Garden Court Chambers is delighted to announce that Joanne Cecil and Greg Ó Ceallaigh will be appointed King’s Counsel in 2024.
The appointments of 95 new King’s Counsel (also known as silk) are announced today. These appointments are made by The King on the advice of the Lord Chancellor, Alex Chalk KC MP, following consideration by the independent King’s Counsel (KC) Selection Panel.
Joanne Cecil (Call: 2005)
Jo combines a mixed serious crime, public law and inquiries practice with criminal justice-related judicial review and civil litigation in the civil liberties sphere. She has a strong appellate practice both domestically and internationally, appearing at all levels, including the Supreme Court. Jo has expertise in strategic litigation and acting for intervenors, notably developing the law in relation to children and their treatment in the criminal courts. Joanne is appointed as junior counsel to the Covid-19 UK Inquiry.
Jo is appointed to the Equality and Human Rights Commission's preferred Panel of Counsel (Panel A). Jo is elected Vice Chair of the Bar Human Rights Executive Committee for 2024. She was the winner of the Legal Aid Barrister of the Year category of the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards (LALYs) 2019.
Greg Ó Ceallaigh (Call: 2006)
Greg specialises in human rights, asylum and immigration, civil and public law. He is ranked in the Chambers UK Bar Guide 2024 and the Legal 500 2024 for immigration. The core of Greg's practice is public law and civil challenges to decisions of the Home Office and other bodies dealing with the rights of migrants.
Greg has a particular interest in immigration detention having represented detainees in detention claims at every level from the Administrative Court to the Supreme Court (including Fardous v SSHD [2015] EWCA Civ 92, R(Sathanantham) v SSHD [2016] 4 WLR 128 and R (on the application of) (Hemmati) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] UKSC 56), as well as in civil actions for false imprisonment both in the County Court and the Queen's Bench Division ((e.g. Louis v The Home Office [2021] EWHC 288 (QB), AO v The Home Office [2021] EWHC 1043 (QB) and Jasseh v The Home Office [2024] EWHC 31 (KB))).
A full report on the 2023 competition is available on the KC Appointments website.
