Estelle Dehon KC is a versatile public law barrister with a broad practice, specialising in environment and planning law (with particular expertise in climate change and net zero). The other main area of her work is data protection and access to information, in which she is again recognised as a leading barrister. She also practices in election law and human rights law and is recognised in administrative and public law. Estelle is a member of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s B Panel of Counsel. She took silk in 2022 and founded the cross-disciplinary centre of excellence for climate litigation and advice, Cornerstone Climate, in 2023.
Estelle appears in both the 2022 and 2023 ENDS Report’s Power List of the most influential environmental professionals in the UK. She is also one of The Planner’s Women of Influence, having been included in the list four times in the past six years. She was awarded a Climate Law & Governance Global Leadership Award at COP27. Estelle is a Fellow of the RSA. She is also a member of the European Commission’s Multistakeholder Expert Group on the GDPR and has been since its inception in 2017.
She is accredited for Public Access so that she can be instructed by anybody directly, and enquiries about this are welcomed.
Estelle is recognised in Chambers and Partners as a “first-rate” advocate who has “a wonderful manner with clients” and in Legal 500 as “a determined and tenacious advocate, whose oral and written advocacy is nuanced, well-reasoned and highly effective and whose grasp of the law consistently impresses”. Estelle is a versatile public law lawyer practising in a number of areas: environment and planning law (with particular expertise in climate change and net zero); data protection and access to information law; election law and human rights.
She was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2006.
Experience and Expertise
Estelle has considerable experience as a court and tribunal advocate, as well as representing parties at major planning inquiries and infrastructure examinations. She regularly appears in the High Court and Court of Appeal in judicial review claims and statutory appeals. Estelle has particular experience in climate change-related challenges: she acted in the Supreme Court challenge to the grant of permission for fracking in Lancashire; in the Court of Appeal challenge to the lack of emergency planning at the UK’s first site for fracking horizontal wells; in the High Court defending the Secretary of State’s refusal of an open cast coal mine in Druridge Bay and is acting in the first challenge to the exercise of the Oil and Gas Authority’s regulatory powers. In 2019 she appeared at an inquiry considering permission for “matrix acidisation” (or “acid fracking’s ugly little sibling”) in Ellesmere Port. This year she is representing two community groups opposing expansion at Bristol Airport and Leeds Bradford Airport respectively.
The other main area of Estelle’s practice is data protection and access to information. She advises a wide range of clients, both in the public and private sector, in relation to data protection and access to information matters. She has particular interest and expertise in data protection, big data, profiling, artificial intelligence and machine learning, on which she has been advising insurance companies and tech startups. Estelle also undertakes advocacy work in this area and has experience bringing and defending data breach compensation claims in the County and High Courts. She successfully represented the investigative journalist Stefania Maurizi before the First-tier Tribunal in her FOIA challenge concerning the Met Police’s refusal to provide information concerning WikiLeaks staff, and in 2019 she will be acting for Ms Maurizi before the Upper Tribunal in her FOIA appeal relating to the extradition of Julian Assange.
Conferences
Estelle regularly speaks at conferences and seminars. This year she co-presented on Climate Change Litigation at Cornerstone’s Annual Planning Day, addressed the APPG on Energy Costs on Assessing COP26 Outcomes and presented a webinar on Planning and Human Rights for MHCLG. In 2020 Estelle spoke on Environment and the Rule of Law on 26 June 2020 at the UKELA Annual Conference, she co-presented a webinar on Infrastructure and Net Zero and chaired a seminar on Opportunities for a Climate Positive Economy After COVID-19. In 2019 she gave the Legal Update at the Joint Planning Law Conference</a>; spoke on Veganism and Climate Change at the UKELA Annual Conference</a>; co-presented on Habitats: Past, Present, Future at the Cornerstone Annual Planning Day and spoke on Data Ethics: A Cross-Disciplinary View at the Open Data Institute Annual Summit.
Professional Memberships
Estelle has been a member of the UK Environmental Law Association (UKELA) since 2012 and sits on the UKELA Public Health and Environmental Law Working Party. She has been a trustee and member of UKELA Council since 2019. Estelle is also a member of the Planning and Environment Bar Association (PEBA); the National Infrastructure Planning Association (NIPA), the Administrative Law Bar Association (ALBA) and JUSTICE. She is a trustee of the Women’s Environmental Network (WEN).
Expertise
- Public Law and Judicial Review
Estelle has a broad public law practice. She is a member of both the Attorney General’s B Panel and the Equality and Human Rights Commission B Panel of counsel.
Estelle regularly undertakes work in human rights and has a particualr specialism in the intersection of human rights and climate justice. Her work includes:
- Representing All the Citizens in their challenge to the use by ministers and their advisors or “exploding messages” in WhatsApp or Signal;
- Representing two NHS doctors who successfully challenged the COVID-19 Guidance on Personal Protective Equipment for NHS staff on the basis that it breached the right to life and discriminated against healthcare workers of colour;
- Representing A-level student Curtis Parfitt-Ford in his judicial review of Ofqual’s use of an algoithmic model for ‘standardising’ A-level grades, partly on the basis of unlawful discrimination and partly based on breach of data protection.
Judicial review is a significant part of Estelle’s practice and she has particular experience in drafting quickly and accurately in order to make urgent applications to the Administrative Court.
Estelle has a specialist practice in election law, and has represented both Petitioners and Returning Officers in challenges to the conduct of elections. She also has experience representing parties before the High Court and before Election Commissioners. She advises widely in the field of election law, including on matters concerning party spending at elections and the declaration of campaigning activities.
Estelle regularly advises and appears in matters concerning information law under the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018; and the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. She has experience appearing before the Information Tribunal at First-tier and Upper Tribunal levels, and is a contributor to Coppel’s Information Rights (4th edn).
Estelle undertakes inquest work, including death in custody inquests and an inquest touching a death in which medical negligence was in issue. She has experience in representing both families and government departments.
Human rights
Estelle is regularly involved in matters with a human rights aspect and has experience in:
• The right to life and physical integrity in the context of a safe and healthy environment;
• The rights of individuals with protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010;
• The right of journalists to access information;
• The right to freedom of expression in the arena of intellectual property;
• The right to private and family life in the arena of healthcare provision;
• The human rights compliance of various proposed amendments to the court system in another jurisdiction;
• The human rights compliance of various local authority decisions, including in the arena of community care;
• The right to private and family life and the cultural rights of gypsy and traveller people in the arena of planning restrictions on the use of land.Estelle has significant experience advising and appearing for local authorities in a wide range of matters. Her work in this area covers the full gamut of local authority law, from constitutional and vires issues to equality duties; from the conduct of elections to freedom of information and data protection issues. Estelle has particular experience in environmental protection matters, including conducting prosecutions in Magistrates’ and Crown Courts.
Estelle also advises individuals in matters concerning freedom of information and data protection requests to local authorities and in challenging the conduct of elections.
Governance and powers
Estelle has significant experience advising local authorities in matters concerning constitutional and vires issues. She also has expertise in the area of equality duties and has a specialist practice advising and appearing in matters concerning the conduct of elections.
Estelle has extensive experience advising and appearing on behalf of local authorities and individuals in matters concerning the conduct of elected and co-opted members. Before the changes wrought by the Localism Act 2011, Estelle appeared in one of the leading cases on the meaning of acting in an official capacity. Since the new regime has been in place, local authorities and individuals are still in need of advice and representation in matters concerning standards of conduct, and Estelle is well-placed to assist.
Information law
Estelle has been practising in data protection for over 10 years. She is an expert on the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 and is a member of the European Commission’s Multistakeholder Expert Group on the GDPR. She advises a wide client base, including DPOs (both internal and external), large multi-national companies, public authorities, charities and individuals. She recently drafted an information sharing agreement for a group of over 40 local authorities, schools and other public service organisations, and advised on privacy notices for a UK-wide ANPR company and a national children’s charity. Estelle has particular interest and expertise in big data, profiling, artificial intelligence and machine learning, on which she has been advising insurance companies and tech start-ups. Estelle’s advocacy work in data protection includes County Court, High Court and Court of Appeal challenges concerning individual rights. She is appearing on behalf of an individual in the Court of Appeal in October 2018 on a previously unlitigated point about when it is lawful for an employer to receive and use information from a policing body.
Estelle also has long experience in advising on access to information under FOIA and the Environmental Information Regulations. She regularly assists local authorities and other public bodies in responding to requests. Estelle also has experience conducting appeals before the Information Tribunal and is currently involved in an appeal before the Upper Tribunal which will reconsider the temporal reference point of analysing the public interest in disclosure (ie revisiting the case law that the public interest be assessed at the date of the public authority’s decision rather than at the date of any subsequent assessment by the Tribunal).
- High Court considers lawfulness of new offshore oil and gas drilling in the North Sea25 Jul 2023
- Climate impact of coal mining in court15 Mar 2023
- Media freedom issues considered before Tribunal in Julian Assange FOI Act appeal13 Mar 2023
- Judge gives permission for High Court challenge to go-ahead for Bristol Airport expansion11 May 2022
- In Finch the Court of Appeal declines to define significant indirect effects for EIA17 Feb 2022
- Council admits it acted unlawfully in removing popular cycle lane27 Jan 2022
- After JR Threat, Secretary of State Calls in Cumbrian Coal Mine12 Mar 2021
- Tribunal Provides Written Reasons on FOIA Territorial Limitation11 Mar 2021
- Doctors file legal challenge to PPE guidance10 Jun 2020
- Environmental impact of intensive farming – When the manure hits the fan28 May 2019
- Investigative journalist wins FOI appeal against Met Police18 Dec 2018
- R(A) V SSHD And LB Croydon01 Jan 2018
- Buckinghamshire County Council v Mann01 Jan 2018
- Buckinghamshire CC v Brazil01 Jan 2018
- Roberts V Blunt (Re: Local Government Elections For Appleby Ward Of North West Leicestershire DC) [2012] EWHC 481 (QB)01 Jan 2018
- MC v Standards Committee of LB Richmond [2011] UKUT 232 (AAC)01 Jan 2018
- May v Easterbrook01 Jan 2018
- Miller V Bull (Returning Officer Of Herefordshire Council) [2009] EWHC 2640 (QB), [2010] WLR 186101 Jan 2018
- R (Seabrook Warehousing Ltd) v Revenue and Customs [2009] EWHC 1742 (Admin), [2009] All ER (D) 163 (Jul)01 Jan 2018
- Aehmed V Afzal & Anor [2008] EWHC B5 (QB)01 Jan 2018
- R(Ozoemene) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2013] EWHC 216701 Jan 2018
- R(S) v SSHD (Admin Court)01 Jan 2018
- R (Condliff) v North Staffordshire Primary Care Trust [2011] EWCA Civ 910, [2012] 1 All ER 68901 Jan 2018
- Brett v Information Commissioner [2009] UKIT EA_2008_0098 (21 August 2009)01 Jan 2018
- High Court to consider Government’s decision to endorse new offshore oil and gas licensing round25 Apr 2023
- New Chairs of the Cornerstone Public Law Team10 Feb 2022
- Devolution confusion leads to more coal and a legal challenge10 Feb 2022
- Leeds Bradford Airport expansion to go to public inquiry19 Jan 2022
- Legal threat over deletion of sensitive Number 10 party WhatsApp messages12 Jan 2022
- Net Zero and downstream emissions in Court of Appeal this week15 Nov 2021
- U-turn on A-level algorithm in wake of JR threats17 Aug 2020
- Legal action threatened over model ‘standardising’ A-level Grades16 Aug 2020
- Doctors to file legal challenge to PPE guidance21 May 2020
- Legal challenge to the UK Government’s Guidance about Personal Protective Equipment in Hospitals23 Apr 2020
- Chancery Lane Project – UK lawyers unite to combat climate change26 Feb 2020
- Crown Prosecution Service drops prosecutions against Extinction Rebellion protesters28 Nov 2019
- Four Cornerstone members appointed to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s panel of counsel15 May 2019
- New recommendations for councillors from Committee on Standards in Public Life05 Feb 2019
- Estelle to start a public inquiry into shale gas exploration at a site in Ellesmere Port11 Jan 2019
- Clare Parry and Estelle Dehon appointed to the Attorney General’s B Panel03 Jul 2018
- UK information tribunal recognises WikiLeaks as a ‘media organisation’26 Jan 2018
- Estelle Dehon advises at City Hall01 Jan 2018
- Entry Into Force of the Paris Agreement – Legally Binding Climate Commitments and Brexit01 Jan 2018
- Estelle Dehon Appointed to European Commission Expert Group on the GDPR01 Jan 2018
- Planning and Environment
Estelle has significant experience in planning and environmental matters, with an emphasis on climate change and advising on net zero infrastructure and development. In the field of environmental law, Estelle acted for Friends of the Earth at the six week inquiry concerning permission for two fracking sites in Lancashire and has represented the Environment Agency in appeals concerning Nitrate Vulnerable Zones. She acted for the well-known campaigner Mr Frackman in his Supreme Court challenge to the grant of permission for fracking at Preston New Road in Lancashire. She also acted in the Court of Appeal challenge to the lack of emergency planning at the UK’s first site for fracking horizontal wells and in the High Court defending the Secretary of State’s refusal of an open cast coal mine in Druridge Bay. In 2019 she appeared at an inquiry considering permission for “matrix acidisation” of shale gas in Ellesmere Port. Estelle also regularly advises and appears on behalf of local authorities in matters involving the EIA Directive and the Habitats Directive and has particular expertise in public inquiries concerning the wind turbines and solar farms.
Estelle has particular expertise in matters concerning planning enforcement and represented the Secretary of State in two key CA cases concerning enforcement: Miaris (2016) and Keenan (2017). She also has experience dealing with neighbourhood plans, and will be appearing in the Supreme Court later this year in Oyston Estates, which will decide an important jurisdictional point about challenges to neighbourhood plans.
Estelle also has experience in infrastructure work, and assisted in preparing the DCO application into the first road scheme to be designated under section 35 of the Planning Act 2008 as a project of national significance. She is currently representing a local authority in the DCOs concerning what will be the two largest off-shore windfarms in the world: Norfolk Vanguard and Hornsea 3.
Green belt and countryside
Estelle has extensive experience appearing in statutory appeals, judicial reviews and public inquiries concerning green belt and countryside issues. She successfully appeared as sole counsel for a local authority in a five-day call-in inquiry concerning a multi-million pound commercial development in the green belt, in which the investigation of alternative brownfield sites was a key issue. She has also dealt with matters involving European Protected species, nature conservation, and the landscape and visual impacts of proposals in countryside locations including areas of outstanding natural beauty.Historic environment
Estelle has conducted a prosecution under the Listed Buildings Act 1990 and regularly conducts training on the use of the Proceeds of Crime Act in planning enforcement. Estelle also has experience advising and appearing in court concerning the duty under section 66 of the Listed Buildings Act 1990. She successfully appeared for a local authority in a statutory appeal in which a decision of an Inspector granting permission for a controversial wind turbine was quashed, because the Inspector failed to comply with his statutory duty to have special regard to the desirability of preserving the setting of a number of heritage assets which would have been harmed by the turbine.Estelle has experience of both High Court and inquiry work concerning renewables, in particular wind and solar energy. She successfully appeared for a local authority challenging a grant of planning permission by an Inspector where a wind turbine would cause harm to the setting of listed buildings. She has also appeared for local authorities and interested parties in inquiries concerning turbines and wind farms, including appearing for the Ministry of Defence in a controversial nine-month inquiry into three wind farms in Northumberland.
Energy
Estelle has experience of both High Court and inquiry work concerning renewables, in particular wind and solar energy. She successfully appeared for a local authority challenging a grant of planning permission by an Inspector where a wind turbine would cause harm to the setting of listed buildings. She has also appeared for local authorities and interested parties in inquiries concerning turbines and wind farms, including appearing for the Ministry of Defence in a controversial nine-month inquiry into three wind farms in Northumberland. Estelle has specific experience in matters concerning fracking, in particular high-volume hydraulic fracturing.At a high-profile planning inquiry concerning fracking, Estelle’s client remarked on her “excellent and hugely appreciated work”. One of the residents’ groups participating in the inquiry also noted that “Estelle [was] truly awesome. The points that [she] raised and the manner [she] did it in was nothing short of superb.”
- Government’s new offshore oil and gas licensing round is lawful, rules Holgate J19 Oct 2023
- Supreme Court to hear appeal concerning downstream emissions of fossil fuel projects20 Jun 2023
- High Court agrees to hear challenge to controversial coal mine in Whitehaven, Cumbria19 May 2023
- Climate impact of coal mining in court15 Mar 2023
- High Court grants permission for statutory review of Surrey gas drilling project03 Mar 2023
- Legal challenge to controversial new coal mine in Whitehaven, Cumbria16 Jan 2023
- High Court Hearing of Challenge to the Expansion of Bristol Airport Begins08 Nov 2022
- Legal action threatened over week-long consultation on large new oil and gas subsidy05 Jul 2022
- Judge gives permission for High Court challenge to go-ahead for Bristol Airport expansion11 May 2022
- In Finch the Court of Appeal declines to define significant indirect effects for EIA17 Feb 2022
- High Court considers controversial application for planning permission for the expansion of Lydden Hill Racing Circuit15 Feb 2022
- Burning England’s “national rainforest”: High Court challenge to failures to protect large areas of blanket peat bog01 Dec 2021
- Environment Agency successfully resists challenge to HS2 tunnelling19 Nov 2021
- Section 78 appeal concerning the expansion of Bristol Airport considers evidence relating to climate change29 Sep 2021
- Cumbria coal mine inquiry considers the need for coking coal in UK and European industry14 Sep 2021
- Legal Challenges to neighbourhood plans and orders: the Supreme Court has the final word14 May 2021
- After JR Threat, Secretary of State Calls in Cumbrian Coal Mine12 Mar 2021
- Supreme Court hears R (on the application of Fylde Coast Farms Ltd) v Fylde Borough Council08 Mar 2021
- EIA in a climate emergency30 Dec 2020
- Oil & Gas Authority challenge heading to the High Court21 Feb 2020
- Environmental impact of intensive farming – When the manure hits the fan28 May 2019
- Government Advised to Amend the Climate Change Act to Require Net-Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 205002 May 2019
- Fracking injunction before High Court today11 Oct 2018
- Government to have final say on Lancashire fracking sites01 Jan 2018
- Permission granted in fracking judicial review01 Jan 2018
- Allotment status clarified01 Jan 2018
- Walsall MBC v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government & ors [2013] EWCA Civ 370; [2013] JPL 118301 Jan 2018
- Court of Appeal declines to overturn rule that no right of appeal lies against refusal of leave to appeal Planning Inspector’s decision on a s. 174 enforcement notice appeal01 Jan 2018
- Postwick Hub Improvement Scheme (8 January 2014)01 Jan 2018
- R (Health and Safety Executive) v Wolverhampton City Council [2012] UKSC 34, [2012] 1 WLR 2264 (SC)01 Jan 2018
- Aylesbury Vale DC v SSCLG [2012] EWHC 993 (Admin), [2012] JPL 125401 Jan 2018
- Dartford BC v SSCLG & Vodafone Ltd [2012] EWHC 1756 (Admin)01 Jan 2018
- Cornerstone Barristers instructed on major fracking planning appeals in Lancashire01 Jan 2018
- Norwich Northern Distributor Road DCO Examination ends01 Jan 2018
- Effects of Fracking on the Rural Economy01 Jan 2018
- No Bias against Double Glazing01 Jan 2018
- Fracking in Lancashire: planning applications01 Jan 2018
- High Court Clarifies Extent Of Ground (F) In Enforcement Appeals01 Jan 2018
- Successful Listed Building Prosecution01 Jan 2018
- Court Clarifies Correct Approach To Paragraph 14 NPPF01 Jan 2018
- Government’s approval for high volume hydraulic fracturing challenged in Court01 Jan 2018
- Court Of Appeal Clarifies Powers Of Sale Of Allotments01 Jan 2018
- Fracking cases to be heard by Court of Appeal01 Jan 2018
- Silver v SSGLC [2014] EWHC 2729 (Admin)01 Jan 2018
- High Court clarifies meaning of residential curtilage01 Jan 2018
- North Norfolk District Council v SSCLG and Mack [2014] EWHC 279 (Admin)01 Jan 2018
- Government grants permission for fracking in Lancashire01 Jan 2018
- High Court dismisses challenges to fracking in Lancashire01 Jan 2018
- Court of Appeal Gives Judgment in Lancashire Fracking Case01 Jan 2018
- Court of Appeal decides fracking challenge01 Jan 2018
- Estelle Dehon KC gives evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee on Energy Security and Net Zero29 Nov 2023
- Cornerstone Barristers achieves record results in Chambers UK Bar Directory 2024 for Planning and Environment24 Oct 2023
- Cornerstone Planning Team recommended as a leading set for planning in The Legal 500 2024 guide05 Oct 2023
- Latest news on Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) and the State of Nature29 Sep 2023
- Planning Law Survey 2023: Seven members of chambers highly rated by Planning Magazine16 Jun 2023
- Drilling project in Dunsfold, Surrey challenged at the High Court08 Jun 2023
- Estelle Dehon KC and Ruchi Parekh, of Cornerstone Barristers, Both Recognised in ENDS Power List 202324 May 2023
- High Court to consider Government’s decision to endorse new offshore oil and gas licensing round25 Apr 2023
- Net Zero Strategy 2.0: Into the Multiverse11 Apr 2023
- Right proposal, wrong place30 Mar 2023
- Running out of time, not running out of options21 Mar 2023
- Estelle Dehon KC and Ruchi Parekh recognised in The Planner’s Women of Influence in 202308 Mar 2023
- Major legal challenge launched against decision to allow an exploratory oil and gas well in Surrey Hills22 Jul 2022
- Estelle Dehon QC is included in the ENDS Report’s ENDS Power List 202218 May 2022
- Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill 2022-23 – An overview17 May 2022
- Devolution confusion leads to more coal and a legal challenge10 Feb 2022
- Leeds Bradford Airport expansion to go to public inquiry19 Jan 2022
- Briefing note on the Climate Change implications for local government across the UK24 Nov 2021
- The COP26 Decision: The Glasgow Climate Pact15 Nov 2021
- Net Zero and downstream emissions in Court of Appeal this week15 Nov 2021
- High Court considers judicial review of HS2 tunnel under the Chilterns27 Oct 2021
- Public Inquiry into the expansion of Bristol Airport enters final week05 Oct 2021
- Fourth week – Inquiry into the controversial West Cumbria coal mine reaches its final week28 Sep 2021
- Third week – Inquiry will consider the climate credentials of the proposed new Cumbria coal mine21 Sep 2021
- Cornerstone Planning Day 2021 – Tickets available20 Sep 2021
- Inquiry to consider the proposed new Cumbria coal mine07 Sep 2021
- Major intergovernmental report on the science of climate change and the consequences for policymakers released by IPCC09 Aug 2021
- Cornerstone Quarterly Development – Special Edition13 Aug 2020
- Estelle Dehon nominated as Women of Influence in planning by The Planner06 Mar 2020
- Justice Week – Interview with Estelle Dehon on climate change28 Feb 2020
- Chancery Lane Project – UK lawyers unite to combat climate change26 Feb 2020
- Heads up on ‘material considerations’: you really can’t buy a planning permission, says the Supreme Court21 Nov 2019
- Estelle Dehon shortlisted for Chambers and Partners Award06 Sep 2019
- Estelle is one of the 55 Women of Influence 2019 in planning08 Mar 2019
- Estelle to start a public inquiry into shale gas exploration at a site in Ellesmere Port11 Jan 2019
- Response to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee’s inquiry on fracking24 Apr 2018
- Brexit: Planning and the Environment Outside the EU01 Jan 2018
- Estelle Dehon discusses Yorkshire fracking proposals on BBC Radio 5 Live01 Jan 2018
- Cornerstone Barristers in fracking inquiry underway in Lancashire01 Jan 2018
- LexisNexis Webinar – Regulatory aspects of fracking01 Jan 2018
- The Guardian and BBC News: Roseacre Wood fracking row01 Jan 2018
- Wales Planning Law Update01 Jan 2018
- Practice Update – Appealing a Section 289 decision to the Court of Appeal01 Jan 2018
- Anti-fracking campaigner launches Court of Appeal challenge against Government decision to approve fracking in Lancashire01 Jan 2018
- Major Road Improvement for Norwich01 Jan 2018
- Entry Into Force of the Paris Agreement – Legally Binding Climate Commitments and Brexit01 Jan 2018
- LexisPSL – Green belt land versus housing needs01 Jan 2018
- Anti-fracking campaigner pursues Supreme Court challenge in bid to overturn Government decision to approve fracking in Lancashire01 Jan 2018
- Cornerstone on the Planning Court29 Oct 2015
- Inquests and Inquiries
Estelle is a member of Chambers’ Inquest Team. She has experience appearing for interested persons in inquests into death following medical treatment and Article 2 inquests concerning deaths in prison. She has appeared for the family and for the Ministry of Justice.
Estelle has also undertaken work arising from inquests, including:
- representing a coroner in a claim under section 13 Coroners Act 1988 for an inquisition to be quashed and a new investigation undertaken;
- representing a coroner in judicial review proceedings arising from an ongoing inquest.
- HM Coroner For Isle Of Wight V HM Prison Service (1 April 2015)01 Jan 2018
- R(Nettlefold) v HM Coroner for East Sussex (25 March 2014)01 Jan 2018
- Inquest touching the death of SO’C (St Pancras Coroner’s Court)01 Jan 2018
- Inquest touching the death of AC (Surrey Coroner’s Court)01 Jan 2018
- Inquest touching the death of CD (Southwark Coroner’s Court)01 Jan 2018
- Information Law
Estelle’s information law work involves both freedom of information act (FOIA) cases and privacy-related work concerning data protection. Estelle has been practising in data protection for 14 years and is an expert on both the GDPR and the UKGDPR. She advises a wide client base, including DPOs (both internal and external), large multi-national companies, public authorities, charities and individuals. She led a team at Cornerstone Barristers advising then-DCMS on the policy approach to implementing GDPR. She has broad experience, including drafting an information sharing agreement for a group of over 40 local authorities, schools and other public service organisations, and advising on privacy notices for a UK-wide ANPR company and a national children’s charity and advising government clients on the data protection implications of various technologies. Estelle has particular interest and expertise in big data, profiling, artificial intelligence and machine learning, on which she has been advising insurance companies and tech start-ups.
Estelle’s advocacy work in data protection includes County Court, High Court and Court of Appeal challenges concerning individual rights. She represented the Claimant in the judicial review challenge to the decision to use an algorithm to grade the 2020 A-level cohort in England which led the Government to reverse its decision, and appeared in the Court of Appeal in October 2018 on a previously unlitigated point about when it is lawful for an employer to receive and use information from a policing body.
Estelle is a member of the European Commission’s Multistakeholder Expert Group on the GDPR, which assists the Commission in dealing with potential challenges in implementing the GDPR across Europe. She also speaks regularly on data protection and the GDPR.
Turning to freedom of information, Estelle has represented investigative journalists in challenging refusals to allow access to information. In particular she represents the investigative journalist Stefania Maurizi in two important and high-profile FOIA cases: (1) a long-running FOIA battle trying to access information from the Crown Prosecution Service about Julian Assange, which went to the Upper Tribunal and (2) a successful First-tier Tribunal appeal concerning information held by the Metropolitan Police relating to three Wikileaks journalists. As a result of Estelle’s work with journalists on FOIA, she spoke at the 2018 International Journalism Festival on a panel with journalist James Risen on “How to get secret and confidential documents. From FOIA to leaks, the struggle to acquire factual information.”
- Tribunal hearing appeal of MPS’s decision to block access to information about possible investigation of journalists on national security and counter-terrorism grounds09 Jul 2021
- Tribunal Provides Written Reasons on FOIA Territorial Limitation11 Mar 2021
- Tribunal Confirms No Territorial Limitation in FOIA28 Jan 2021
- Release sought of correspondence between MPS & DOJ on WikiLeaks Journalists24 Feb 2020
- Investigative journalist wins FOI appeal against Met Police18 Dec 2018
- The Long Reach of FOIA – Julian Assange and Access to Information01 Jan 2018
- Legal threat over deletion of sensitive Number 10 party WhatsApp messages12 Jan 2022
- Information Tribunal to Review Scope of FOIA Right07 Oct 2020
- U-turn on A-level algorithm in wake of JR threats17 Aug 2020
- Data Protection: A guide for Mutual Aid groups23 Mar 2020
- Estelle will speak at the 17th Annual Data Protection and Compliance Conference08 Oct 2018
- Estelle is speaking at SHLA on GDPR for housing providers06 Sep 2018
- Why the GDPR is Like a Puppy. Some Sensible Advice from Estelle Dehon Amid the GDPR Frenzy25 May 2018
- What Changes for the UK Data Protection Legislation? GDPR and Data Protection Act 201824 May 2018
- How to get secret and confidential documents. From FOIA to leaks, the struggle to acquire factual information11 Apr 2018
- Estelle will speak at the World Legal AI Summit in Barcelona28 Mar 2018
- UK information tribunal recognises WikiLeaks as a ‘media organisation’26 Jan 2018