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Aswini is an expert in human rights, particularly in relation to vulnerable adults and children. She appears in courts and tribunals at all levels.

With over thirty years in practice, Aswini inevitably brings a broad span of expertise to bear on her work. New ideas and endeavours continue to enthuse her. She currently leads chambers as chair of the Management Board.

Aswini has focused on the rights of people rendered vulnerable in society, including children, adults with mental disabilities, victims of abuse, coercive and controlling behaviour and exploitation. This choice has been foundational in developing her multi-disciplinary practice before courts and tribunals at all levels, across many areas of civil litigation, inquiries, inquests, regulatory work, international law, and mediation. She is motivated by a commitment to access to justice, primarily to support the needs of clients exposed to trauma in a variety of different contexts. She enjoys working collaboratively and is an enthusiastic proponent of what mediation can offer by way of sustainable conflict resolution.

Aswini’s extensive experience of all matters related to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) started with the publication of a practitioners’ guide to coincide with the Act coming into force in 2008, and an existing expertise in mental health law. Her cases reflect the gamut of welfare and serious medical treatment issues. The intersection of the MHA and MCA and deprivation of liberty are special interests, and she chaired the MHA/MCA intersection topic group for the Independent Mental Health Act Review chaired by Professor Sir Simon Wessely. She acts in complex cases in which she strives to protect fundamental human rights, and promote care in the least restrictive environment, to enrich lives, ensuring proper assessment and participation. Delighting in getting to the nub of scientific and medical issues, her experience and empathetic manner make her highly suitable for cases involving families dealing with difficult medical issues or at the end of a loved one’s life. 

Her expertise derives also from litigating cases concerning abuse, including the development of the law of tort against state and non-state defendants, and reaches back to a long-running group action, which formed part of a raft of cases spanning the changes in the law relating to limitation and vicarious liability to allow such claims to succeed. These cases concerned institutional physical and sexual abuse of boys by staff in children’s homes during the 1970s and 1980s. Other cases have engaged the liability of state or religious bodies for the abuses experienced by those in state care or otherwise in need of protection from abuse, through the application of the common law and the Human Rights Act. Compensation is usually sought additionally for a complex of psychiatric disorders consequential upon abuse, for example, depression, psychosis, personality disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, dissociative disorder, or gender dysphoria. Aswini’s familiarity with mental health issues provides heft in understanding the nuances of expert evidence in this and many other areas of practice.

Aswini uses her expertise in abuse and safeguarding in other areas, for example, the responsible use of AI in the development of smart toys, and the digital rights of children. She was invited as a judge to the Smart Toy Awards 2022, organised by the World Economic Forum following the development of its toolkit for designing trustworthy AI for children and young people, and in collaboration with esteemed associate colleague Kay Firth-Butterfield. 

Another example is sport. Aswini has conducted litigation on behalf of an apprentice footballer alleging locker room abuse by first team players, against a former premier league club, and acted for a major sports governing body in an investigation scrutinising coaching practices in an elite sporting environment.

Inquiries are a forum in which Aswini thrives, and which harness her many areas of expertise and skill as both neutral chair and counsel. Analysing swathes of documentation and identifying key themes takes advantage of her keen forensic eye for detail and coherent strategy. She chaired and authored reports into six separate independent inquiries into homicides by people within mental health services under health service guidance. These were rooted in sensitivity to families and staff in a multi-agency setting and produced with speed and efficiency. As counsel, her experience stretches back to the second Ashworth Special Hospital inquiry. More recently, she has acted in numerous strands in the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA) and also the Covid 19 public inquiry.

In inquests, Aswini represents families of the deceased, usually victims of domestic abuse, drug users, or with mental disability, whether in state detention or elsewhere. Her skilful approach to expert evidence shines: most recently in relation to causation evidence related to ‘acute behavioural disturbance’ and prone restraint in a police cell. In another notable case, she was able to persuade a Coroner to make a series of key findings including of the link between suicidality and domestic abuse/coercive and controlling behaviour, and failures of coordinated working by agencies, including of police training.

International law, such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), has been central to her thinking and work in mental health and mental capacity for many years. She acted in the first domestic case in which the court expressly relied on the UNCRPD to expand rights enabling a public mental health tribunal hearing. She has spoken at conferences on disability rights, e.g. for Lawasia in Cambodia in 2018. She has worked with NGOs on mental disability rights, assisting with a draft amicus brief about psychiatric detention before the Ugandan High Court, and in interventions before the European Court of Human Rights, including on the Oviedo Convention (Bioethics), and the UN Human Rights Committee.

She has a special interest in human rights and the rule of law, particularly in South Asia, and also of the mental well-being and safety of human rights defenders through her work at the Bar Human Rights Committee. In 2024, she was a member of an independent delegation of international lawyers to Nepal to investigate and report on transitional justice and other human rights issues in a post-conflict context. She is a trustee of iProbono, a charity focusing on promoting human rights globally. She is a trained mediator with the London School of Mediation.
 
She sits as a part-time judge in the First Tier Tribunal for Mental Health and in the Court of Protection. She is deputy chair of the appeals panel of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. She was deputy chair and chair of the investigatory committee of the General Pharmaceutical Council between 2014 and 2020.

She chaired the Human Rights Lawyers Association from January 2021 to 2023, and was a vice chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee until December 2023. She is currently chair of chambers’ management board.

What people are saying about Aswini

Aswini has been ranked in Chambers and Partners and the Legal 500 for many years:

Legal 500, 2023

“Aswini is a persuasive and impactful advocate, and an excellent lawyer.” 

“..incredibly knowledgeable in all aspects of the CoP, Her experience and knowledge of mental health law is an asset to her practice. She is a calm and measured presence in the courtroom and can deal with complex issues with skill and care.” 

Chambers and Partners, 2023

“…is extremely good to work with, very fair and very approachable.”

“She is very good strategically and has a very clear sense of direction.”

“…exceptional attention to detail. Her written and oral submissions are fantastic.”

“…a very intelligent and effect style of advocacy.”

“She listens well so she can see how to master her argument and where needed, whether in court, at a meeting or in mediations.”

Previously:

“A passionate and intellectually powerful advocate who fights hard for her clients.”

"Aswini is a very safe pair of hands. [She] is extremely knowledgeable." 

"She is a great leader and really led the team on various aspects of the case. She liaised heavily with clients and other stakeholders and her knowledge of the evidence and the public inquiry process was hugely impressive." 

“She is well respected for her ability to engage with difficult courtroom topics in a calm and persuasive manner. . . As astute as they come in Court of Protection matters. Her ability to cut through to the heart of complex and difficult cases is remarkable, as is her ability to turn around large volumes of work in very short periods of time. The safest of safe hands." 

"She's very persuasive and is a very clear advocate.” 

"She is a thoughtful, dynamic lawyer and a formidable advocate. Her attention to the detail of a case is second to none." 

Mental Health and Court of Protection

Aswini is known for her expertise in promoting the fundamental rights of people with mental disabilities in many different areas of practice, including internationally. 

Recent and notable work includes: 

  • Acting for the mother of a young woman with autism at the end stages of her life following a catastrophic cardiac arrest leaving her on life support. The case involved examining medical evidence on identifying when death has occurred.
  • Acting for the son of an elderly lady of Italian and Swiss nationality arguing for British residence in order to engage the jurisdiction of the Court of Protection under schedule 3 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 for protective orders, in circumstances where she had been moved to the Bahamas.
  • Being instructed as lead counsel on behalf of Roy and Pam Hickmott in relation to ending the long-standing detention under the Mental Health Act of their son, Tony, who has a diagnosis of autism, in contravention of the Transforming Care policy. Tony has been detained for 20 years.
  • Being instructed by Respond, a leading national charity providing therapeutic and support services to children, young people, and adults with learning disabilities and/or autism, to intervene before the Supreme Court in A Local Authority v JB (by his litigation friend, the Official Solicitor) [2021] UKSC 52. This case considered the concept of mental capacity under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 when assessing whether a person has capacity to have sex.
  • Acting in a case concerning the welfare, including sexual contact, between a married couple. This case raised issues of the lawfulness of the care plans supporting them to have sexual contact in the aftermath of a Court of Appeal judgment, and their respective mental capacity to engage in sex following the SC judgment above in JB.
  • Instructed by Mind, leading national mental health charity, to intervene in the Supreme Court in the appeal in PJ v Welsh Ministers [2018] UKSC 66, a case concerning community treatment orders and deprivation of liberty under the Mental Health Act 1983 (as amended).
  • Acting for the mother of a young man with severe learning difficulties who wanted him to be supported to visit his family home. In N v ACCG and others [2017] AC 549 the issue for the Supreme Court concerned the powers of the Court of Protection (COP) because the relevant public authority was only willing to provide one option for care in N's best interest. The appeal also concerned the jurisdiction of the COP faced with a determination under the HRA 1998.
  • Acting in North Yorkshire v MAG [2016] EWCOP 5, an appeal considering issues arising from Re N (an Adult) and the availability of options against the backdrop of a willing public authority, delays in the provision of suitable accommodation, the suitability of conditions of deprivation of liberty, and the violation of article 5 ECHR.
  • Acting for PA, a young Irish adult detained in a hospital in England for mental health treatment. This case considered the obligations of an English court under schedule 3 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to recognise a protective measure for the detention imposed by an Irish court, and the reciprocal obligations of states under the Hague Convention on the International Protection of Adults. Health Service Executive for Ireland v PA and others [2015] 3 WLR 1923.
  • Acting for MK, a young woman with autism and learning disability unlawfully detained in care by the local authority. Obtaining findings of violations of articles 5 (liberty) and 8 (private and family life) of the ECHR from the court and a judgment highly critical of the conduct of the local authority based on evidence elicited under cross examination. Advised and negotiated settlement of damages claim. Somerset County Council v MK [2014] EWCOP B25.
  • Securing liberty for Steven Neary, a young man with autism and learning disability who was kept in respite care against his and his father’s wishes in London Borough of Hillingdon v Steven Neary (by his litigation friend the Official Solicitor) and Mark Neary [2011] EWHC 1377 (COP), 4 All ER 584. The court made declarations of unlawfulness under articles 5 (liberty) and 8 (private and family life) of the ECHR, and gave guidance on the approach to best interests assessments under schedule A1 of the MCA; see also the decision regarding press reporting of the case, one of the first to name the person at the centre of Court of Protection proceedings: [2011] EWHC 413.
  • Acting successfully for AH, a patient detained for many years at Broadmoor Hospital under restrictions of the MHA. AH wanted to publicise his plight at a public mental health tribunal where the ordinary rule is that such hearings are held in private. A public hearing was directed. The judgment provided set guidelines for such applications and was the first domestic case to rely on the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons (UNCRPD): AH v West London Mental Health NHS Trust and another [2010] UKUT 264 (AAC) and [2011] UKUT 74 (AAC).
  • Acting for media organisations resisting an attempt by the Official Solicitor on behalf of E to restrain the broadcast of a TV programme about the care and services provided for an incapacitated woman with multiple personalities. E v Channel 4 and News International Limited [2005] EWCH Fam, 2 FLR 913, EMLR 30.
Inquiries

Aswini has significant experience of acting as chair and counsel in inquiries and investigations. 

Recent and notable work includes: 

  • Leading a team acting for a consortium of migrant workers in module 10 (societal impact) of the Covid 19 public inquiry.
  • Lead counsel of a team until October 2024 for a core participant (CP) in the healthcare module (M3) of the public inquiry into the Covid 19 pandemic.
  • Leading a counsel team for British Gymnastics, the regulatory body for gymnastics in this country, in an independent review into coaching abuses (The Whyte Review). This concerned complex issues of safeguarding, data access, regulatory mechanisms and responses, evidential requirements, and submissions.
  • Chairing six independent homicide inquiries commissioned by various health authorities pursuant to health service guidance (HSG(94)27). The homicides were committed by patients within specialist mental health services, and required sensitive investigation through interview with the perpetrator, family and staff. She authored six published reports into the same between 1997 and 2006.
  • Acting for CPs in four strands of investigation before the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA): 
     
    • Representing the Child Migrants Trust, a small charity protecting the interests of British children migrated under a HM Government policy ‘populate the White British Empire’ between the 1940s and 1970s without parental consent and into conditions of sexual abuse and often of cruelty amounting to torture and slavery. Government accountability for abuse, cruelty, and brutality at the hands of institutions sending and supposedly caring for the children was achieved, together with a long-awaited compensation scheme for the abuse, dislocation, and loss of identity suffered by thousands of children, now mostly ageing or deceased adults. 
       
    • Representing the British Council in the investigation into the sexual abuse overseas of children by British nationals, or ‘sex tourism’. The Inquiry’s report was published on 6 January 2020. This concerned the laws available to prevent sex tourism and the debarring and vetting schemes available to employers overseas to detect applications for employment with children of people with a history of sexual and other offending. 
       
    • In the accountability and reparation strand, representing an individual who had endured years within a group action (AB and others), including three High Court trials and two Court of Appeal outings, and was believed by two High Court judges, but had still received no compensation. This strand looked at reform of limitation laws and redress schemes for survivors of child sexual abuse in institutions. Aswini made strong submissions on the challenges faced by claimants and their lawyers in achieving compensation for non-recent abuse through civil litigation. She sought to introduce ideas of restorative justice to broaden the options for a flexible redress scheme for this special category of vulnerable claimant.
       
    • In the Lambeth Council strand, acting for a whistle-blower who made strenuous efforts to secure a contemporary investigation into the sexual abuse of children within children’s homes, related to corruption in the Council and police. Also acted for an individual who was sexually abused in a Lambeth-run children’s home. 
       
  • R(on the application of Mousa) v Secretary of State for Defence [2011] EWCA civ 1334: Intervened on behalf of the REDRESS Trust in an application for an independent public inquiry into the torture of Iraqi detainees imprisoned in Iraq by the British military. The intervention drew on standards of independence set in international human rights instruments and cases.
  • Junior counsel for Ashworth Special Hospital in a public inquiry into the personality disorder unit.
Inquests

Aswini has acted in inquests throughout her career.

Recent and notable work includes:

  • Acting for the family of Jessie Laverack, who took her own life following domestic abuse and coercive control by a former partner. The Coroner made wide-ranging recommendations following findings of systemic failures of multi-agency working by relevant authorities and based upon recent research linking domestic abuse and suicide. Settling a claim for damages under the HRA.
  • Instructed by the family of a woman with significant physical disabilities, whose death followed a history known to agencies of domestic abuse and coercive control .
  • Instructed for the family of a vulnerable young child with a diagnosis of autism, a history of self-harm, bullying, and a recent victim of a serious sexual offence.
  • Acting for the family of Carl Fullalove, who died following restraint by the police in the context of ‘acute behavioural disturbance’ and prone restraint in a police cell. Settling a claim for damages under the HRA. 
Actions for Damages, including Human Rights Act 1998 claims

Aswini has extensive experience of litigating cases engaging the liability of the state or religious bodies for abuse experiences while in state care or otherwise in need of protection from abuse through the application of the common law and the Human Rights Act (HRA). 

Recent and notable work includes:

  • Acting in a claim for a woman rendered vulnerable through domestic abuse and rape, alleging sexual abuse against priests (granthis) in a Gurdwara.
  • Intervening on behalf of two NGOs in the Supreme Court in Poole Borough Council v GN (through his litigation friend the Official Solicitor) and CN [2019] UKSC 25, concerning the liability in tort of local authorities who failed to protect children at risk of or subject to exploitation or abuse.
  • Acting in various claims under the common law and/or the HRA for failure to protect children in need, testing decision in Poole above.
  • London Borough of Hillingdon v Steven Neary (by his litigation friend the Official Solicitor) and Mark Neary[2011] EWHC 1377 (COP), 4 All ER 584: The court found that Steven, a young man with autism and severe learning disability, was unlawfully detained in violation of articles 5 (liberty) and 8 ECHR (private and family life) and that he should have been returned to his home 13 months before he was. Damages claim settled and approved by court for £35,000, the highest HRA damages awarded in this context at that date.
  • Somerset County Council v MK[2014] EWCOP B25: Acted for MK by her litigation friend the Official Solicitor, seeking and obtaining findings of violations of articles 5 and 8 ECHR for unlawfully keeping MK in respite care against her family’s and her wishes. Claim for damages pursued under the HRA.
  • AB and others v Nugent Care Society:Institutional abuse group action involving three trial and two Court of Appeal hearings, which developed the law on limitation post-A v Hoare. Concerned the physical and sexual abuse of boys in children’s homes during the 1970s and 80s by staff, leading to psychiatric damage, especially post-traumatic stress disorder: [2006] EWHC 2986; [2009] EWHC 4812; [2010] PIQR P3 (CA); and [2010] EWHC 1005 (QB). Claimants won damages after trial on limitation and liability. Group settled.
  • Settling claims against Father Hudson Homes for non-recent child abuse. Settling claims in assault and misfeasance in public office for abuse relating to children’s homes and local authority. Complex claims on causation of damage involving, gender dysphoria, schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety.
  • Blackstock v Stoke City Football Club and Fox[2014]: Case about ritual bullying and sexual humiliation of an apprentice footballer in the mid-1980s by first-team players. Aswini successfully argued the limitation issue, allowing the case to proceed to a full trial.
International Human Rights

Aswini’s interests cover all areas of fundamental rights, and in particular the rights of persons with disabilities, children, and women, and the rule of law, notably in South Asia. She has a special interest in the well-being and safety of human rights defenders. 

Recent and notable work includes: 

  • Involved in project work in the South Asia region, including producing the ‘Diminishing Democracy in South Asia’ series of webinars for the Bar Human Rights Committee.
  • Member of an independent delegation of lawyers to Nepal in 2024 producing a report on transitional justice, including on conflict-related sexual violence and independence of the judiciary.
  • Member of an advisory panel to the Yazidi Justice Committee, which has been investigating allegations of genocide committed against the Yazidis from early 2013 by the armed group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), in the Syrian Arab Republic, and the Republic of Iran.
  • Drafting interventions on behalf of Validity, an international NGO dedicated to disability rights, before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and Human Rights Committee. Cases concerning legal capacity and the right to vote; consent and psychiatric treatment; and use of least-severe measures and least restriction in community settings.
  • Assisting in drafting an amicus brief in relation to international law standards for psychiatric detention before the Ugandan High Court.
  • Drafting an intervention with Validity on the interpretation of the Oviedo Convention before the ECtHR in relation to an advisory opinion requested by the Council of Europe’s Committee on Bioethics.
  • MS v UK [2012] 55 EHRR 23. An important decision of the European Court of Human Rights, holding that the detention of a mentally ill man in a police cell for 72 hours without medical attention violated his rights under the ECHR article 3 prohibition on torture. The applicant received 3,000 Euros. 
Publications
  • Wrote Doughty Street Insight articles on Covid-19 regulations in 2020.
  • Contributing author to Lewis & Buchan: Clinical Negligence—A Practical Guide, published by Bloomsbury in 2019. Chapters on medical treatment of adults and children without capacity, and the Court of Protection.
  • Consultant editor, Halsbury’s Laws of England: Mental Health and Capacity, Volumes published in 2013 and 2004.
  • “Limitation in historic child abuse cases post Hoare: the cart before the horse”, PI Focus, The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), December 2010.
  • “Safeguards for informal patients”, Journal of Mental Health Law, vol. 20 (2010), p. 71. (Part of a special issue entitled, “A model law fusing incapacity and mental health legislation—is it viable; is it advisable?”).
  • Chapter on mental health in Crime and Human Rights, published by OUP in December, 2009.
  • Lead author of Butterworths New Law Guide: Mental Capacity Act 2005, published by LexisNexis in April, 2008.
  • Contributor to “International Criminal Court's Trust Fund for Victims: Analysis and options for the development of further criteria for the operation of the trust fund for victims”, a discussion document published by Redress in December 2003.
  • Author of six reports published following independent inquiries into homicides by patients within mental health services.