David Pievsky

David acts in a wide range of public law areas, principally in asylum, human rights, prison law, and regulatory matters, both for and against public bodies.  He has experience of acting in a wide variety of human rights claims, including cases about the right to private / family life, the right not to be subjected to torture / inhuman or degrading treatment, fairness rights, property rights, and so on, and has developed a particular interest in freedom of expression issues, appearing in several of the recent cases about the right to assembly/protest, as well as a number of matters concerning rights of conscience or religion. Most of David’s judicial review cases also raise issues of domestic public law.

David regularly acts for the government in immigration, prison and other public law challenges, for the Parole Board and for the GMC, and has also appeared for the Bar Council, the Legal Services Ombudsman, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Commission for Racial Equality, the Legal Services Ombudsman, the Peace Tax Seven and the Refugee Legal Centre. He regularly acts for individuals or public interest groups seeking to challenge decisions made by central government or other public bodies. He is currently acting for the Metropolitan Police in a judicial review brought in relation to the G20 protests of 2009. He is also acting in various human rights claims brought by prisoners, raising complaints relating to prison conditions, privacy, and freedom of expression.

David has also done advisory work in financial services, including issues relating to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

• R (Rowe) v Parole Board [2010] EWHC 524
  Acted for the Ministry of Justice as Interested Party, in a case about material to be considered by the Parole Board when deciding whether to release early a long-term prisoner convicted of terrorist offences.
• Attorney General’s Reference (No. 3 of 1999) [2010] 1 AC 145
  Appeared as junior counsel, led by Lord Pannick Q.C., as amicus to the House of Lords, in an application made by the BBC to lift an anonymity order imposed in relation to the identity of a person previously acquitted of rape. 
• R (Unison) v Monitor [2009] EWHC 3221 (Admin)
  Acted as junior counsel (led by Michael Fordham Q.C.), on behalf of Monitor in a judicial review challenge to the regulator’s interpretation and application of the private patient income cap applicable to NHS foundation trusts set out in the NHS Act 2006.
• Tabernacle v Ministry of Defence  [2009] EWCA 23, The Times (25 February 2009)
  Acted for the successful appellant peace protestor in a human rights judicial review challenge of byelaws made by the Ministry of Defence, which had the effect of preventing her and others from participating in a peace camp outside AWE Aldermaston.

• R (Gulliver) v Parole Board [2007] EWCA Civ 1386
• OM (Returning Citizens, minorities, religion) Uzbekistan v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2007] UKAIT 00045
• AI (Nigeria) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2007] EWCA Civ 707
• R (Gray) v Legal Services Ombudsman [2007] EWHC 215 (Admin)
• DK (Serbia) and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2006] EWCA Civ 1747 [2007] 2 All ER 483   
• Blum and others v Director of Public Prosecutions [2006] EWHC 3209 (Admin)
• R (Singh) v Chief Constable of West Midlands Police [2006] EWCA Civ 532 [2006] 1 WLR 3374
• R (Haw) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2006] EWCA Civ 532 [2006] QB 780
• R (Boughton and others) v HM Treasury [2006] EWCA Civ 504
• R (Elias) v Secretary of State for Defence [2005] EWHC 1435 (Admin), The Times, August 25, 2005
• R (Refugee Legal Centre) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2004] EWCA Civ 1481 [2005] 1 WLR 2219
• R (T Mobile and others) v The Competition Commission and The Director-General of Telecommunications [2003] EWHC 1566 (Admin)

David acts for employers and employees in cases raising a wide range of employment law issues.

He has acted in many statutory tribunal claims and has also worked on restrictive covenant cases including injunctive work.

David’s clients have included Barclays Capital, the Law Society, Linklaters, Network Rail, Tesco, Carphone Warehouse, Vodafone, ABN AMRO, Barclays, the University of Warwick, Odeon Cinemas Limited, the National Association of Head Teachers, and Manchester Airport.

• Seldon v Clarkson Wright & Jakes [2010] EWCA Civ 899
  David recently appeared as junior counsel (led by Dinah Rose QC) for the Department of Business Innovation and Skills (an intervener).  A case in which the Court of Appeal had to consider the concept of justification of direct age discrimination, as permitted by domestic and European law.

David has successfully appeared as sole counsel for the appellant in three EAT cases:

• Khan v Vignette Europe Limited (EAT, 22 April 2009)
  A case about unfair costs orders, made in the context of religious discrimination proceedings.
• CAB Automative v Blake (EAT, 12 February 2008)
  A case about the proper approach to the concept of dismissal for a transfer-related reason under TUPE.
• D & H Travel v Foster (EAT, 2 August 2006)
  A case about the consequences for a Respondent of failing to put in a Notice of Appearance under the Employment Tribunal’s Rules of Procedure and the potential article 6 ECHR ramifications under those Rules.

David acts regularly in statutory claims in the employment tribunal, including (typically) complaints of race and sex discrimination, unfair dismissal, and breach of contract and has also acted in High Court proceedings in wrongful dismissal proceedings.

As a junior to Barbara Dohmann QC, David acted in proceedings in the Commercial Court and in the Court of Appeal which raised important issues of legal professional privilege, in the context of evidence sought pursuant to a letter of request from a United States District Court: United States of America v Philip Morris Inc and Others [2003] EWHC 3028 (Comm), [2004] EWCA Civ 330, The Times, April 16, 2004. The matter was considered by the Court of Appeal for a second time in June of 2004: [2004] EWCA Civ 1064.

David has advised and appeared in a number of other commercial cases involving breach of contract and misrepresentation. He also has experience of acting in commercial mediation.

David acted as junior to Michael Beloff QC in Court of Appeal proceedings concerning service out of the jurisdiction: The Islamic Republic of Pakistan v Zardari & Others [2007] EWCA Civ 134.

Publications:

• Lester and Pannick, Human Rights Law and Practice (3rd Edn, Lexis Nexis, 2009) (co-author of chapters on Articles 3, 4, and 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights)
• Tolley’s Discrimination in Employment Law Handbook (LexisNexis Butterworths, 2008) (chapters 5 (marital status and civil partnership) and 9 (sexual orientation))
• Public Law Update [2006] Solicitors Journal SJ Vol. 150 No. 19 pp. 636-7 (co-author with Mike Fordham)
• Focus on Article 3 ECHR [2005] JR 169
• Public Law Update [2005] Solicitors Journal SJ Vol. 149 No. 21 pp. 632-3
• Legitimate Expectations as a Relevancy [2003] JR 144
• The Impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on Judicial Review [2003] JR 221 (co-author with Tom de la Mare).

Previous experience:

Before coming to the Bar, David graduated in History and then completed an M.Phil in Political Thought and Intellectual History at Cambridge University.  He also worked as an employment lawyer for the Free Representation Unit (FRU) prior to joining Blackstone Chambers. 

Other interests:

David is a violinist in the Kensington Symphony Orchestra and also plays in a string quartet.