Helen Peden and Alexa Thompson accept invitations to join Chambers

2 October 2024

We are delighted to announce that our two exceptional pupils, Helen Peden and Alexa Thompson, have accepted offers of membership following successful completion of pupillage.

Helen Peden

During her pupillage, under the supervision of Lucy Mair and Vijay Jagadesham Helen gained experience across a wide spectrum of immigration work in both the First-tier and Upper Tribunals, including asylum, deportation, and family reunion cases. Helen also completed the ATLAW Programme, which is a specialist training run by ATLEU for legal practitioners representing survivors of trafficking and modern slavery.

Helen has been building a fast-developing multi-disciplinary housing and immigration practice. She has regularly appeared and advised on housing matters including possession and disrepair claims, and injunction and committal applications. Helen has frequently acted on complex cases involving public law defences, capacity issues, and vulnerable clients with complex needs.

Helen has regularly appeared on asylum and immigration matters across a range of areas including protection, family reunion, deportation, and human rights appeals. In this time Helen has had a number of notable successes, including grants of protection for victims of trafficking and entry clearance for separated children in difficult situations abroad.

Helen is currently a member of the Haldane Society and Young Legal Aid Lawyers.

Alexa Thompson

Alexa has been building a multi-disciplinary practice in social security, housing, prisons, and public law and accepts instructions across all these areas.

During her pupillage, Alexa has been developing expertise in social security law. She assisted Tom Royston in SSWP v AT [2023] EWCA Civ 1307, a significant case establishing that EU nationals with pre-settled status can rely on the EU Charter to assert entitlement to Universal Credit. She is currently led by Tom Royston in a pending appeal before the Court of Appeal concerning whether a carer with pre-settled status had a qualifying right to reside as a self-sufficient person for entitlement to Universal Credit. Alexa is particularly interested in social security cases involving residence rights.

Alexa has a busy housing practice representing tenants across the full spectrum of housing law, acting in possession proceedings up to and including enforcement, injunction proceedings under the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014, committal applications, and disrepair claims and counterclaims. She has experience of defending claims on the basis of discrimination, human rights, and public law. Alexa also has experience of homelessness cases, including appeals under s.204 Housing Act 1996 and judicial review challenges to local authority decisions.

Alexa has established a prison law practice. She regularly represents prisoners before the Parole Board in applications for release and moves to open conditions on behalf of lifers, IPP, and determinate sentence prisoners. She also has experience of public law challenges and recently appeared before the High Court in a successful judicial review concerning the Parole Board’s failure to convene an oral hearing in R (Taylor) v Parole Board and Secretary of State for Justice [2024] EWHC 1363 (Admin).