HRLA President, Patrons & Executive Committee
Honorary President
The Rt Hon Lord Justice Singh
Patrons
Sir Edward Caldwell KCB KC Hon
Professor Christine Chinkin
Edward Fitzgerald KC
Professor Conor Gearty KC Hon
Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws KC
Francesca Klug OBE
Jennifer McDermott
Nuala Mole
Lord Pannick KC
Sir Stephen Sedley
The 2025-2026 Executive Committee
HRLA Chair
Shoaib M. Khan
Shoaib is a barrister and solicitor advocate. He manages a law firm specialising in human rights, public and immigration law, and has worked on cases at all levels up to the European Court of Human Rights. He is a member of the Law Society’s Human Rights Committee and has previously sat on the boards of various NGOs, including Liberty’s Policy Council. He has a particular interest in public awareness about human rights and how the media covers such issues.
HRLA Vice Chair
Dr Louise Loder
As Senior Lecturer in Law and Director of Skills and Prizes at the University of Exeter, Louise convenes the Legal Foundations and IP modules and leads the Law School’s alumni engagement, prizes and legal skills programmes. She is a member of the Bar Human Rights Committee’s Project Team, an Executive Committee member of the Association of Law Teachers and a Board Member of the Intellectual Property Awareness Network. Louise is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
HRLA Vice Chair
Dr Cynthia C. Umezulike
Dr. Cynthia C. Umezulike is an international human rights lawyer, senior academic, gender and climate justice expert, and consultant. She is Senior Lecturer in Law (Associate Professor) and Director of the Centre for Sustainable Development, Energy Transitions, and Climate Change at the University of Bedfordshire UK, Co-chair of the Hon. Justice Innocent Umezulike Foundation and Chairperson of the International Conference on Human Rights, Sustainability, and Climate Change.
HRLA Treasurer
Aaqib Javed
HRLA Secretary
HRLA Bursary Officer
Catherine Knight
Catherine is a solicitor at Irwin Mitchell in the Public Law and Human Rights team. She specialises in inquests and civil actions against public authorities. She also undertakes Judicial Review work, mostly representing victims of trafficking. She has undertaken extensive pro bono work including at Liberty and with Amicus, spending time in New Orleans, Louisiana representing prisoners on death row. She is passionate about social mobility and widening access to careers in human rights law.
Elected Members
Olivia Beach
Olivia is a barrister at One Pump Court Chambers, specialising in public law, community care, human rights law and civil actions against public authorities. Alongside her practice, Olivia undertakes pro bono work with various charities, including the Asylum Support Appeals Project and West London Welcome.
Jack Dingley
Jack is a pupil barrister at Kenworthy’s Chambers. He specialises in immigration, asylum, and public and administrative law. Prior to joining the Bar, Jack was Head of Casework for Manuel Bravo Project, a charity that provided free legal representation to asylum seekers not eligible for legal aid, as well as working as a caseworker at a legal aid firm focusing on asylum work.
Fraser Eccles
Fraser is a solicitor in the Public Law & Policy team at Hogan Lovells. He assists clients in the public and private sectors on both contentious and advisory matters, including administrative law, judicial review, human rights, public international law, political law compliance and freedom of information. Prior to qualifying as a solicitor, Fraser worked as a policy advisor at HM Treasury.
Mark Emerton
Mark Emerton retired as an Employment Judge in 2024. He previously sat as an Immigration Judge and (whilst serving in the Royal Navy) as a Judge Advocate at Courts-Martial. Before becoming a salaried judge he was a Commissioner at the Criminal Cases Review Commission, investigating miscarriages of justice. He now enjoys a portfolio of trustee and governance roles and has a research interest in human rights law and religion. His main appointment is as a Member of the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB), advising the Government on pay for senior public servants, and he is currently leading a major review of judicial salaries. He is also a Bencher of Gray’s Inn.
Anthony Hayward
Anthony Hayward is a qualified solicitor with a focus on human rights, environmental law, and corporate accountability. He works as a paralegal in the International and Group Claims Department at Leigh Day, supporting high-profile international litigation on behalf of thousands of individuals from the Niger Delta seeking justice for environmental damage caused by Shell and its Nigerian subsidiary. Previously, Anthony handled a varied caseload in immigration, asylum, and public law at Duncan Lewis Solicitors.
Claudia Hyde
Claudia is a barrister specialising in public, human rights, environmental and planning law. She holds an LLM in Public International Law and is a Trustee of a legal advice charity in South London. She previously served as Vice-Chair of the Junior Lawyers Committee and comes to the bar after several years working at a human rights charity.
Oliver Jackson
Oliver is a barrister at 11KBW specialising in public law and human rights, employment, and competition law. He has acted in courts at every level, from Port Talbot and Great Yarmouth to the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights. Prior to joining the Bar he worked as a civil servant and volunteered at Liberty, the Bar Pro Bono Unit, Reprieve, and the Free Representation Unit. In 2020-21 he was the judicial assistant to Lord Burrows at the Supreme Court.
Conor Monighan
Conor is a barrister at 5 Essex Chambers who specialises in public law and human rights. He has been instructed in the Grenfell Tower, Infected Blood, Jermaine Baker (Police Shooting) and Post Office/ Horizon IT Inquiries, together with various inquests, judicial reviews and civil matters – including where there is a terrorism aspect. Conor has been an HRLA member for over seven years and currently serves as our Bursary Officer.
Vicki Prais
Vicki Prais is a human rights lawyer, independent human rights consultant, academic, human rights career coach and sometime speechwriter; she likes to call herself a ‘lawyer plus’. Vicki’s expertise lies in prisoners’ rights, prison reform and dignity behind bars. Vicki currently serves as a Visiting Professor of Human Rights at the Human Rights Centre, Birmingham City University.
Ffyon Reilly
Ffyon Reilly is a barrister at No 5 Chambers, specialising in public law and human rights. She is also a senior lecturer at City St George’s, University of London.
Philip Rule KC
King’s Counsel and practising barrister since 2001, and was elected Head of Public Law Group at No5 Chambers. He undertakes work in the UK courts and the Caribbean region, as well as undertaking European Court of Human Rights cases. With particular expertise in civil liberties and human rights law his work is primarily in judicial review and appellate proceedings, as well as inquests and inquiries, but with some trial work also in regulatory, criminal and civil matters. Member of the HRLA Executive Committee since 2018.
Nikki Taylor
Nikki is a consultant to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Extraordinary Rendition, where she examines the UK’s facilitation of arbitrary detention and torture. She holds an LLB in Law and Spanish and an MSc in Global Security. Nikki previously worked as a paralegal at the Infected Blood Inquiry and is committed to advocating for justice and equality at all levels. She has carried out pro bono work for various human rights organisations, focussing on gender justice, peacebuilding and climate justice. Nikki was previously a member of the Young Lawyers Committee from 2022 to January 2024.
2025/2026 JUNIOR LAWYERS COMMITTEE (JLC)
JLC Chair
Joseph Kelen
Joseph is a Judicial Assistant at the United Kingdom Supreme Court. He previously worked at Covington and Burling LLP, specialising in Public International Law and Public Policy; the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague; and at a specialist international criminal law firm. Joseph holds law degrees from Harvard Law School and Cambridge University, where he won the Clive Parry Prize in international law. He was recognised in 2020 as the UK’s ‘Future Legal Mind of the Year’. Joseph also holds an MSc in Behavioural Science from Warwick University, where his thesis analysed behavioural factors influencing Asylum tribunals.
JLC Vice Chair
Connie Dale
Connie joined the Junior Lawyers Committee in January 2023. She studying the Bar Course. She has pursued her interest in human rights law by undertaking a traineeship with the Council of Europe’s Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee and through volunteering. She looks forward to working on the Junior Lawyers Committee’s upcoming projects.
JLC Secretary
Adam Weisz
Adam is a pupil barrister at Kings Chambers, specialising in the Court of Protection and public law. Prior to pupillage, Adam was a public law caseworker at a large legal aid firm, working on strategic judicial review, immigration, and trafficking cases.
Ravina Bahra
Ravina is a paralegal at a legal aid firm and works in public law, social housing, community care, and immigration law. She holds an MSc in Human Rights and is dedicated to access to justice. She joined the JLC in March 2024.
Ananya Basu
Ananya is currently studying for a Graduate Diploma in Law after a degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. She is particularly interested in human rights related to access to medical care and education, having experience in these fields.
Ewa Dunn
Ewa qualified as a solicitor through the SQE route in 2023, achieving first-quintile results in both parts of the exam. She has since gained experience in housing, immigration, and welfare benefits law, providing legal support to vulnerable individuals. Alongside her work, she is currently pursuing an LLM in Human Rights, Conflict, and Justice. Ewa is deeply passionate about international protection of human rights, with a particular focus on conflict and post-conflict situations.
Kerrina Gray
Kerrina is a trainee solicitor at Russell-Cooke. Before retraining, she worked as a Legal Advisor at the National Deaf Children’s Society, supporting parents of deaf children and deaf young people with education and equality law matters. Passionate about advancing human rights, Kerrina has volunteered across various initiatives dedicated to promoting equality and justice.
Shriya Gupta
Shriya is currently studying law at the University of Westminster and is deeply passionate about human rights focusing on housing and immigration. Shriya is currently the communication and social media lead for the Human Rights Lawyers Association’s Young Lawyers Committee.
Holly Marston
Holly is a qualified solicitor specialising in Public Inquiries and Public Law. Having studied an LLM in Human Rights Law at UCL, Holly has since spent time in Louisiana working with attorneys as part of the Capital Appeals Project as well as working with writers and directors in the theatre industry. Outside of work with her firm, Holly has done pro bono work with the Free Representation Unit where she represented disabled individuals in enhancing their benefits, and is a trained advisor at a local legal advice clinic where she offers vulnerable individuals pro bono appointments. Holly is passionate about advancing human rights through investigating mass-scale miscarriages of justice and helping to shape policy change.
Catherine Salma Maunder
Catherine is a Policy Intern at JUSTICE and a Bar Course student. She is committed to advancing justice and equality through her work as a Legal Representative for the Cleaners and Allied Independent Workers Union, a Fellow for the Balfour Project, and a Legal Observer for the Green and Black Cross. She holds an LLM in Human Rights and International Law (2024) and an LLB in Law and Politics (2023).
Adam Nathan
Adam is an SQE student, having converted from a History degree where he focused on global discrimination and inequality. He has worked with organisations including Maccabi GB, Streetwise and Langdon advocating for social impact and providing support for members of his community. He is dedicated to enhancing the opportunities for young people and breaking down barriers that restrict access to justice and equality.
Bianca Pătulea
Bianca is a Senior Consultant in Human Rights and Ethical Trade, having previously worked in law firms, civil society, and international organisations. She is dedicated to advocating for justice and equality, actively participating in various pro bono initiatives and volunteering with grassroots movements to advance human rights globally. She completed an LLM in Human Rights Law (2018) and was Called to the Bar by Inner Temple (2022).