Expertise

Gareth is a versatile judicial review practitioner with a varied caseload including discrimination, planning and environmental, human rights, and local government challenges. He is recommended as a leading individual for his public law, human rights and social housing work in both the Chambers and Legal 500 legal directories.

Gareth's current or recent cases include: successfully challenging a decision to cut mental health advocacy services; successfully challenging a local authority's interpretation of the Discretionary Financial Assistance Regulations 2001; challenging a Highway Authority's traffic-calming policy; challenging the government's Post Office closure programme; successfully challenging the way reparations to Holocaust survivors are treated under the social security legislation; successfully challenging a decision to grant planning permission for a major art gallery; challenging the failure to enact regulations to protect against unreasonable heating charges; a test case concerning the Local Government Ombudsman's duties to publish reports; a test case on the use of immigration detention for those who are HIV+; one of the first judicial reviews in the Upper Tribunal raising important issues about its new judicial review jurisdiction; successful access to services DDA claims against a major national retailer and against the DWP; Court of Appeal proceedings concerned with the responsibilities of consular officials towards British nationals detained abroad; a successful challenge to the Skills Funding Agency's cuts to further education fee remissions; and successful challenge to the location of one of Thames Water's 'super sewer' construction sites.

Gareth is experienced at public law cases which are technically complex and document heavy and which benefit from his meticulous approach. He is also experienced in pursuing complaints to (and challenging the decisions of) Ombudsmen, and in using mediation and other alternatives to judicial review. He is an adviser for the Environmental Law Foundation, and a member of the Administrative Law Bar Association, the Human Rights Lawyers’ Association, the Solicitors' Association of Higher Courts Advocates, and Amnesty. He has written for the Judicial Review journal and he writes updates on judicial review for the Solicitors' Journal.

In addition to a thiriving judicial review practice, Gareth is an experienced housing solicitor and conducts a wide range of housing work: from housing-related personal injury claims to homelessness appeals; and from complex possession claims to allocation scheme challenges. He has provided training for other housing lawyers and for housing charities on various aspects of housing law. From 2007 to 2010 he was a member of the Executive Committee of the Housing Law Practitioners’ Association.

Gareth is also experienced in conducting community care judicial reviews and acting for those who lack mental capacity. He has also provided representation in social security appeals and social security judicial reviews at all levels up to and including the Court of Appeal. Gareth is recommended in the Chambers directory for his social welfare law work which says that his “grasp of detail always puts opponents at a disadvantage” and describes him as "an absolute joy to work with". Gareth was until recently the author of bi-annual updates on community care law for Solicitors Journal. He has also written articles for the New Law Journal, Legal Action, The Adviser and The Independent Lawyer on a variety of housing, community care, social security and legal aid issues.