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Alex is developing a broad practice that focuses mainly on public law and human rights, with an emphasis on social housing, planning and licensing, but also encompasses commercial law and information law.
He advises, drafts and regularly appears in both the civil and criminal courts for central and local government and private clients. His work with senior members of Chambers has given him experience of appellate litigation at Court of Appeal and Supreme Court level.
Before becoming a barrister Alex was a Lecturer in Law and Co-Director of the Human Rights Centre at Durham University. He is a distinguished academic writer with years of high-level research experience and internationally-recognised expertise in public law and human rights.
Alex's academic research and PhD concerned the applicability of judicial review and human rights obligations to non-state actors. His research is particularly relevant to hybrid bodies such as housing associations who are facing public-law challenge, whether as defendants to a claim or as claimants on the receiving end of a public-law defence. He has advised on the matter both as an academic and as a barrister. He has also acted as a consultant to the Law Commission.
Alex has published widely in the field of public law and human rights in high-profile journals such as the Law Quarterly Review, Modern Law Review, Public Law and Judicial Review. He has lectured to expert audiences in various countries across the world. He is co-author of a major public-law textbook, Text, Cases and Materials on Public Law and Human Rights (4th edn, Routledge, 2016), which features as core reading on many undergraduate law courses in England and Wales.
Alex studied at Cambridge (BA, MA) and Durham (MJur, PhD), receiving a number of awards for academic and mooting achievement. In addition to his tenured post at Durham University he has held visiting fellowships at Cambridge University, University College London and UNSW, Sydney.
Alex is keen to apply his considerable research expertise in the field to his practice. He is regularly instructed on public law and human rights matters across a range of different fields including local government, housing, licensing, planning and information.
Recent court experience includes:
Alex has a busy practice in the social housing field. He regularly acts for local authorities and housing associations in proceedings for possession, injunctions, closure orders, domestic violence protection orders and homelessness appeals under s 204 of the Housing Act 1996. He also acts for private landlords in relation to both residential and commercial tenancies. He has delivered training on various aspects of housing law to solicitors and lay clients.
Alex has a growing planning practice. Recent experience includes:
Alex is keen to continue building on his experience in the commercial law field. He regularly drafts and appears in court on behalf of private and local government clients. He has experience of commercial matters involving a wide range of issues including misrepresentation, consumer credit, bailment, liens and restitution. He also has experience of commercial tenancies and has advised on easements and restrictive covenants.
As junior to Philip Coppel QC, he was recently involved with drafting pleadings in complex High Court litigation involving a global investment bank.
Alex has experience of both freedom of information and data protection law including the new GDPR, on which he has given training to local authorities and housing associations. As a pupil he assisted Estelle Dehon with the drafting of a complex information sharing agreement between a number of public authorities.
Alex has a growing practice in licensing law. Recent experience includes:
30th May 2019
18th March 2019
In this article published by LexisNexis, Wayne Beglan and Dr Alex Williams discuss Humber Landlords Association v Hull City Council [2019] EWHC 332 (Admin), [2019] All ER (D) 62 (Mar), a case of practical importance to all public authorities engaged in the drafting or revision of policies.
The judgment serves as a stark reminder of the court's central role in interpreting the policy and, in turn, the primacy of the policy itself. It demonstrates that claimants who rely less on the words of the policy and more on individual council officers' summaries of it are unlikely to advance their cases very far.
You can read the article in full here.
Case: Public Law and Judicial Review, Planning and Environment
12th July 2019
The case The Secretary of State has recently dismissed Acorn Braintree Ltd's appeal concerning a proposal for up to 1600 dwellings and associated development on approximately 56.5ha of land on the....Case: Public Law and Judicial Review, Housing, Property, Local Government
High Court upholds Council’s enforcement policy on private sector landlords
12th March 2019
R (Humber Landlords Association) v Hull City Council [2019] EWHC 332 (Admin)
....News: Public Law and Judicial Review, Local Government
New recommendations for councillors from Committee on Standards in Public Life
5th February 2019
On 30 January 2019, the Committee on Standards in Public Life published its long-awaited report on local government ethical standards, reflecting evidence obtained via a consultation exercise carried out from....News: Planning and Environment
Response to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee's inquiry on fracking
24th April 2018
Some of our planning barristers have responded to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee's inquiry into planning guidance on fracking. You can read the response here. Our barristers have extensive experience in....020 7242 4986 or 0333 240 0591
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