostility and dehumanisation.
A busy end to September for our protest rights team saw Alexander McColl secure landmark acquittals for his three clients in one of the first trials in the UK for the new offence of ‘Being Equipped for Locking On’, in protest of the Drax power station.
Bethany Currie and Mira Hammad then secured unanimous acquittals for clients who participated in a highly publicised protest action at the Grand National Race in 2023, following a six-handed, three-week trial at Liverpool Crown Court.
October – December
October began with Garden Court North ranked as a Top Tier Set by the Legal 500 for 2026. We were rated as ‘Top Tier’ across four practice areas: administrative and public law (including civil liberties and human rights), immigration, inquests and inquiries, and social housing. In total, 42 of our members were ranked across six areas of law, including three Leading Silks and 18 Leading Juniors.
Following successful completion of pupillage, Misha Nayak-Oliver and Bethany Currie accepted invitations to join Chambers, as Garden Court North welcomed its two newest pupils: Iqra Shahid and Pragnya Iovine.
Kate Stone represented Georgia Barter’s family at the inquest into her suicide, which returned the second-ever finding in UK legal history that she was unlawfully killed and died as a result of domestic abuse.
On 6 October, the Upper Tribunal sat exceptionally as a panel of three judges following an appeal by ‘GD’, represented pro bono by Garden Court North’s Tom Royston. Their ground-breaking judgment established that where claimants challenge a benefits decision on “official error” grounds, the tribunal can allow an appeal even if “official error” is not ultimately established – considerably helping benefits claimants to hold inaccurate government decision-making to account.
On 27 October, Awaab’s Law came into force. It was introduced three years after Christian Weaver represented the family of two-year-old Awaab Ishak during the inquest, which determined that Awaab’s tragic death was due to “prolonged exposure” to mould in his home. Awaab’s family and NHS staff repeatedly reported the issue to the social housing provider, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, but the problem remained unresolved.
Christian and Awaab’s father Faisal were instrumental in campaigning for Awaab’s Law, which requires social landlords to act within fixed timescales when significant hazards are reported. The campaign received widespread media attention, and Christian won the ‘Barrister of the Year’ award at the Greater Manchester Pro Bono Awards a week later.
Garden Court North’s Vijay Jagadesham successfully represented his client in a legal challenge to an immigration age assessment which categorised him as “clearly an adult”. The judgment highlighted the common deficiencies of local authority and Home Office age assessments.
In November, Tom Royston represented former England captain David Watson in his successful appeal against a government decision which refused him industrial injuries benefit for a brain injury he suffered while playing football. Mr Watson was diagnosed with probable chronic traumatic encephalopathy and probable Alzheimer’s dementia, which he connects to a significant number of head traumas he suffered during his professional career for Sunderland AFC, Manchester City, Stoke City and England’s national team.
On 15 November, Sky News aired ‘A Girl Called Nonita’, a powerful and moving documentary which scrutinises the lack of support for young adult care leavers following their 18th birthday. The documentary focused on the life, death and inquest of Nonita Grabovskyte, at which the charities INQUEST and Article 39 were represented pro bono by Garden Court North’s Ciara Bartlam, shedding light on the serious failings by Nonita’s corporate parent and other agencies before her self-inflicted death.
On 1 December, Avril Rushe accepted an invitation to join Chambers’ thriving Court of Protection, inquests, and housing and homelessness teams.
For our public inquiries team, two key reports were released in late November and early December. Firstly, the Covid-19 Inquiry published its second report investigating the government decision-making in the UK’s response to the pandemic, which determined that “inexcusable” mistakes and delays in imposing a lockdown led to approximately 23,000 avoidable deaths in the first wave leading up until 1 July 2020.
Secondly, the Independent Office for Police Conduct published its report into the mishandling of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, at which 97 Liverpool Football Club supporters were unlawfully killed. The report stated that 12 police officers would have faced gross misconduct cases over Hillsborough if they were still serving, but none will face disciplinary proceedings because they have all retired.
Pete Weatherby KC told BBC Radio 5 Live that “the best that can be said of [the report] is that it’s further vindication of what we knew already”, and that it did little more than “raise further trauma for the families”. Hillsborough Law will enter its report stage in the House of Lords on 14 January 2026.
One of our last cases of 2025 was also one of the highest-profile. After months of appeals, protests, arrests, and international concern over restricted freedoms of expression, assembly and association, the three-day judicial review challenge of the decision to proscribe Palestine Action took place, with final submissions made on 2 December ahead of the highly-anticipated judgment in the New Year. Garden Court North’s Mira Hammad and Rosalind Burgin are among Counsel for the Claimant and co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori.
Garden Court North would again like to thank our Members, Practice Management team, partners and allies who are all integral in our mission of supporting people’s rights through justice.
We look forward to continuing our work in 2026 and marking the 30th anniversary of our Chambers’ formation.
For further information, please contact Alex Blair, Communications Manager at Garden Court North Chambers: ablair@gcnchambers.co.uk
