020 7242 4986 or 0333 240 0591 London | Birmingham | Cardiff
An expert on common law constitutional rights, she has a particular interest in Public Law & Judicial Review and Information Law. During pupillage, she also gained experience in Planning and Environment, Housing, Licensing, Health and Social Care and Commercial and Regulatory Law.
Christina was called to the Bar in 2019 by Middle Temple as a Queen Mother Scholar and Jules Thorn Scholar. She holds a PhD in Constitutional Law from University College London (funded by the LAHP and the Modern Law Review), where she also held a position as Teaching Fellow in Public Law. Her academic work on common law constitutional rights has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals, including Public Law and Legal Studies. Her book "Shaped by the Nuanced Constitution: A Critique of Common Law Constitutional Rights" will be published by Hart Publishing in 2022.
During her pupillage, Christina was supervised by Estelle Dehon, Philip Coppel QC and Dean Underwood. As such, she gained experience across a broad range of areas. This included work in the fields of information and data protection law, human rights law, judicial review, planning law, housing law (including licensing), commercial law and antisocial-behaviour law. She completed a wide range of advisory work, drafted various sets of pleadings, assisted in a planning inquiry and was involved in negotiations. Christina has also accepted criminal law instructions and recently qualified as a mediator.
Alongside her legal practice, Christina is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Law where she teaches Civil Litigation on the BPC and Public Law on the MA programme once a week.
Christina regularly provides pro bono advice through Advocate and the Brixton Advice Centre. She welcomes pro bono enquiries, especially those concerned with human/constitutional rights, ethnic inequality/discrimination, and the environment.
Prior to obtaining her doctorate, Christina read for an MJur at the University of Oxford (Distinction), where she was awarded the Clifford Chance Proxime Accessit Prize for being ranked second in her year. She also holds an LL.B. (Distinction) from the University of Maastricht, BPTC from City, University of London (Very Competent) and a GDL from the University of Law (Pass: Exempt).
Information and data protection law
• Drafted a skeleton argument opposing renewal of a judicial review human rights challenge under the Gender Recognition Act 2004.
• Prepared an info sheet for XR members on how to bring a claim against the police for harm or injury caused during an arrest.
• 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.
• Prepared research notes and reviewed statements of case for a public sector equality duty judicial review defence.
Anti-social behaviour law
Planning and Environment law
Contract/tort/commercial law
Housing law
Court of Protection Law
Represented the Office of Public Guardian at a hearing determining capacity and appointing a deputy under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
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.
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: 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,....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
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