Martin Westgate

Martin Westgate is a public law specialist who regularly appears in and advises in judicial review applications and statutory appeals. His work covers a wide range of subject areas including employment, housing, travellers, care in the community, benefits, health service provision, prisoners' rights, education, local government and planning. He has lectured on the subject, is a contributor to JR, and co-author of a series of updates on public law for the Legal Action Group.

Recent articles in JR have covered the following subjects: pre-emptive costs orders, the scope of Substantive Legitimate Expectation, Duties to Follow Guidance.

Reported cases of general public law interest include: R v LB Ealing ex p Lewis (Local authority Finance- rent increases); R v LB Kensington & Chelsea ex p Hammell (Interim relief); R v Kensington & Chelsea ex p Ghebregiogis (Costs); R v Secretary of State ex p Ellaway (Prisoners - repatriation of offenders); Surrey CC v Porter (Special educational needs; relevance of resources) R v Islington ex p East (Allocation of local authority grant aid).

The other main areas of his practice are housing and social welfare, employment (with a particular emphasis on discrimination) and medical law. He has extensive experience of group actions most recently in the Norplant litigation. He has recently been instructed on several claims enforcing rights to benefits under health insurance schemes and claims involving patients' rights of access to treatment and benefits. A former Chair of the Free Representation Unit he has for many years been an active volunteer member of the employment unit at Central London Law Centre. He is a member of the management committee of Kings Cross Homelessness Project.

Year of Call

1985

Education

BA (Hons) Jurisprudence First Class, University College Open Scholar, Middle Temple Astbury Scholar

Email Address

m.westgate@doughtystreet.co.uk

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Specialist Teams

Member :

• Employment and Discrimination
• Housing and Social Welfare
• Human Rights
• Prisoner's Rights
• Public and Administrative Law