Tim Buley

year of call: 2000

TBuley@landmarkchambers.co.uk

areas of law

 Practice Summary

Tim is a specialist in public law, human rights, planning and environmental law. He is recommended as a leading junior in three practice areas (Administrative and Public Law, Civil liberties and Human Rights, and Immigration), in both the legal 500 2011 and Chambers UK 2012. Tim was frequently identified as one of the top planning barristers under 35 in Planning Magazine between 2005 and 2009, and was named as one of the Attorney-General’s Pro Bono Heroes for “outstanding commitment to pro bono work” in 2009. Quotes from the directories include:

... praised for his "great technical ability and tactical instinct." An impressive advocate, he "brings great energy to a case." (Chambers UK 2012, Civil Liberties)
...impresses sources with his "excellent written pleadings, passion and never-say-die attitude”. (Chambers UK 2012, Admin and Public Law)
The "gifted" Tim Buley of Landmark Chambers has a wide-ranging immigration and asylum law practice. Sources say: "He is often unanswerable as his arguments destroy any opposition points before they even get off the ground”. (Chambers UK 2012, Immigration)
”extraordinarily bright” (Legal 500 2011)
... commended for his “outstanding written work and advocacy skills” (Chambers UK 2011)
 

Tim’s practice is evenly divided between acting for individuals, for commercial organisations, for central and local government, and for / with NGO’s and pressure groups (including the Public Law Project, JCWI, Reprieve, Bail for Immigration Detainees, and the Environmental Law Foundation). He has been a member of the Attorney-General’s “B” Panel of Junior Counsel to the Crown since February 2008 (having previously been a member of the “C” Panel). His practice focuses in particular on judicial review and appellate work, generally as sole counsel, particularly in the Upper Tribunal, Administrative Court and Court of Appeal. He has appeared in every division of the Upper Tribunal and also appears regularly in various divisions of the First Tier Tribunal and at Planning Inquiries.

Highlights in the last year include acting for the Public Law Project in two important cases (in the Supreme Court in Cart, on the major constitutional question of the amenability to judicial review of the Upper Tribunal and SIAC, and in the Court of Appeal on judicial review costs in Bahta), representing the Secretary of State for Justice in multiple judicial review proceedings challenging a national programme of court closures, securing a finding that the immigration detention of a mentally ill man breached Article 3 ECHR, and acting for prisoners on death row in the US in challenges to the refusal of the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills to impose an export ban on the drugs that were to be used for their execution. He also advised the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on a major environmental challenge to the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive, and acted for a number of major commercial clients in a variety of public law and environmental challenges.  Tim will appear in two further Supreme Court cases (in relation to community care and human rights damages) in 2012.

General Public Law & Civil Liberties

Tim’s general public law practice is very broad. Aside from the specific areas of specialism mentioned below, it includes general regulatory work (including commercial work), prisons, mental health, health and the NHS, public consultation. Recent / ongoing work has included challenges to local authority and NHS decisions about funding of services (in relation to equality impact assessment, consultation and procurement law), a series of cases concerning prisoner’s rights and the ECHR, advising in relation to organ transplant decisions by the NHS, acting for the Gangmaster’s Licensing Authority in judicial review proceedings, and advising on various challenges relating to LSC funding reforms and procurement. For a list of cases of note please click here.

Planning & environmental work

Tim’s work is evenly divided between acting for commercial bodies, individuals and local pressure groups, and central and local government. The focus of his work is on High Court and Court of Appeal challenges, and he appears regularly for the Secretaries of State for Communities and Local Government and Environmental and Rural Affairs in a wide range of planning and environmental challenges in the High Court, as well as for bodies such as the Highways Agency and the MOD in planning inquiries and on land compensation matters. Major commercial clients have included JCDecaux (in relation to advertising consents), Fladgate LLP (in relation to residential and commercial development), Orange PCS Limited (in relation to telephone masts), Legal and General Assurance Society Ltd, and Leeside International Ltd (in relation to compulsory purchase). Individual clients have included Mr Zeb in his challenge to alterations to the Warwickshire County Cricket Stadium.

Tim’s experience covers the full range of planning and environmental work and related areas such as compulsory purchase and compensation, environmental impact assessment, environmental permits, highways and village greens. For a list of cases please click here.

Local government (including local government taxation)

Tim has a wide ranging local government practice. Aside from a particular specialism in community care work (see below) he covers the full range of local government work including local government finance. Notable recent work include acting for the Secretary of State for Community and Local Government in a series of cases concerning local government reorganization (Forest Heath, Devon CC), a case about the nature of the Local Government Ombudsman’s duty to give reasons (Adams), local authority challenges to national court closures (Vale of Glamorgan Council), and a case about local government regulation of market trading. He has also acted in a number of important cases relating to rating and council tax, including (as Advocate to the Court of Appeal) in Chilton-Merrryweather, and for the Valuation Officer in Re Kendrick, in relation to whether the events of September 11 2001 were a “material change of circumstances” such as to permit an alteration to the Rating List. For a list of cases please click here.

Immigration 

 Tim has a particular interest in immigration and asylum, and he has a heavy case load in this area.  In this field he has specialized in acting for individuals and, in addition to regular appearances in immigration tribunals, he has been involved in hundreds of successful judicial review claims against the Secretary of State for the Home Department involving the full range of immigration work. Notable recent work has included work in immigration detention (including a finding of a breach of Article 3, BA (Nigeria)), work on the legality of requiring the payment of application fees by destitute human rights claimants (Francis), a House of Lords case concerning retrospectivity in the immigration rules (Odelola), and obtaining a mandatory order for the return, post-removal, of a claimant fearing gang violence in Jamaica ( D v SSHD). Tim has extensive experience of urgent claims and the procedures for obtaining interim relief. Tim is always very happy to discuss cases which are at an early stage on an informal basis, and has a strong commitment to pro bono work in this area. For recent immigration work please click here.  

Community Care    

Tim regularly acts for claimants, local authorities and the Secretary of State for Health in this area. He has particular experience of acting for claimants in the area of cross over between community care and immigration, and acting for the Secretary of State for Health in a wide range of interventions in community care cases in the Upper Tribunal, Admin Court and Court of Appeal. Notable cases in the last year include SO v Barking and Dagenham (above), Zarzour / Z v Hillingdon (whether blind asylum seeker in need of care and attention) and Savva (legality of guidance relating to personal budgets for community care). In 2012 Tim will appear before a 7 judge Supreme Court on the correctness of  R v Gloucestershire , ex part Barry. For a list of cases please click here.

Social Security

Tim’s practice is evenly divided between acting for individuals and for the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, mainly before the Upper Tribunal (previously, the Social Security Commissioners) and the Court of Appeal.

Important recent cases include Brough v Law (effect of separation on maintenance assessments), Cart and Wiles (susceptibility of Commissioners and Upper Tribunal to Judicial Review), LS v Lambeth (judicial review of First Tier Tribunal, right of appeal, issue estoppel), Francis (Article 14 ECHR and prisoners), IB v Birmingham (Article 14 and disability), and Deane (meaning of “full time student”). EU law cases of note include two leading authorities on Council Reg 1408/71 (Burley, where he acted for the successful SSWP, and Ruas, where he acted successful claimant).For a list of cases please click here.

QUALIFICATIONS

Tim was a scholar of Lincoln College, Oxford, where he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

He studied law at City University, London, and subsequently undertook an LL.M in Public Law at King’s College, London, achieving distinctions in public law and jurisprudence.

He is joint editor, with Richard Drabble QC and James Maurici, of Local Authorities and Human Rights (OUP, 2004) and a contributor to Supperstone, Goudie and Walker: Judicial Review (3rd Ed, Butterworths, 2005, 4th Ed, 2010). He has contributed articles to the journal “Judicial Review”.

Tim is a regular speaker on all his areas of practice. He was a speaker in the plenary session in the prestigious Public Law Project 2011 judicial review conference, and also gave seminars at both the 2010 and 2011 conferences. He is also due to speak at PLP’s 2012 Wales conference. He has been a main speaker at HJT’s annual immigration judicial conference in every year since 2005, and gives seminars and talks for the Immigration Law Practitioners Association (including at its 2011 AGM). He has been a speaker at ALBA conferences, and has been the main author of a number of ALBA’s responses to various government consultations on reforms to administrative justice.
Tim is on ALBA’s Executive Committee and is a member of PEBA, ILPA, the HRLA, Liberty, JUSTICE, the Environmental Law Foundation and the Bar Pro Bono Unit. Prior to commencing practice he was a Research Assistant for the Bar Human Rights Committee, and undertook voluntary work for Interrights, FRU, and as an election observer in Eastern Europe.

CASES

INQUIRIES

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