Isabel practices across the main areas of Chambers' work, with particular experience of public, regulatory and human rights law, competition law, commercial litigation, public international law and sanctions and employment law. 

She is ranked in The Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners. Recent comments include:

  • "Isabel has a sharp legal mind. She is a fantastic communicator and provides top quality advice."- Legal 500, 2024
  • "A brilliant academic whose written work is just fantastic", "a real asset to have on a team", "she is incredibly bright", "she is very responsive and friendly and she goes the extra mile" - Chambers UK, 2023
  • "Her quick thinking supports the effectiveness of her delivery and fluency in court", "she is really clear in the advice she gives [...] she is thorough and her drafting is spot on" - Legal 500, 2023
  • "A real star of the future", "a fantastic advocate; she is great to work with and makes things easy for solicitors" - Chambers UK, 2022

Isabel combines her commercial practice with a substantial pro bono and publicly funded practice.  She has appeared before the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, High Court, Competition Appeal Tribunal, First Tier Tribunals (Immigration), SIAC and Employment Tribunals.   

Some highlights of Isabel's practice include:

  • Acting pro bono for Ukraine in Ukraine v Russia, an inter-state case before the ECtHR (details in "News" section below).
  • Acting pro bono for Kate Wilson in her claim against the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis and the National Police Chief's Council, which resulted in findings that the police had breached Articles 3, 8, 10, 11 and 14 of the ECHR when using undercover officers to spy on protest groups.
  • Acting for Visa in its defence of multiple claims brought by retailers alleging that interchange fees applicable to card transactions are anti-competitive and breach Article 101 and Article 102 TFEU.
  • Acting for the claimants in a challenge to the fee set by the SSHD for children's applications for registration of their citizenship (R (PRCBC) v SSHD [2020] 1 WLR 1486 (High Court); [2021] 1 WLR 3049 (Court of Appeal); [2022] UKSC 3 (Supreme Court)).
  • Acting for HNA Group Co Ltd in an appeal before the Supreme Court relating to the admissibility of evidence alleged to have been obtained by torture (Shagang Shipping CO Ltd (In Liquidation) v HNA Group Co Ltd [2020] 1 WLR 3549).
  • Acting for Her Royal Highness Princess Haya bint Al Hussein (on issues related to international law and diplomatic assurances) in proceedings before the Family Division (Re Al M [2019] EWHC 3415 (Fam), [2020] 1 WLR 1858).
  • Acting for the claimant in obtaining a US$1.5 billion worldwide freezing order and other injunctive relief (ArcelorMittal USA LLC v Essar Steel Ltd [2019] EWHC 724 (Comm)).
  • Acting for Libyan investment funds in a matter involving the application of sanctions regimes and Libyan public law. 

Before coming to the Bar, Isabel worked as a caseworker for Justice Project Pakistan, providing pro bono representation to persons facing the death penalty in Pakistan.  Isabel also taught jurisprudence and property law at the University of Glasgow and equity and trusts and contract law at Birkbeck College, University of London.  She was a legal panellist and contributor to Protecting Children in Armed Conflict (London: Hart Publishing, 2018).  She is the author of Trials: On Death Row in Pakistan (London: Jonathan Cape, 2016) which won the Saltire Scottish First Book Award and was an Economist and Spectator book of the year.  

Isabel is member of the Attorney General's panel of counsel (C panel) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission's panel of counsel. 

Experience

Shortlist

Public & Regulatory

Isabel has a broad public law practice. She regularly acts and advises (led and unled) for claimants and defendants in wide range of cases: from those engaging issues of international human rights law to commercial judicial review. Her clients include regulators, government departments, individuals, NGOs and companies. In addition to privately paid and publicly funded work, Isabel has a strong commitment to pro bono work.

She is ranked as a “rising star” in Legal 500 (Administrative Law & Human Rights and Immigration) and “up and coming” in Chambers and Partners (Administrative & Public Law and Civil Liberties & Human Rights). She is a member of the Attorney General's C Panel of Counsel and the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s Panel of Counsel, and she is a committee member of the Young Public Law Group.    

Cases

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Civil Liberties & Human Rights

Isabel frequently acts and advises, both led and unled, on matters concerning civil liberties and human rights in both a domestic and international context. Her clients include charities, government departments, the Equality and Human Rights Commission and individual claimants.  In addition to privately paid and publicly funded work, Isabel undertakes substantial pro bono work.

She is ranked as a “rising star” in Legal 500 (Administrative Law & Human Rights and Immigration) and “up and coming” in Chambers and Partners (Administrative & Public Law and Civil Liberties & Human Rights). She is a member of the Attorney General's C Panel of Counsel and the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s Panel of Counsel, and she is a committee member of the Young Public Law Group.    

Cases

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EU & Competition

Isabel is presently acting in one of the largest domestic competition cases being litigated in the United Kingdom, representing Visa in defence of multiple competition damages claims alleging that multilateral interchange fees charged on the use of credit and debit cards breached EU and English competition law. Isabel also acts in matters in which issues of EU law arise, in a sanctions context or through the application of directives and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. And she is frequently instructed on judicial reviews that raise competition law issues and analysis.

Cases

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Commercial

Isabel frequently acts and advises, led and unled, on a variety of commercial matters, ranging from small claims in the County Court to cases involving complex international and cross-jurisdictional disputes in the High Court and appellate jurisdictions. She has particular experience of the intersection between international, commercial and public law. In that context, she is regularly instructed in cases that involve the application of foreign law.  

Cases

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Public International Law

Isabel's public international law practice is centred on cases raising issues of international human rights and humanitarian law. Her clients range from individuals to NGOs, from companies to public bodies and governments. She frequently advises on and acts in cases that concern the application of international human rights law in both the UK and foreign jurisdictions, and the interaction between public international law and domestic law in this jurisdiction.

Isabel has also published in this area. She is the author of Trials: On Death Row in Pakistan (London, Jonathan Cape). And in 2018 she was a legal panellist and contributing author to Children in Armed Conflict (London, Hart) (of which she worked on four of the book’s eight chapters). Prior to coming to the bar, Isabel spent several years working in Pakistan as a caseworker with local lawyers providing pro bono defence representation to death row inmates.  

Cases

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Sanctions

Isabel has acted in, or advised on, a range of matters involving the application of UK, UN and EU sanctions regimes.  Some relevant work is detailed below.  More generally, she has given detailed consideration to the application of the UK’s Magnitsky sanction regime, on which her advice is frequently sought.  And whilst on secondment in the US in 2016-2017 she gained experience of US-Iran sanctions, working with attorneys challenging and advising on that regime.   

Cases

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Immigration

Isabel has experience of both advising on and acting in cases concerning immigration, asylum, deportation and citizenship. In particular, she has acted for several individuals subject to deportation orders, individuals who have been deprived of their citizenship, individuals appealing refusals of asylum. She has represented clients before the First Tier Tribunal (Immigration) and SIAC and in the Admin Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court on applications for judicial review (and appeals therefrom).  

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Employment

Isabel has experience in a range of employment cases, acting for claimants and respondent in both the Tribunals and the High Court.  She also has particular experience of advising on employment issues arising in a public and public international law context. 

Cases

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Sport

Isabel has advised sports teams and institutions on regulatory compliance generally, and financial regulation particularly.  Being confidential, these matters are not further detailed below.  She also gained a broad experience of sports law as Nick De Marco's pupil.  

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Achievements

Education

LLB (Hons) (Glasgow), First Class; MRes (Glasgow), Distinction; Kennedy Scholar (Harvard); BPTC (BPP), Outstanding

Prizes & Scholarships

  • Saltire Scottish First Book Award (awarded for Trials: On Death Row in Pakistan)
  • Buchanan Prize (Lincoln’s Inn, 2015)
  • Hardwicke Entrance Award (Lincoln’s Inn, 2014)
  • Lord Mansfield Scholarship (Lincoln’s Inn, 2013)
  • Kennedy Memorial Scholarship (Kennedy Memorial Trust, 2012)
  • Reprieve Fellowship (Reprieve, 2011)
  • Theodore David Lowe Prize (Glasgow University, 2009)

Publications


  • Protecting Children in Armed Conflict (Legal Panellist, Contributor) (London: Hart Publishing, 2018)
  • Trials: On Death Row in Pakistan (London: Jonathan Cape, 2016), winner of the Saltire Scottish First Book Award and an Economist and Spectator book of the year.
  • ‘Torture in Pakistan: A Lawyer’s Handbook’ (Lahore: Pakistan’s Parliamentarians’ Commission for Human Rights and Open Society Foundations, 2012)

Memberships

  • Administrative Law Bar Association
  • Advocate Pro Bono Panel
  • Bar European Group
  • Bar Human Rights Committee 
  • Employment Law Bar Association
  • Justice
  • Liberty
  • Young Public Lawyers' Group (Committee Member)

Other relevant experience

  • Prior to joining Chambers, Isabel worked in Pakistan as a caseworker for Justice Project Pakistan, a charitable organisation in Lahore which provides pro bono defence representation to persons facing a death sentence in Pakistan and Pakistani detainees in Bagram Airbase, Afghanistan.  During this time, she also wrote instruction manuals for litigation in Pakistan and authored several UN shadow reports on Pakistan’s compliance with UNCAT and ICCPR. 
  • Isabel was judicial assistant to Lord Reed JSC at the Inner House of the Scottish Court of Session. 

News

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