About Us

Phil Shiner, Supervisor

Phil Shiner leads the team at Public Interest Lawyers. 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 extensively on international and human rights law and has spoken at many international and national conferences on all the areas of law covered in PIL's present work.

In recent years he has acted in some of the most important judicial review cases to be brought in his areas of expertise, including Al-Skeini, Al-Jedda, Gentle v Prime Minister, Gurung and Mohammed, Pascoe, Derker, Al-Sweady, and the Baha Mousa Public Inquiry, to name but a few.  In March 2010, he also led the team to success in the European Court of Human Rights in Al-Saadoon and Mufdhi, in which it was held that the UK's decision to transfer two individuals to the Iraqi authorities - despite High Court and Strasbourg orders requiring the contrary - breached their rights under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.  On 9 June 2010, he will lead the PIL team to Strasbourg for Grand Chamber hearings on Al-Skeini and Al-Jedda.

Phil and his team are currently acting for over 70 former detainees who allege that they or their family members were ill-treated, tortured or killed by UK Forces in Iraq.  The Secretary of State for Defence is now comign under significant pressure to annouce a full public inquiry into the many allegations of systematic abuse.

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.

Daniel Carey, Solicitor

Daniel completed his training contract at City firm Denton Wilde Sapte, and then went on to work for US firm Steptoe and Johnson in Real Estate, Construction and Corporate matters. Daniel carried out pro bono work for the legal charity Reprieve during this time, and later took up a voluntary position at the Lousiana Capital Assistance Center in the US, where he assisted on death row cases. Following this, Daniel worked for a year for the Human Rights NGO Peace Brigades International (PBI) in Guatemala, for which he received the Law Society’s New Solicitor of the Year Award in 2007. Daniel continues to volunteer with PBI.

At Public Interest Lawyers, Daniel works on cases involving issues of International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law, and also assists in relation to the Baha Mousa Public Inquiry.  In Evans, he is currently leading a challenge to the UK's transfer policy in Afghanistan.

In late 2009, Daniel was awarded the Peter Duffy Award for Human Rights in recognition of his "outstanding commitment to human rights" as demonstrated through his work on several leading cases, including Al-Sweady, Al-Haq, Evans and the Baha Mousa Public Inquiry. 

 

Aonghus Kelly, Solicitor

Aonghus completed his studies at University College Cork in Ireland and was admitted as a solicitor and barrister of the High Court of New Zealand in 2005. Having returned to Ireland Aonghus worked as a solicitor at Blake & Kenny Solicitors in Galway and completed an LLM in International Human Rights Law at the Irish Centre for Human Rights in the National University of Ireland, Galway.

Aonghus was admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales in February 2010.

Aonghus is primarily involved in the ongoing Baha Mousa Inquiry and is based permanently in London.

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Tessa Gregory, Solicitor

Tessa completed her training contract in 2007 at Bates, Wells & Braithwaite London LLP where she specialised in Charity and Education law until joining Public Interest Lawyers in February 2009.

Tessa has a longstanding interest in international human rights and has spent time abroad doing capital defence work in the Philippines and investigating human rights abuses in Romania and Nepal. In 2007 she spent a four-month sabbatical working in Kathmandu at an organisation called Advocacy Forum where she investigated and documented cases of torture and disappearance that occurred during the civil war.  Tessa is Vice-Chair of the Solicitors International Human Rights Group (SIHRG) www.sirhg.org.uk and a member of the Haldane Society of lawyers.

At Public Interest Lawyers, Tessa works on cases involving issues related to International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law.  She was involved heavily in PIL's success in Al-Saadoon and Mufdhi before the ECtHR in March 2010.

 

Jim Duffy, Solicitor (Admitted in Scotland)

In 2005, Jim graduated from the University of Glasgow with a First in Law with French and the class prize.  He had previously studied at the Université d’Aix-Marseille.  He completed the Diploma in Legal Practice in 2006 whilst teaching seminars in public law. He has also acted as a research assistant in the preparation of human rights textbooks and in advising the UK Government on appropriate structures and mechanisms for the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights.

 

In 2007, he graduated with an LL.M from the University of Toronto, after being awarded a university fellowship and scholarships from Rotary International and the Clark Foundation.  As a member of the University’s International Human Rights Clinic, Jim acted on behalf of a community of Roma in the Strasbourg case, Tanase and Others v Romania.  With University of Toronto funding, he subsequently worked at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva. 

 

Following a training contract with Shepherd and Wedderburn, Jim acted as a Consultant to the Council of Europe and European Union on a mission to Ukraine aimed at combating ill-treatment in police detention. He joined PIL in 2009 and was recently admitted as a Solicitor and Notary Public in Scotland.  

 

Sam Jacobs, Trainee Solicitor

Sam graduated from The University of Birmingham School of Law in 2006.  He then studied at Butler University in Indianapolis where he spent two years on an athletics scholarship having competed for the Great Britain junior team at the European and World Cross Country Championships. He obtained an M.A in English Literature, focusing on the works of James Joyce and Franz Kafka.

In 2008, Sam returned to law and commenced the Bar Vocational Course at BPP College in London.  Sam had an article published in Volume II of the BPP Human Rights Journal titled, “Can Article 15 of the ECHR both Authorise and Confine Emergency Power?” He completed the Bar Vocational Course in June 2009 and started immediately at Public Interest Lawyers.

At Public Interest Lawyers, Sam has been tempted away from life at the Bar and into the world of International Human Rights Law.

Paul McNab, Practice Manager

Paul joined the firm in January 2009.  Prior to working at Public Interest Lawyers, Paul was the Senior Clerk at Number One Fountain Court.   Following the merger between Number One and St Philips Chambers, he became the senior criminal clerk at St Philips. Before joining chambers, Paul worked for one of Birmingham’s leading criminal law firms as a legal executive dealing with a busy Crown Court caseload.

 

Away from the office, Paul is a keen rugby player who plays for Five Ways Old Edwardians 1st XV as well as coaching at Moseley Rugby Club where his son plays. When he is not on a rugby pitch he can be found at the gym, enjoying outdoor activities or spending time with his family and friends. Paul is planning to do the Three Peaks Challenge in 2010 to raise money for the Parkinson’s disease charity.  This will require him to climb Snowdon, Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike in 24 hours.

Lisa Checkley, Legal Secretary

Kate Hardy, Legal Secretary