My latest article for Legal Action Group - a guide to how to counter "draconian" double rent provisions faced by tenants who've given notice - was published last week. It was a lot of fun to research - It is not often that you get to deal with statutes from 1737!

www.lag.org.uk/article/2172...

In case you missed it: The reality behind “last minute” legal challenges to removal | Sonia Lenegan

Returning to this app to discover that @barristersecret.bsky.social knows of my existence!

I am delighted to begin my pupillage with @42br.com this week - I'm just so excited to get started at such a welcoming set. I'm looking forward to an intense, challenging and rewarding year - I can't wait to see what's in store!

It would be worth reading Shani v Ozekhome for the artistic quality of the red hat alone, but the multi-car pile up of legal catastrophe is hilarious to read. A real page-turner!

www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKF...

An excellent appetizer, before I start pupillage in a couple of weeks!

(The judgment can be found here: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68a42b... )

We were successful at Tribunal over the summer, obtaining an order that the landlord repay over £24,000 in rent.

I was happy to see that this case has been reported by LandlordZone, who described the award as "whopping". The article can be found here: www.landlordzone.co.uk/news/landlor...

I recently represented some acquaintances in a Rent Repayment Order, where the landlord had failed to obtain an HMO license. The property was not fire-safe, and contained electrical hazards which led to one tenant being electrocuted by a bathroom light switch.

The Supreme Court has handed down its Dartmoor wild camping decision in the case of Darwall and another v Dartmoor National Park Authority.

I am also very happy to have a new copy of Megarry and Wade's practitioner text. My previous one was - in my dog's professional opinion - more edible than readable. It was difficult to read about easements through teeth marks - but now, at long last, she can be forgiven.

My entry was "refreshing" and "unconventional" (which I think is complimentary...) - I'm very excited that it will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Estates Gazette.

Very proud to win first prize in the Property Bar Association's Essay Competition: "100 years on from the passing of the Law of Property Act 1925, is the Act’s approach to formalities fit for the modern era?"

The Spectator on @gardencourtlaw.bsky.social:
'…lawyers of undoubted intellect and skill…’
‘…idealists, gifted advocates and politically passionate…’
‘…radically effective…’
‘…no doubting the skill or zeal…’
‘…Garden Court racks up victories…’
www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-...

I don't know if there is a case to be brought before the European Court of Human Rights - but we have already asked the question of a KC. And, yes, if there is a decent case for a trans person to bring, we will help them bring it.

📣London Borough of Hounslow concede breach of disabled child’s right to education during 19 month search for school place📣

Garden Court Chambers #EducationLaw Team members Gráinne Mellon, leading Alex Temple, represented the client.

Read on here 🔽
gardencourtchambers.co.uk/london-borou...

Is Kilmar Abrego Garcia alive? Because the amount of resistance to addressing his being trafficked gives the distinct impression that either he is dead or what they have done to him is so unspeakable that they cannot afford for him to be freed, seen, or spoken with.

Given that For Women Scotland based at least part of its reasoning [248ff] on the notion that trans people would still be protected under s7 Equality Act, it is upsetting to see that, at a blow, they seem to have denied that protection to others.

This reading would suggest that, within the Equality Act, you can only “reassign one’s sex” within that binary. Non-binary and other non-traditional gender identities are suddenly without even the limited protection suggested by Taylor.

For Women Scotland stated, at [171], that “the definition of sex in the EA 2010 makes clear that the concept of sex is binary, a person is either a woman or a man”.
supremecourt.uk/uploads/uksc...

Whilst Taylor was not appealed, it has been considered and partially endorsed in AA v NHS Commissioning Board [2023] EWHC 43 (Admin).

Taylor therefore provided some legal precedent for people who identify beyond the traditional gender binary. It was some protection from harrasment (albeit limited)

The tribunal held (at 178) that gender reassignment was on a spectrum moving away from birth sex, and that a person could be at any point on that spectrum. Thus, gender fluid and non-binary people were protected under s7.

(Judgment: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5fc8d5...)

The employment tribunal case of Taylor v Jaguar Land Rover (2020) considered whether gender fluid people have the protected characteristic of “Gender Reassignment” s7 of the Equality Act – defined by relation to a “process for reassigning the person’s “sex”.

More well-informed people than me will have better comment on the sad impact for trans people of the decision today in For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16.

However, they are far from the only people affected. This decision also impacts non-binary and gender fluid individuals.