020 7242 4986 or 0333 240 0591 London | Birmingham | Cardiff
She has a particular interest and growing practice in judicial review and public law litigation with a human rights angle, planning law (including environmental law), Court of Protection work and other social care and mental health law, and data protection law.
Legal practice
Christina advises and represents public authorities and private clients, including through direct access. Her part-time secondment to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Adult Social Care Team (July to December 2021) has provided her with valuable insights into the workings and priorities of local authorities, which she can now leverage beyond her social care practice, to the benefit of both public and private clients.
Court & other advocacy experience
Christina regularly appears in the County Court, including at CMCs and CCMSs, at injunction hearings, and at procedural application hearings (set aside applications etc.), and she has recently been instructed in several complex matters, including multi-party matters, which have been listed for multi-day trials.
Christina has also appeared as prosecutor and defence counsel in various magistrates' courts proceedings, including under the Environmental Protection Act, and recently advised a local authority on bringing a prosecution for fraud.
She has been led in High Court judicial review proceedings, led at a two-week planning inquiry, and has represented clients unled at a planning enforcement appeal and at an inquest.
On average, Christina appears in the Court of Protection on a bi-weekly basis.
Advisory work & drafting
Christina's advisory work encompasses in a wide range of matters, spanning from environmental law & planning law to social care & mental health law, information & data protection law and judicial review (including for claimants). Christina also has a growing practice in discrimination & equality law (especially in the housing context) and property law (especially leasehold law).
Christina aims to offer clear, practical advice in all of her legal opinions, both as to the applicable substantive law and as to potential settlement options, which she is particularly well suited to advise on given her qualification as a mediator.
She also regularly drafts pleadings and other documents, including particulars of claim, defences, replies, applications, position statements and settlement offers.
Mediation/ADR
Christina is an accredited mediator, having trained with the Society of Mediators (2020, 40-hours qualification).
Since completing her accredited training, Christina has observed a full-day mediation in the sphere of child maintenance obligations as well as a full-day mediation concerning NHS clinical negligence/compensation.
Christina is signed up to be part of Calm Mediation's Spring/Summer 2022 intake for mediators, specifically to mediate on Calm's Neighbourhood Mediation scheme, on a voluntary basis. Christina will be able to bring her experience in housing law, anti-social behaviour matters and property/boundary disputes to this role.
She can be instructed as a mediator and is also available to represent clients at mediations, and advise on settlement more generally.
Pupillage
Christina joined Chambers as a tenant in October 2020.
During her pupillage, Christina benefitted from the supervision of Estelle Dehon QC, Philip Coppel QC and Dean Underwood, principally in the areas of planning and environmental Law, commercial law, freedom of information and data protection law, housing law, judicial review and public law.
Education & academic work
Christina holds a Magister Juris (MJur) from the University of Oxford (distinction, prize for second best results in year) and a PhD in Law from the University College London (awarded without corrections), for which she was in receipt of a scholarship from the London Arts and Humanities Partnership. Christina was awarded a Queen Mother scholarship to read for the BPTC and a Jules Thorn scholarship to read for the GDL, both by Middle Temple, and received an additional internal scholarship from the University of Law to read for the GDL.
Alongside her legal practice, Christina has been a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Law (Bristol and London Bloomsbury) since 2020, were she gives lectures and teaches workshops on undergraduate and postgraduate modules.
Her academic work on public law has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals, and she has presented her research at academic conferences, including in the UK, Hong Kong, Dublin, and Australia.
Her book Shaped by the Nuanced Constitution: A Critique of Common Law Constitutional Rights is due to be published by Hart Publishing in 2022.
Christina is also the contributor of three titles of Lexis Nexis' Atkin's Court Forms, namely "Transfer and Consolidation", "Trespass to Goods and Conversion" and "Transport" (2021).
Pro bono work & civic engagement
Christina is a member of the management team at the Muslim Lawyers Action Group (MLAG), where she chairs the Human Rights Projects Group.
Prior to taking up that role, Christina provided pro bono advice through the Brixton Advice Centre (BAC) (April 2020 - May 2021), an online legal advice clinic which was recently awarded the 2020 Law Works Award in the "Best Contribution by a Pro Bono Clinic" category.
She regularly provides pro bono advice and representation through Advocate, and previously volunteered as a telephone advisor with Citizens Advice.
Christina welcomes pro bono enquiries by organisations, solicitors and individuals, in particular for matters concerned with human and constitutional rights, ethnic inequality/religious discrimination, and the protection of the environment.
Christina's privacy policy can be accessed here.
"On judicial review matters Christina is thorough, meticulous and gets straight to the heart of the issues. Her manner with clients instils confidence and her approach is commercial and pragmatic - I would not hesitate to instruct her again." - instructing solicitor
"Great communication and professionalism throughout. I highly recommend, her excellent legal service." - direct access client
"Christina volunteered her time to the Brixton Advice Centre Online Legal Clinic from the date of its inception in May 2020 until going on to pursue pro-bono work in other areas of law in June 2021. Whilst happy to know that others would have a clearer pathway to justice as a result of Christina's exemplary and well-crafted responses, we were sad to see her go. Christina is a fantastic lawyer and an excellent colleague to work alongside. She has not only helped to shape the way in which we respond to queries, but also took the time and offered her expertise to draft our new website privacy notice. We are very much appreciative of Christina's invaluable contributions to the Clinic and we would love to work with her again some day." - Brixton Advice Centre
"Christina was thorough, responsive and showed great care and attention to detail. She understood the pressures on our client public authority's finances and provided invaluable advice on case management strategies in an emerging area of law and costs risks. She was a pleasure to work with." - instructing solicitor
Public Law and Judicial Review
Christina is an expert in constitutional law, having obtained a PhD from University College London (which she passed without corrections) in which she analysed recent developments in public law adjudication, and offered her views on the nature of the UK constitution and the role and strength of common law rights (e.g. freedom of expression, acess to court/justice, the right to vote etc.). Her PhD was supported by scholarships awarded by the London Arts and Humanities Partnership (LAHP), the Modern Law Review and the UCL Faculty of Law.
Her book, "Shaped by the Nuanced Constitution: A Critique of Common Law Constitutional Rights", which is based on her PhD thesis, is due to be published by Hart Publishing/Bloomsbury in 2022. In addition to her upcoming book, Christina has published on costitutional and adminstrative law jurisprudence, including in peer-reviewed law journals and in blogs (see, for example, here). She has presented papers on public law issues at conferences and symposiums in the UK and other common law jurisdictions, including Hong Kong (University of Hong Kong), Australia (University of Melbourne) and Canada (University of Ottawa).
Christina has taught public law at university level. She is currently a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Law (Bristol/Bloomsbury), where she has taught on the "Public Law" module of the GDL and LL.B as well as the "Civil Litigation" module as part of the university's Bar Training Course programme.
She also chairs the Human Rights Projects Group of MLAG (Muslim Lawyers Action Group), where she is part of the management team.
Christina welcomes requests for led work in public law cases.
She is able to advise clients on - and represent clients in - legal challenges (and defences to challenges) involving the following:
As part of her public law and judicial review practice, Christinas has prepared a practical summary on protest rights/how to bring a claim against the police for harm or injury caused for XR, contributed to an advice to the Equality and Human Rights Commission on their draft submissions to the UN Human Rights Committee concerning the UK's compliance with the rights to privacy, freedom of expression and association under the ICCPR, and drafted objections for a private client concerning the issuing of a tree protection order (TPO), and has drafted and assisted with statements of case and skeleton arguments in judicial review proceedings (both for claimants and respondents) that concerned, for example, the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), climate change and environmental protections under EU law, and the Gender Recognition Act 2004.
Health and Social Care Law
Christina has experience with a wide range of health and social care matters.
Christina was recently seconded to the legal department of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets for five months, where she specialised in adult social care and safeguarding. Through this role, and her practice in Chambers, she has gained experience in particular with the following:
Christina has also advised on children social care related matters, and has gained experience with age assessments in cases with immigration law elements, local authorities' obligations as to children's education, and the National Referral Mechanism in cases of suspected child victims of trafficking.
Her secondment to the Council gave her an insight into the workings of local authorities, such that she is in a good position to understand and take into account when advising and representing any prospective local authority clients the pressures, objectives and concerns local councils have, both from a legal and non-legal perspective.
Court of Protection Law
Christina has appeared in front of the Court of Protection to represent local authorities as well as the Office of the Public Guardian. She is a member of the Court of Protection Bar Association.
Christina was recently seconded to the legal department of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets for five months, where she specialised in adult social care and safeguarding, including Court of Protection work and mental capacity law. Through this role, and her practice in Chambers, she has gained experience in particular with the following:
Christina's secondment to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets gave her an insight into the workings of local authorities, such that she is in a good position to understand and take into account when advising and representing any prospective local authority clients the pressures, objectives and concerns local councils have, both from a legal and non-legal perspective.
Planning and Environment law
Christina has a growing planning and environmental law practice. She has appeared in inquiries as a junior (2-week planning inquiry involving heritage, noise and transport evidence, led by Michael Bedford QC), and on her own (enforcement appeal, acting for the appellant, involving grounds (g) and (d)). She has further assisted with a range of planning matters, including the following:
Christina marshalled Mr Justice Holgate at a statutory appeal and a judicial review at the High Court in 2020.
She has also written for Lexis PSL's Environment Newsletter, she has spoken at a Chambers' webinar on compulsory purchase powers, and she has contributed to a note for the UK Environmental Law Association (UKELA) together with colleagues at Chambers, focusing on climate change challenges and Net Zero, in the run-up to COP26.
Information and data protection law
Christina regularly advises clients on the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), the Freedom of Information Act 2000, breach of confidence and misuse of private information, and Articles 8 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). She is able to advise on the intersection between information/data protection law and other areas of law, such as social care and/or housing law, and whether different local government departments can or should share private information between themselves, or with members of the public.
As part of her information law practice, Christina has, amongst other things,
Christina has a particular interest in defending low value data breach claims. She shared her insights on this at Chambers' webinar on the topic on 27 January 2021. Christina is keeping herself updated on data protection law, and has published on recent information law developments on Chambers' website.
Due to her PhD, which entailed a detailed analysis of common law rights, including in the privacy sphere, and the significance of the Supreme Court decision in Kennedy v Information Commissioner [2014] UKSC 20, Christina is well placed to advise on the interface of common law rights and rights protected by the ECHR/HRA 1998.
Housing law
As part of her housing law practice, Christina has a particular interest in financial penalties and prosecutions under the Housing Act 2004, appeals to the FTT against financial penalties, and offences in the context of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) and selective licensing schemes. She has prosecuted on behalf of local authorities in the context of environmental offences and failures to respond to requests for information and documents.
Christina is also experienced in, and is available to advise on and represent clients in:
She regularly contributes to Cornerstone's webinars on housing law developments (see webinars on the new Breathing Space scheme and possession proceedings during the pandemic), and has contributed to Chambers' housing law newsletter.
Alternative Dispute Resolution Law
Christina has a keen interest in alternative dispute resolution, particularly mediation and community conflict resolution. She is a qualified mediator, having trained with the Society of Mediators (full-time, 40 hours, Mediation Foundation 500) in January 2020. This involved multiple mock mediations led by experienced mediators as well as written and practical mediation exams in the civil and commercial context, including contractual disputes and medical negligence.
Since completing her accredited training, Christina has attended and observed a full-day mediation in the sphere of child maintenance obligations as well as a full-day mediation concerning NHS clinical negligence/compensation.
Christina is signed up to be part of Calm Mediation's Spring 2022 intake for volunteer mediators, specifically to mediate on Calm's Neighbourhood Mediation scheme on a voluntary basis. Christina will be able to bring her experience in housing law, anti-social behaviour matters and property/boundary disputes to this role.
Christina is available to be instructed to mediate and co-mediate disputes as well as being available to advise on, and represent clients (including local authorities and other entities) at, mediations.
Local Government Law
Christina regularly advises local authorities on matters ranging from licensing schemes to council tax appeals, and from Equality Act 2010 obligations and challenges to anti-social behaviour measures to building regulations partnership schemes.
Christina is gaining increasing experience in advising and representing local authorities on prosecuting individuals and companies.
Naturally, there is a cross-over between this practice area and other practice areas, so please consult the other practice area tabs for further details.
22nd February 2021
Dr Christina Lienen has written a piece in the Housing Newsletter summarising the implications of the recent Court of Appeal decision in Gateway Housing Association v Personal Representatives of Ali, which has important practical implications for landlords seeking to recover possession of premises where the tenant has passed away, relating to the steps they need to take to serve notice to quit on the Public Trustee.
Read article HERE.
19th February 2021
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) launched a toolkit this week aimed at organisations, including local authorities, who are considering implementing data analytics into the running of their operations and services. The idea behind the toolkit is to assist its users in recognising some of the central risks to the rights and freedoms of individuals that are created by the use of data analytics. In what follows, I summarise the basic functions and aims of the toolkit, and explain its potential relevance for local authorities' data processing regimes.
Rad further HERE.
10th February 2021
LexisPSL: Planning analysis: The Court of Appeal has clarified the relationship between the presumption in favour of sustainable development in paragraph 11 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and the statutory duty in section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (PCPA 2004) to determine applications in accordance with the development plan, unless material considerations indicate otherwise.
Reinforcing well-established case law, the court held that the exercise of assessing a development's compliance with the policies in the NPPF can properly embrace consideration of policies in the development plan. Whether or not (and how) to include any relevant development plan policies is a matter of planning judgment. The court also held that there is no prescribed method for discharging the statutory duty under PCPA 2004, s 38(6). The decision-maker can go about the task in a way that seems suitable in the particular circumstances of the case, which may include an approach that incorporates the application of the tilted balance under para 11d)ii into the decision-making under PCPA 2004, s 38(6) in one all-encompassing stage.
To continue reading, see HERE (subscription required).
Case: Housing
Prosecution under the EPA 1990 dismissed following successful no case to answer submission
3rd May 2022
The complainant had brought a private prosecution at Bexley Magistrates' Court under section 82 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 ("EPA"), alleging that the presence of mice at her council....Case: Public Law and Judicial Review
8th February 2022
In December 2021 the Government announced its plans to replace the Human Rights Act 1998 - the legislation transposing into UK law the vast majority of the rights protected by....Case: Public Law and Judicial Review
Council admits it acted unlawfully in removing popular cycle lane
27th January 2022
West Sussex County Council has admitted it acted unlawfully when it decided to remove a popular cycle lane in the seaside town of Shoreham in November 2020. The council's declaration is....News: Information Law
Who will rid me of these troublesome data protection claims? Defending data protection litigation
26th November 2021
An email sent to the wrong recipient. A letter sent to the wrong address. A laptop stolen from a car. All data protection breaches – but how could they possibly....News: Planning and Environment, Local Government
Briefing note on the Climate Change implications for local government across the UK
24th November 2021
How ready is the legal and governance framework in the United Kingdom to meet the challenge of climate change? Ruchi Parekh, Robin Green, Harriet Townsend, Estelle Dehon and Dr Christina Lienen....News: Court of Protection, Health and Social Care
7th October 2021
The Liberty Protection Safeguards scheme, which was introduced under Schedule 1 to the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019, is, after some delay, expected to come into force in April 2022,....Case: Planning and Environment, Local Government
26th March 2021
Haughley Park is a Grade I listed mansion in a parkland setting in the countryside to the west of Stowmarket but with "very unusual" addition of a large redundant poultry....News:
ICO launches new toolkit: Using data analytics in public decision-making
19th February 2021
By Dr Christina Lienen The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) launched a toolkit this week aimed at organisations, including local authorities, who are considering implementing data analytics into the running of their....News: Housing
Ending a tenancy following the death of the tenant: Court of Appeal clarifies Notices to Quit regime
19th February 2021
By Dr Christina Lienen When an assured or secure sole tenant dies and there is no other person entitled to statutorily succeed to the tenancy, a contractual tenancy will continue to....News: Housing
15th May 2020
By Dr Christina Lienen Earlier this week, in Arkin v Marshall [2020] EWCA Civ 620, the Court of Appeal determined important issues about the validity and effect of Practice Direction 51Z,....Prosecution under the EPA 1990 dismissed following successful no case to answer submission
3rd May 2022
The complainant had brought a private prosecution at Bexley Magistrates' Court under section 82 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 ("EPA"), alleging that the presence of mice at her council....Council admits it acted unlawfully in removing popular cycle lane
27th January 2022
West Sussex County Council has admitted it acted unlawfully when it decided to remove a popular cycle lane in the seaside town of Shoreham in November 2020. The council's declaration is....26th March 2021
Haughley Park is a Grade I listed mansion in a parkland setting in the countryside to the west of Stowmarket but with "very unusual" addition of a large redundant poultry....020 7242 4986 or 0333 240 0591
London: 2-3 Gray's Inn Square, WC1R 5JH
Birmingham: Edmund House, 12-22 Newhall Street, B3 3EW
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