Practice Summary

Sasha was called to the Bar in 2005. She has appeared before the High Court, county courts and tribunals. She accepts instructions in all areas of Chambers practice.  She has a particular interest in public law and in environmental-related matters in public and planning law. 

Sasha is a founder member and Associate Director of the Landmark Chambers Centre for Environmental Law (2008). Sasha is also a Trustee and Director of the United Kingdom Environmental Law Association as a member of the Governing Council (2009). In March 2010 she was appointed to the Attorney-General's "C" Panel of Junior Counsel to the Crown.

Sasha understands the practical demands of her clients. Prior to commencing practice, she worked as a researcher at Baker & McKenzie in their clean energy and emissions trading practice group and at the New Economics Foundation on international debt issues. She has also worked with the UK government on environmental taxation issues, for DG Environment on the Sixth Environmental Action Programme and on sustainability issues for major energy and transport infrastructure companies.

AREAS OF PRACTICE

Public & Human Rights Law

In the public law arena, Sasha has appeared before the High Court in judicial review and statutory planning appeal matters, both in her own right and when being led by senior counsel. Her clients include government, individuals, property developers, local authorities and NGOs. As well as her long-standing interest in environmental and planning law in this area, she also has a keen interest in education, immigration and social security law. She has experience of all types of school appeals and has been involved in immigration appeals to the courts, and appeals to the Social Security Commissioners. She also advised on matters relating to the Child Support Agency.  She also undertakes rating work.

Recent or on-going work includes:

• R (Griffin) v Newham Council and London City Airport (ongoing).  Acting for local residents, led by Nathalie Lieven QC and instructed by Friends of the Earth Rights & Justice Centre, in a challenge to the doubling of capacity at London City Airport 
  
• North Somerset Council v Honda, Chevrolet and Graham (judgment forthcoming).  Major rating case in the High Court looking at the scope of the duty on billing authorities to act as soon as practicable.  Led by Richard Drabble QC and Christopher Lewsley.
  
• Currently advising on sensitive FOI cases (ongoing)
  
• CPRE v Swindon Borough Council (ongoing). Acted for a developer in successfully defending a JR challenge to a major housing development scheme on a number of grounds (led by Christopher Lockhart-Mummery QC).    CPRE is now appealing to the Court of Appeal
  
• Advised on supermarket inquiry (2009)
  
• Immigration matters before the AIT and the High Court (2010, ongoing)
  
• Six-month secondment to the Treasury Solicitors (2008-2009), working in-house on a variety of cases brought in the Administrative Court, including costs JR challenges, and s.288 and s.289 challenges , including advising on the application of the Habitats Directive and the EIA Regulations.
  
• Education work, including admissions, exclusions and other appeals (2009)
  
• Statutory appeals under s.288 and s.289 of the TCPA 1990 (see also below)

Sasha spent her first year of tenancy as a Judicial Assistant to the Law Lords (Lord Scott of Foscote, Baroness Hale of Richmond and Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury), working on cases before both the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords and the Privy Council. She gained substantial experience of appellate advocacy and judicial practice during that year. Unsurprisingly Sasha worked on an extremely large range of public law cases in her year as Judicial Assistant. These included Al-Skeini and others v Secretary of State for Defence [2007] UKHL 26, YL (by her litigation friend the Official Solicitor) v. Birmingham City Council [2007] UKHL 27, Secretary of State for the Home Dept. v JJ and Others [2007] UKHL 45, R (on the application of Laporte) v. Chief Constable of Gloucestershire [2006] UKHL 55 and Huang and Kashmiri v Secretary of State, [2007] UKHL 11.

Sasha also has an interest in all aspects of equality and diversity law and specifically women's rights. Sasha is on the Bar Councils Implementation and Monitoring Committee which is carrying forward the implementation of the recommendations of the Neuberger Entry to the Bar Working Party. She is a member of the Human Rights Lawyers Association, Young Legal Aid Lawyers, and the Administrative Law Bar Association. Sasha was pupil to Alice Robinson (now HHJ Robinson) and James Maurici.

Environment and Planning Law

Sasha has a successful and expanding environmental practice, appearing frequently before criminal courts across England and Wales in environmental or planning enforcement matters for both the defence and prosecution.  In 2010 she was awarded a Pegasus Scholarship to observe the Environment Court in New South Wales, a superior court of record and the innovative legal work taking place in New South Wales.  She was also be observing the Land and Environment Court in South Australia and the Environment Court in New Zealand.   

Sasha also undertakes a wide range of advisory and inquiry work in planning matters and her experience includes advertising, housing development, planning appeals including on conservation and wildlife, EIA/SEA, listed building and design grounds, as well as on village greens, compulsory purchase and gypsy appeals. Her clients include local authorities, major companies, individuals and NGOs. She has appeared both in her own right on a large number of cases and inquiries and has also been lead in major applications and appeals. Sasha was pupil to Alice Robinson (now HHJ Robinson) and James Maurici.

Recent or on-going work includes:

• Advising and appearing on householder appeals in relation to Listed Buildings and replacement dwellings in the countryside (ongoing).  Numerous public inquiries in 2009 - 2010 defending the refusal of permission and/or issues of Enforcement Notices, particularly in relation to impact on AONBs, Green Belts, householder extensions, agricultural uses.
  
• Advising on and appearing at appeals for agricultural workers’ dwellings in various industries (including alpaca cases and poultry farming) for local authorities and for appellants in 2009-2010.
  
• Glenister Hall, Hillingdon (2009). Successfully defended the refusal of permission by Hillingdon Council for some 60 - 100 homes on a former mini-playing field.
  
• Playing Fields (2010).  Successfully advised a party on issues relating to the potential loss of a playing field in the south of England.
  
• CPRE (Wiltshire Branch) v Swindon Borough Council (2009). Acted for the developer in a challenge to the discharge of a condition raising highways and EIA matters
  
• East Harnham, Salisbury (2009). Public inquiry which successfully resisted the proposed development for housing of a yew and beech woodland site which would involve the permanent loss of half of the site. 
  
• Various s.288 and s.289 challenges in the High Court (ongoing).  Previously six-month secondment to the Treasury Solicitors (2009), working in-house on a variety of cases involving (inter alia) s.288 and s.289 Town and Country Planning Act 1990 challenges.
  
• Highfield Farm, Keston (2009). Successfully defended the issue of an enforcement notice in relation to a waste processing site in the green belt.
  
• Defending private clients for breach of enforcement notices and other local authority matters in London and the South-East; in the past year, she has appeared in courts in Brent, Didcot, Hackney, Horsham, Uxbridge, Wandsworth, and Waltham Forest.
  
• Prosecuting for and advising on prosecuting for breaches of enforcement notices and stop notices recently in Waltham Forest, Mid Sussex, and currently prosecuting in Lewes Crown Court
  
• Advising and acting in claims for injunctive relief and associated committal proceedings in environmental (planning enforcement) and gypsy matters (2009-2010)
  
• Advising on the Birds Directive (2009)
  
• Markham Moor  (appeal against the decision of the local authority to certify for the purposes of s.17 of the Land Compensation Act that planning permission for specified uses would have been granted for the relevant site) (2009)

Cases she worked on in the House of Lords as a judicial assistant included R (on the application of National Grid Gas plc (formerly Transco plc)) v. Environment [2007] UKHL 30, R v. London Borough of Bromley, ex parte Barker, [2006] UKHL 52 and Belfast City Council v Miss Behavin Limited [2007] UKHL 19.

She is also a member of the Planning & Environmental Bar Association, and the Environmental Law Foundation and the United Kingdom Environmental Law Association (Director and Council Member). She also accepts work from the Environmental Law Foundation and volunteers on the Friends of the Earth Environmental Law Advice Line.

Property Law

In the property law area, Sasha is particularly interested in contaminated land and environmental property-based rights, including nuisance actions. She is experienced in county court property actions and has acted in and advised on landlord-and-tenant disputes, mortgage actions and TOLATA proceedings. Her clients have included major landowners (including national government) and property developers, as well as individual tenants. She has also advised on and been involved in prosecutions relating to houses in multiple occupation and appeals under the Housing Act 2004. She also has experience in village green inquiries, and other areas where planning, environmental and property law intersect. Sasha was pupil to Nicholas Taggart and Camilla Lamont.

Recent or on-going work includes (all 2009):

• Advising in boundary disputes and on-going trespasser incremental encroachment
  
• Advising in party-wall act disputes and obtaining appropriate injunctive relief
  
• Mortgage actions for the mortgagor and mortgagee
  
• Possession actions
  
• Forfeiture matters
  

Cases she worked as judicial assistant included Stack v Dowden ([2007] UKHL 17, Birmingham City Council v. Walker [2007] UKHL 22 and R (on the application of Godmanchester Town Council) v Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs [2007] UKHL 28