Naina Patel

Naina’s practice encompasses all areas of public law and human rights law, including immigration and asylum, prisoner’s rights, education, community care, social security, local government and commercial judicial review.  She has also developed particular experience in claims for judicial review involving public international law. 

Naina has a particular interest in immigration and asylum law.  Besides acting for individual claimants, she recently advised the Immigration Law Practitioner’s Association on the legality of performance standards introduced by the Legal Services Commission for franchised immigration and asylum solicitors in the context of the Government’s detained fast-track scheme (as junior to Michael Fordham QC).

Naina has developed a practice in all areas of education law, having represented clients at SENDIST, before the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education and advised on the reviewability of a decision taken by a university.  She also appears before the General Teaching Council.  

Naina also has an in-depth knowledge of information rights, having advised a major public body on the applicability of statutory exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, in particular sections 40 (data protection), 41 (confidence) and 43 (commercial prejudice), to a range of issues.

R (Compton) v Wiltshire Primary Care Trust
Intervened on behalf of the Public Law Project in this important hearing in the Court of Appeal on the courts’ protective cost order jurisdiction in public law cases, and the interplay between the guidance in R (Corner House Research) v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry [2005] EWCA Civ 192 and the Civil Procedure Rules (with Richard Drabble QC and Ben Jaffey).

R (Al-Skeini and Others) v Secretary of State for Defence [2007] UKHL 26 [2007] 3 WLR 33
Assisted in an appeal before the House of Lords concerning the extra-territorial application of the Human Rights Act 1998 to killings by British soldiers in post-war Iraq.  Now part of the case team in the current application to the ECtHR in Strasbourg (with Rabinder Singh QC, Michael Fordham QC, Shaheed Fatima and Christine Chinkin).

R (Nuclear Information Service) v Secretary of State for Defence and Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Currently junior counsel in this challenge to the Government’s decision to replace the Trident nuclear deterrent system on the grounds of its incompatibility with obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and customary international law and a failure to consult (junior to Michael Fordham QC).

R (Green) v City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court [2007] EWHC 2785 (Admin)
Successfully resisted a claim for review of the Court’s decision not to issue a summons against the producer of “Jerry Springer the Opera” for the common law offence of blasphemous libel.  Sole counsel for the producer.

R (Saleh Hasan) v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry [2007] EWHC 2630 (Admin)
Represented the Claimant in this judicial review of the Government’s failure to provide reasons for its decisions relating to the licensing of military equipment for export to Israel (junior to Michael Fordham QC).  Appeal to the Court of Appeal pending.

YL v Birmingham City Council and Others [2007] UKHL 27; [2007] 3 WLR 112
Represented YL in this appeal to the House of Lords concerning the application of section 6(3)(b) of the Human Rights Act 1998 to a privately run care home in respect of “functions of a public nature” (junior to David Pannick QC).

R (Mwesigwa) v Secretary of State for the Home Department
Acting for the Claimant in this case concerning the lawful exercise of the power to certify claims under section 96(1) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002.

Naina has a growing practice in public international law.  She acts regularly in claims for judicial review involving public international law.  She has also advised in relation international agreements and the compatibility of domestic legislation with international legal obligations.

R (Clarkson) v Secretary of State for Defence
Currently counsel in this challenge to the Government’s retention of “smart” cluster bombs on the grounds that their use is incompatible with international humanitarian law as reflected in customary international law.

R (Nuclear Information Service) v Secretary of State for Defence and Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Currently junior counsel in this challenge to the Government’s decision to replace the Trident nuclear deterrent system on the grounds of its incompatibility with obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and customary international law and a failure to consult (junior to Michael Fordham QC).

R (Al-Skeini and Others) v Secretary of State for Defence [2007] UKHL 26 [2007] 3 WLR 33
Assisted in an appeal before the House of Lords concerning the extra-territorial application of the Human Rights Act 1998 to killings by British soldiers in post-war Iraq.  Now part of the case team in the current application to the ECtHR in Strasbourg (with Rabinder Singh QC, Michael Fordham QC, Shaheed Fatima and Christine Chinkin).

Advised on the compatibility of draft legislation addressing violence against women with Afghanistan’s obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.

Naina has already developed a strong practice in competition law, having spent a secondment at the Office of Fair Trading advising on a major cartel investigation into the construction industry.  Naina’s interest in competition and international trade law builds upon a strong academic background in economics, which she has studied to PhD level at Harvard.

Currently advising in relation to a major potential group anti-trust action (with Tom de la Mare and Brian Kennelly)

Cartel Investigation into the Construction Industry
Advised the Office of Fair Trading on issues arising in one of the largest ever Competition Act investigations, as a result of which a Statement of Objections has been issued against 112 firms in the construction sector in England. 

Stones v KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
Defended one of the first claims brought under EC Regulation 261/2004 governing compensation for denied boarding in relation to a contract of carriage. 

Optigen Ltd and others v Commissioners of Customs & Excise  
Assisted in advising on various issues arising from a High Court appeal following the ECJ ruling in Optigen Ltd and others v Commissioners of Customs & Excise (C-354/03, C-355/03 and C-484/03, 12 January 2006) in a case of carousel fraud (as pupil to Javan Herberg).

Naina has broad experience of commercial litigation in areas including consumer credit, aviation, civil fraud, directors’ duties, shareholder rights and the supply of goods and services. She has represented both claimants and defendants in interlocutory work and at trial. 

Lombard North Central v TJ Transport Limited
Successfully resisted an interlocutory application in relation to this multi-track claim involving allegations of misrepresentation, mistake and fraud and recovered costs in full.

Leonardo Private Equity Fund v Donato Loscalzo [2006] EWHC 30 (QB)
Assisted in this 3-week trial relating to the allegedly fraudulent acquisition of an Italian sportswear company.  Involved concurrent foreign proceedings, jurisdictional issues, expert evidence on foreign law and questions of agency (as pupil to Tom Weisselberg).

Davidson and Another v Financial Services Authority
Involved in this six week hearing arising from a reference to the Financial Services Tribunal by Paul “The Plumber” Davidson and another against the decision notice issued to him for market abuse (as pupil to Javan Herberg).

Advised a major corporation in relation to the commercialisation of waterway rights (as junior to Charles Flint QC).

Assisted in advising on the availability of injunctive relief for breach of the Control of Misleading Advertising Regulations 1988 and the Enterprise Act 2002 (as pupil to Tom Weisselberg).

Naina has a broad experience of employment law, involving work in the Employment Tribunal, the County Court and the High Court.  She has been involved in several high worth “whistle-blowing” actions, claims for breach of contract and cases involving restrictive covenants and TUPE transfers.  She regularly represents both claimants and respondents in unfair dismissal and discrimination cases. 

Naina has a particular interest in discrimination on the grounds of religion and belief, and the interplay between the law in this area and Article 9 ECHR jurisprudence.

Batty v Avery Weigh-Tronix
Successfully represented a Respondent at a 4-day hearing relating to disability-related discrimination, direct discrimination and the duty to make reasonable adjustments under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

Coogan v Buckinghamshire County Council & Governing Body of Westfield School
Obtained a reinstatement against a local education authority on behalf of deputy headteacher, having successfully represented her in a 3-day unfair dismissal hearing before the Employment Tribunal.  The case involved serious allegations of gross misconduct in the context of child protection procedures. 

O’Reilly v Mitchells & Butler
Represented the Defendant in a High Court claim brought by a psychic for discrimination in the supply of goods and services on the grounds of religion and belief. 

Advised in relation to the issue of TUPE proceedings against a charity, and the interpretation of the insolvency provisions in regulation 8 of TUPE in the context of the dissolution of a charitable trust.

Prior to coming to the bar Naina’s work focused on the role of law in post-conflict reconstruction efforts.  After leaving university, she researched comparative access to justice and its human rights implications across the developing world for the British Institute of International and Comparative Law.  While at Harvard, Naina spent a year teaching international human rights with Professor Michael Ignatieff.  Thereafter, Naina worked for organisations including the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development in Afghanistan, the United Nations Development Program and the charity International Rescue Committee, advising on furthering local and national economic objectives through human-rights-promoting development programming.  This work has taken her to Rwanda, Kosovo, Azerbaijan and Afghanistan. 

Naina’s interests in legal reform and development are now reflected in her regular involvement in legal and judicial training both in the UK and overseas.  Naina works regularly with the Bar Human Rights Committee, funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, to train judges, lawyers, activists and academics throughout Afghanistan on international human rights standards.  Later this year she will also be training Russian and Georgian lawyers on Article 14 of the ECHR with the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre.

Scholarships and Prizes:

Princess Royal Scholarship (Inner Temple, 2004)

Thesis Award (Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Harvard, 2004)

Harvard International Development Award (Center for International Development, Harvard, 2003)

Major Scholarship (Inner Temple, 2002)

Duke of Edinburgh Entrance Award (Inner Temple, 2002)

Fulbright Scholarship (US-UK Fulbright Commission, 2002)

Coolidge Award (Balliol College, Oxford, 2001)

Paton Scholarship (Balliol College, Oxford, 2001)

Fletcher Exhibition (Balliol College, Oxford, 2000)

Publications:

Naina edits the UK case section of Sweet & Maxwell’s Human Rights Alerter.

Naina is a co-author of the chapters on Religion and Belief and Marital Status in Tolley’s Discrimination in Employment Handbook published by LexisNexis Butterworths (2007).  She is also involved in writing a new edition of Lester and Pannick: Human Rights Law and Practice.

Other publications include:

“State Immunity and the UN Convention: A Practitioner’s View” [2007] Int.T.L.R. 1, with Shaheed Fatima

“Understanding IRC Approaches from Relief to Post-Conflict: Community-Driven Reconstruction” with Lizanne McBride, International Rescue Committee, 2005, presented at the World Bank/USAID Conference on Community-Based Development in Fragile/Conflict Affected Environments, 26-28 October 2005, Washington DC

“Building on the Foundations of NSP: Developing a Viable and Effective Framework for Local Government in Afghanistan”, John F Kennedy School of Government, June 2004