Tara O'Leary | Cornerstone Barristers

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Tara accepts instructions in all of chambers’ core areas, in particular public and administrative law, housing and homelessness, licensing, and the Court of Protection.

She has appeared across all levels of courts and specialist tribunals up to the Court of Appeal. She undertakes a broad range of drafting and advisory work for all types of clients.

Tara is a member of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s C panel of counsel, and was described as an “up and coming” junior barrister in social housing by Chambers and Partners (2022 edition).

Tara spent February and March 2022 on a Pegasus Scholarship at Fordham University School of Law in New York City. As a Visting Scholar, she conducted research and provided legal advice on human rights projects at the Leitner Centre for International Law and Justice.

Tara welcomes instructions from clients of all backgrounds, having represented public bodies, local authorities and housing associations, private individuals and companies. She is direct access licensed and undertakes work on a legally-aided and pro bono basis. She has also spent time seconded to several local authorities, gaining experience of litigation and front line legal services in housing, property and regulatory work.

Tara has particular experience in cases involving public law challenges, human rights and the Equality Act.

Prior to coming to the Bar Tara worked in the UK and abroad as a legal adviser and researcher specialised in human rights and international law. She was awarded the Frank Jennings Fellowship by Front Line Defenders in 2009, and appointed research assistant to the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders. She spent two years at the OSCE Missions in Bosnia & Herzegovina and Kosovo, and worked as a legal adviser to Amnesty International’s Campaign for International Justice. Prior to pupillage, she spent two years at REDRESS leading a project on improving access to justice and reparations for victims of crime across the EU.

Tara graduated with an LLB (First Class Honours) in Law & European Studies from the University of Limerick. She has an LLM (Distinction) in Public International Law from the LSE, where she received the Lauterpacht Higgins Prize for Public International Law.

Expertise

Housing
Tara has significant experience in the social housing sector, and is regularly instructed by local authorities and social housing providers to provide advice and representation. Tara’s expertise encompasses a broad range of issues including:
- Advising on all aspects of tenancy management for secure, assured, assured shorthold, flexible/fixed term and introductory tenancies.
- Addressing anti-social behaviour through possession proceedings, injunctions, committal proceedings, closure orders and other means.
- Homelessness, including advice, drafting and representation on s. 204 appeals and policy matters.
- Defences in public law and the Equality Act 2010, including those raising complex questions connected to disability, mental health, capacity and the Court of Protection.
- Housing-related judicial review including cases concerning Part VI allocations, Part VII homelessness, the Children Acts 1989 and 2004, and the Care Act 2014.
- Regulatory enforcement under the Housing Act 2004 including mandatory, additional and selective licensing.
- Advising on the formulation and adoption of housing policies, public consultation and equalities implications.
Examples of Tara’s work in this field includes:
- Advising local housing authorities dealing with homelessness during the pandemic, including those implementing the ‘Everyone In’ initiative and introducing ‘move on’ housing for rough sleepers;
- Led by Dean Underwood, acting for the local authority in its succesful appeal in LB Waltham Forest v Marshall; Ustek [2020] UKUT 35 (LC), which provides important guidance on the approach to be taken by Tribunals on appeals against civil financial penalties under s.249A of the Housing Act 2004, including the weight to be given to local authorities’ decisions and policies.
- Led by Andrew Lane, succesfully acting for the local authority in Hertforshire CC v Davies at the High Court [2017] HLR 33 and Court of Appeal [2018] HLR 21. This was a case concerning service occupancies (‘tied accommodation’), which considered the compatibility of the Housing Acts with Art.14 ECHR, and defences under the Equality Act 2010 and s. 11 Children Act 2004 amongst other matters.
- As a pupil, assisting her supervisor Kelvin Rutledge QC in representing the local authorities in the conjoined Supreme Court appeals in Hotak v LB Southwark [2015] UKSC 30.
Tara is joint editor of Cornerstone’s Housing Newsletter, and has written articles and given training on a range of issues related to social housing law. She has been instructed by the Housing Ombudsman to advise in respect of a number of its decisions.

Tara also accepts instructions connected to private sector property matters, including both residential and commercial premises, on behalf of both landlords and tenants. She regularly appears before the Property Chamber of the First Tier Tribunal, particularly on matters arising under the Housing Act 2004. She also advises on matters including construction of leases, forfeiture, easements and restrictive covenants, leasehold management and enfranchisement, and service charge disputes.
Public Law and Judicial Review
Tara is instructed to bring and defend public law challenges in the Administrative Court across all of her practice areas. She has a growing practice in this field and welcomes instructions to provide advice, review pleadings and witness statements, and to act on behalf of public bodies and private individuals.

She has acted for a number of local authorities in judicial review claims concerning housing, homelessness and adult social care, many of which involved s. 17 of the Children Act 1989, Care Act 2014 and gypsy and traveller families. She has advised in a number of proposed and settled cases concerning the exercise of local government powers, and has been involved in a number of statutory appeals and judicial review claims in planning cases. Tara has been instructed by central government departments through the ‘Junior Junior’ / ‘Baby Barrister’ scheme.

Tara also regularly advises local authorities on the exercise of statutory powers and on the formulation and adoption of policies. Recent work has included advising on and drafting Public Space Protection Orders (‘PSPOs’), and assisting local authorities to adapt and implement homelessness policies and procedures during the pandemic.

Some of Tara’s recent work includes:
- Succesfully defending a statutory challenge to a PSPO creating a “buffer zone” outside an abortion clinic in Ealing, led by Ranjit Bhose QC and Kuljit Bhogal: Dulgheriu & Orthova v LB Ealing in the High Court [2018] EWHC 1667 (Admin) and Court of Appeal [2019] EWCA Civ 1490.
- Advising the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea on public law issues arising from the fire at Grenfell Tower, including its housing allocation policies, equality impact assessments, the statutory framework concerning Tenant Management Organisations (‘TMOs’), and the ongoing public inquiry.
- Advising and acting in numerous claims for damages under the Equality Act which allege discrimination and failure to make reasonable adjustments in the exercise of public functions including housing and homelessness.
- Successfully defending applications for permission to judicially review the outcome of Care Act assessments: for example R (Baksh) v Brent LBC [2017] EWHC 894 (Admin).
Tara also has a growing practice in information law and welcomes instructions in this field. She has recently advised the Department of Media, Culture and Sport on the implementation of the GDPR into UK law, before and after Brexit. Before the First Tier Tribunal, she has also succesfully represented relatives of a civilian killed by the British Army during the Troubles in Northern Ireland in a Freedom of Information appeal against the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Court of Protection
- Overview
Tara appears regularly before the Court of Protection and advises on the full range of mental capacity law, including best interests, welfare applications and deprivations of liberty. Tara’s mental capacity expertise is complemented by her experience of community care, health and housing law, and she has a growing practice in relation to matters where there is interplay between these complex areas.

She accepts instructions from all parties including local authorities, statutory agencies, health and social care providers, and family members.

Some of Tara’s recent experience includes:
- Acting for the local authority in an ongoing case involving DOLS, welfare and property applications where P’s lack of capacity, and considerable difficulties in her care and treatment, arise from her diagnosis of hoarding disorder.
- Acting for the Official Solicitor in a DOLS and best interests application where the central issue is P’s capacity to make decisions regarding contact with his parents, whose corresponding capacity to make decisions about their contact with him is also in dispute.
- Acting for the local authority in a best interests application concerning an autistic young man’s complex process of transition from care at home with his elderly parents to a residential placement, and decision-making around his medical treatment.
- Successfully defending repeated applications for permission to judicially review the outcome of Care Act assessments: for example R (Baksh) v Brent LBC [2017] EWHC 894 (Admin).
Licensing
Tara has a growing practice in licensing. She is regularly instructed in relation to premises (public houses, restaurants, nightclubs and off-licences), taxis and street trading, amongst other areas. Tara has been instructed by licence holders, applicants, local authorities and the police. She appears regularly before committees, and in appeal hearings and prosecutions at the Magistrates’ Court. She also regularly advises on matters related to additional and selective licensing, closure orders and anti-social behaviour as part of her local government and housing practice. Tara has provided training to local authorities and the Institute of Licensing on a range of licensing issues.

Some of Tara’s recent work in this area includes:
- Acting on behalf of local authorities in several complex taxi licensing appeals which concerned historic or repeated allegations of sexual offences.
- Advising local authorities on the effect of amendments to premises licensing during the pandemic.
- Representing Uber London in a number of county court claims involving Uber drivers and passengers.
- With Ranjit Bhose QC and Joe Cannon, representing Islington LBC in the widely reported proceedings related to the closure of Fabric nightclub.
Tara was a member of a team from Cornerstone Barristers which advised on the possibility of prosecuting landlords for “sex for rent”, i.e. the practice of offering free or discounted housing in exchange for sexual services. In November 2018 the CPS changed its guidance on Prostitution and Exploitation of Prostitution to acknowledge that this behaviour could constitute the offence of causing or inciting prostitution for gain under Section 52 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

Tara and colleagues also previously advised a national feminist organization appearing in a parliamentary inquiry into prostitution, specifically into whether the UK should adopt a so-called ‘sex buyer law’ under which the law criminalises the buyer rather than the seller of sexual services.
Inquests and Inquiries
- Overview
- News
Tara has a particular interest in this area of law and is keen to develop this area of her practice. She has acted for a number of housing and adult social care departments of local authorities in inquests into the death of persons who passed away during their involvement with social services.

Tara was instructed as a member of the legal team for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea at the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.
- Parliamentary Inquiry into Prostitution01 Jan 2018