Ben Silverstone

Profile

Ben specialises in public and human rights, particularly in the fields of community care and education, and in media law.

Community Care and Health

Ben is regularly instructed in judicial review challenges in the cases relating to community care, education and asylum support. Reported cases before the High Court are: R (W) v Birmingham City Council ~~[2011] EWHC 1147 (Admin)~~ (incompatibility of an adult social care policy with the disability equality duty and the duty to consult), and R (KM) v Cambridgeshire County Council ~~[2010] EWHC 3065 (Admin)~~ (lawfulness of community care provision based in part on a Resource Allocation System assessment) (both led by Ian Wise QC).

Education

Ben has wide-ranging experience in claims for judicial review concerning to school and university education, as well as before various chambers of the First-Tier and Upper Tribunals. He has represented parents in numerous successful challenges before the Special Education Needs and Disability Tribunal.

Media Law and Defamation

Ben is regularly instructed in media cases, advising clients on a range of issues in the fields of defamation, privacy, confidentiality and data protection. He has been instructed by the press in the Court of Protection, in injunctive proceedings before the High Court and in special procedure applications under PACE before the Crown Court and on judicial review. Beyond the domestic jurisdiction, he has drafted submissions in contempt of court proceedings before the High Court and Court of Appeal in Singapore.

Actions Against the Police and Public Authorities

Ben has been instructed on a number of civil claims against public authorities. He is currently instructed as a junior to Richard Hermer QC and Phillippa Kaufmann QC in Smith v Ministry of Defence ~~[2011] EWHC 1676 (QB),~~ a claim in negligence in respect of failures properly to equip and train service personnel prior to combat operations.

Housing and Social Welfare

Ben has been instructed in several housing claims in the County Court, as well as in challenges to welfare benefit decisions in the First-Tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) and in a successful prosecution of a local authority for statutory nuisance.

International Law

Ben was led by Edward Fitzgerald QC in the Privy Council appeal of Rhett Fuller v Attorney-General of Belize ~~[2011] UKPC 23~~ which established the existence of the jurisdiction to stay for abuse of process in proceedings under the Extradition Act 1870. He is currently instructed in a further Privy Council appeal against conviction on a capital charge from Trinidad, also led by Edward Fitzgerald QC. He has also worked on a number of challenges by the Death Penalty Project to death penalty convictions in overseas jurisdictions, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Singapore and Zimbabwe.

Other Serious Criminal Offences

Ben has extensive experience as defence counsel in trials before the Crown Court, magistrates’ court and youth court, as well as in appeals before the Court of Appeal and in an appeal by way of case stated before the Divisional Court.

Administrative and Public Law

Ben’s public law experience lies primarily in the field of community care and education, where he is regularly instructed in judicial review proceedings. Reported cases before the High Court are: R (W) v Birmingham City Council ~~[2011] EWHC 1147 (Admin)~~ (incompatibility of an adult social care policy with the disability equality duty and the duty to consult), and R (KM) v Cambridgeshire County Council ~~[2010] EWHC 3065 (Admin)~~ (lawfulness of community care provision based in part on a Resource Allocation System assessment) (both led by Ian Wise QC). He has also advised in a range of other fields of public law, including in relation to enhanced criminal records certificates, mental health law, prisoners’ rights and welfare benefits.