About Us

Phil Shiner, Supervisor

Phil Shiner leads the team at Public Interest Lawyers (PIL). He is a lawyer with an international and national reputation for his work on issues concerning international, environmental and human rights law. He has been practicing as a solicitor in the UK since 1981. He has written and spoken at international and national conferences on all the areas of law covered in PIL's present work.

Phil has developed the practice to attract top rankings in the areas of human rights and administrative and public law. He acts for over 30 Iraqi civilians killed or injured by British soldiers during the occupation in the case of Al Skeini, which will be heard at the House of Lords in April 2007. He also acts for a British national who has been held without charge in a British detention centre in Basra since October 2004 in the case of Al Jedda, which is also proceeding to the House of Lords. He acts for the families of British soldiers whose challenge to the legality of the Iraq war will be heard for three days in the Court of Appeal in November this year. In 2003 he represented CND in a judicial review challenge to the Government's decision to go to war.

Phil has acted for the Gurkhas in a series of discrimination cases and more recently for a Pakistani national held as a prisoner of war by the Japanese in World War II while serving the (British) Indian Army. See Gurung and Mohammed.

PIL recently won a challenge at the High Court to the validity of the Edge Lane CPO. This case strikes a blow to the Government’s Housing Market Renewal (“Pathfinder”) Initiative, which affects 250 million people nationwide. The practice also acts in numerous environmental and planning cases on behalf of both groups and individuals. See Pascoe and Derker.

Phil is a visiting professor at London Metropolitan University and a visiting fellow at LSE. He was made "Human Rights Lawyer of the Year" by the Joint Liberty and Justice Awards in 2004.

 

Fouzia Javaid, Solicitor

Fouzia completed her training contract at the City firm Cameron Mckenna, and then went on to work at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton as an EU and Competition solicitor, working on both contentious and non contentious work. 

Fouzia has undertaken an LLM in Comparative European and international Law at the European University institute in Florence, and has an LLM from New York University in International Legal Studies, with a particular focus on International Human Rights.  In addition, Fouzia has undertaken voluntary work for several NGOS and charities including the Aire Centre, and the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation based in South Africa. 

At Public Interest Lawyers Fouzia works on cases involving issues of International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law.

 

Jehangir Jilani, Solicitor

Jehangir completed his training contract at the City firm Herbert Smith, where he went on to work as a commercial litigator.  He left commercial practice to read for an LLM in International Human Rights Law at the University of Essex. 

Since then he has worked for several charities and NGOs including REDRESS (an international NGO assisting victims of torture) where he was a Consultant Advocacy Officer promoting the Torture (Damages) Bill. 

At Public Interest Lawyers Jehangir works on cases involving issues of International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law.

 

Gavin Sullivan, Solicitor

Gavin first qualified as a Solicitor in Sydney, Australia where he worked within Community Law Centres, advised in housing law and coordinated a volunteer legal project for monitoring police misconduct at public demonstrations.

Since re-qualifying in the UK, Gavin has specialised in public law and human rights.  He has taught Constitutional and Administrative Law at Birkbeck College, University of London and most recently worked as a Public Law litigator with the Treasury Solicitors.

At Public Interest Lawyers Gavin is engaged in a wide range of (primarily domestic) public law issues  - including environmental, planning, and regulatory challenges.  Gavin is a member of Liberty, Inquest and the Haldane Society and has degrees in Arts and Law (hons) from Macquarie University, Sydney.