Specialist in

Experience

Isabel accepts instructions in housing, inquests, and actions against public authorities.

Housing
Isabel regularly represents tenants in possession proceedings and in claims brought against private landlords and social housing providers. She has experience representing individuals in unlawful eviction claims, disrepair claims, committal proceedings, and injunction applications. She has represented a number of people with complex needs and is able to work sensitively with vulnerable clients.

Inquests and actions against public authorities
Isabel represents bereaved families in Article 2 and non-Article 2 inquests. She has experience representing families following deaths in custody, in care settings including under MHA section, and in the community. She regularly appears in jury inquests.

Isabel has recently represented families of the deceased in the following inquests:

ITOTD JH
Inquest following the death of a young soldier on Army barracks. Pastoral support, information-sharing, SASH risk assessment, and emergency response were considered.

ITOTD SS
Inquest following the self-inflicted death of a man imprisoned at HMP Exeter following a decision to remove him from constant supervision, which was found by the jury to be causative of SS’s death.

ITOTD EG
Inquest into the self-inflicted death of a teenager following release from hospital into the community. Issues included the provision of s.117 support.

ITOTD MD
Inquest into the death of a man imprisoned at HMP Exeter who died following a serious heart infection. He became ill during five days of Covid-19 isolation, and the inquest considered the adequacy of observations and of healthcare provision in isolation.

ITOTD SW
Inquest into the death of a man detained under the Mental Health Act in Swansea who died as a result of drug intoxication. The jury found that staff knowledge of search policies was inadequate.

Isabel also accepts instructions in civil claims against public authorities. She has acted on behalf of claimants against prisons, local authorities, and healthcare providers. She acts on behalf of many of the families she has represented at inquest in subsequent civil claims, and often represents prisoners in claims against the Ministry of Justice.

Previous experience
Isabel joined chambers in October 2023 upon successful completion of pupillage. Before starting pupillage, Isabel worked as a paralegal within the Human Rights department at Leigh Day, focusing on inquests and inquiries. Alongside this, she managed a charity that advocates for the rights of migrant domestic workers in the UK.

Isabel has extensive casework experience in solicitors’ firms and NGOs. While studying for the BPTC, she worked at Prisoners Abroad, supporting families of British people imprisoned abroad, Bail for Immigration Detainees, representing people held in prisons under immigration powers, and Luqmani Thompson, a boutique immigration and public law firm. She later provided advice on issues such as protest rights, police powers, data protection and Coronavirus regulations as part of her work with Liberty.

Isabel previously worked in policy and campaigns in the trafficking sector. She helped draft an amendment to the Nationality and Borders Bill as Coordinator of the Voice of Domestic Workers, and was a research assistant on a project mapping the experiences of victims of trafficking with Bangkok-based NGO, Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women.

Isabel is a legal observer with Black Protest Legal Support and is active in several community groups in north London. She was a member of the Human Rights Lawyers Association’s Young Lawyers Committee until starting pupillage.

Education

University College London: BA History, First class (2017)

The University of Law, Bloomsbury: GDL, Commendation (2018)

The University of Law, Bloomsbury: BPTC, Outstanding (2021)

Professional Memberships

Young Legal Aid Lawyers (YLAL)

Housing Law Practitioners Association (HLPA)

INQUEST

Police Action Lawyers Group (PALG)

Awards

Inner Temple Major Scholarship and Duke of Edinburgh Entrance Award