Josh has a broad public law practice. Drawing upon his experience in other areas, he brings particular expertise in judicial reviews concerning the Human Rights Act, international law, the Equality Act, and climate change.

Recent instructions include:

• Acting in human rights challenge to the United Kingdom’s climate change framework and targets following the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights’ judgment in Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v Switzerland (App no 53600/20).
• Advising on challenges concerning local authority pension fund investment in companies involved in the commission of serious violations of international law in the occupied Palestinian Territories.
• Acting for legacy benefit claimants in an appeal to the Supreme Court from T and Others v SSWP [2023] EWCA Civ 24, challenging the government’s failure to increase legacy benefits in line with the Universal Credit uplift during the Covid-19 pandemic on the grounds of Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
• Successfully acting as sole counsel for homeless clients in several leading housing needs assessment cases under Part VIII of the Housing Act 1996: R (YR) v London Borough of Lambeth [2023] HLR 16, UO v London Borough of Redbridge [2023] HLR 39; R (UO No.2) v London Borough of Redbridge [2025] HLR 2; R (AN) v London Borough of Barking and Dagenham [2025] EWHC 2265 (Admin); R (MKM) v London Borough of Ealing [2025] EWHC 3182 (Admin).
• Acting for the EHRC in an intervention on the human rights implications of the police use of live facial recognition technology: R (Thompson and Carlo) v Commissioner of the Police of the Metropolis.
• Acting for victims of trafficking in a challenge to the Secretary of State’s arrangements to remove asylum seekers to Rwanda as part of the Migration and Economic Development Partnership.
• Acting for vulnerable consumers in a challenge against the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority and Ofgem’s decisions to increase the energy price cap. The claim settled following the introduction of the energy price guarantee.
• Advising on the legality of the Department of Business and Trade’s licensing and sponsorship of deep-sea mining licences in international waters.

Josh is a contributing author in the upcoming edition of Supperstone, Goudie and Walker: Judicial Review in the chapter on the Human Rights Act 1998.

Josh has a particular specialism in European and international human rights law. He has acted in significant cases before international human rights courts, including multiple appearances before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Josh also has experience in issues of State immunity, Statehood and self-determination, international humanitarian law, international environmental law, State responsibility, and international criminal law.

Recent instructions include:

• Duarte Agostinho & Others v Portugal & 32 Other States (App no 393371/20): Acting for Portuguese children (led by Alison MacDonald KC) before the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR in a challenge to 33 European States' inaction on climate change.
• H.M.M. & Others v Latvia (App no 42165/21): Acting for 26 asylum seekers before the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR in a challenge involving widespread practices of pushbacks of migrants from Latvia to Belarus in a context where Belarus had sought to facilitate border crossings in an attempt to destabilise its neighbours.
• Preparing a communication to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court regarding Microsoft’s alleged aiding and assisting in the commission of war crimes/crimes against humanity in the West Bank and Gaza.
• Preparing a position paper on the legal consequences under international and domestic law in respect of investments under the Local Government Pension Scheme in companies involved in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
• IACtHR Advisory Opinion on the Climate Emergency and Human Rights: Acting in an intervention before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in its advisory opinion regarding the scope of obligations under the American Convention on Human Rights in the context of climate change.
• T & Others v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2023] EWCA Civ 24: Acting in an application to the ECtHR in a challenge to the government’s failure to increase legacy benefits in line with the Universal Credit uplift during the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Buttet v United Kingdom: Assisted Schona Jolly KC before the ECtHR in a challenge regarding the compatibility of rules of State immunity with Article 6 of the ECHR.
• Liu & Others v Norway: Assisted Schona Jolly KC before the ECtHR in a challenge regarding the recognition of Taiwanese nationality, statehood, and Article 8 of the ECHR.

Josh has also advised on human rights and international law in claims in foreign jurisdictions, including in challenges to the construction of a power station on the Israeli/West Bank border, and to oil and gas exploration in the Guyana.

This extensive international experience adds a distinctive dimension to Josh's domestic practice, which often involves complex issues of public international law. For example, Josh is currently advising on human rights-based challenges to the United Kingdom’s climate change framework and targets following the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights’ judgment in Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v Switzerland (App no 53600/20). 

Josh has been instructed in a wide range of civil litigation with a human rights or environmental dimension. He is instructed in complex international group claims before English courts, as well as domestic claims against public authorities and companies. 

Recent instructions include:

• Alame & Others v Shell plc & Another: Representing a Nigerian community of approximately 13,000 individuals in proceedings concerning extensive environmental damage caused by oil spills in the Niger Delta.
• Limbu & Others v Dyson Technology Limited & Others: Representing a group of migrant workers from Nepal and Bangladesh in claims concerning alleged forced labour in a manufacturing supply chain.
• Advising in claims in negligence and public nuisance against corporations with respect to their contributions to climate change.
• Representing members of communities in Malawi and Zambia in a claim against a conservation charity following an elephant relocation project that is alleged to have caused the profound harm to local communities.
• Shell UK Ltd and Fluor Ltd v Greenpeace UK Ltd and Others: Defending Greenpeace from a claim brought by Shell in relation to the boarding of a ship carrying oil drilling equipment.
• Acting in multiple domestic employer liability claims regarding forced labour in the workplace.
• Acting in multiple false imprisonment and Human Rights Act damages claims against the Home Office in the context of immigration detention.
• Acting in multiple Human Rights Act, Equality Act and negligence claims against local authorities for mistreatment of children in need/looked after children.
• Advising trade unions on mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation, and corporate accountability frameworks in global value chains.

Across his public, international, and civil practices, Josh has a particular specialism in climate change and environmental issues. His experience in climate and environmental litigation cuts across a variety of different areas of law, including the ECHR, tort, and international environmental law. Central to Josh’s specialism in climate change and environmental litigation is an ability to engage with complex scientific issues and expert evidence.

Recent instructions include:

• Duarte Agostinho & Others v Portugal & 32 Other States (App no 393371/20): Acting for six Portuguese children (led by Alison MacDonald KC) before the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR in a challenge to 33 European States' inaction on climate change.
• Advising on human rights challenge to the United Kingdom’s climate change framework and targets following the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights’ judgment in Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v Switzerland (App no 53600/20).
• Alame & Others v Shell plc & Another: Representing a Nigerian community of approximately 13,000 individuals in proceedings concerning extensive environmental damage caused by oil spills in the Niger Delta.
• Advising in claims in negligence and public nuisance against corporations with respect to their contributions to climate change.
• IACtHR Advisory Opinion on the Climate Emergency and Human Rights: Acting in an intervention before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in its advisory opinion regarding the scope of obligations under the American Convention on Human Rights in the context of climate change.
• Advising on the legality of the Department of Business and Trade’s licensing and sponsorship of deep-sea mining licences in international waters.
• Advising in Thomas & Quadad v Attorney General before the Guyanese Constitutional Court in a challenge to oil and gas exploration based on the constitutional right to a healthy environment.
• Representing members of communities in Malawi and Zambia in a claim against a conservation charity following an elephant relocation project that is alleged to have caused the profound harm to local communities.

Josh also has experience in protest cases representing climate activists in civil claims brought by carbon majors. He acted in Shell UK Ltd and Fluor Ltd v Greenpeace UK Ltd and Others, defending Greenpeace from a claim brought by Shell in relation to the boarding of a ship carrying oil drilling equipment.

In his public and civil law practice, Josh often acts for individuals in discrimination challenges under the Equality Act 2010 and Article 14 of the ECHR. For example:

• Acting for legacy benefit claimants in an appeal to the Supreme Court from T and Others v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2023] EWCA Civ 24, in a challenge to the government’s failure to increase legacy benefits in line with the Universal Credit uplift during the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Acting and advising on challenges to local authority social housing allocation schemes on the grounds of discrimination (under the Equality Act and Article 14 of the ECHR).
• Acting for victims of trafficking in a challenge to the Secretary of State’s arrangements to remove asylum seekers to Rwanda as part of the Migration and Economic Development Partnership contrary to Article 4 of the ECHR with Article 14 of the ECHR.
• Acting for vulnerable consumers in a challenge against Ofgem’s decisions to increase the energy price cap without having conducted an impact assessment. This involved a ground concerning reasonable adjustments for vulnerable disabled claimants.
• Advising in a systemic challenge to the widespread failure of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to refer benefit claimants for workplace capability assessments on the grounds of frustration of statutory purpose, Tameside, and A1P1 and Article 8 with Article 14 of the ECHR.
• Acting in the partly successful disability discrimination appeal in Pipe v Coventry University [2023] EAT 73; [2023] IRLR 745, which concerned the application of PhD/research promotion requirements to persons with ADHD. The appeal to the Court of Appeal was unsuccessful [2024] EWCA Civ 91.

Josh has delivered advanced training to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, law firms, and NGOs in a seminar entitled “Discrimination and Public Law: Using the Equality Act 2010 and the Human Rights Act 1998 – When, Why and How?”.

Josh regular undertakes judicial reviews concerning homelessness, social housing, and social welfare. Recent instructions include:

• Successfully acting as sole counsel for homeless clients in several leading housing needs assessment cases under Part VIII of the Housing Act 1996: R (YR) v London Borough of Lambeth [2023] HLR 16, UO v London Borough of Redbridge [2023] HLR 39; R (UO No.2) v London Borough of Redbridge [2025] HLR 2; R (AN) v London Borough of Barking and Dagenham [2025] EWHC 2265 (Admin); R (MKM) v London Borough of Ealing [2025] EWHC 3182 (Admin).
• Acting for legacy benefit claimants in an appeal to the Supreme Court from T and Others v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2023] EWCA Civ 24, in a challenge to the government’s failure to increase legacy benefits in line with the Universal Credit uplift during the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Acting and advising on challenges to local authority social housing allocation schemes on the grounds of discrimination (under the Equality Act and Article 14 of the ECHR) and the reasonable preference duty under s.166A of the Housing Act 1996.
• Advising in a systemic challenge to the widespread failure of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (SSWP) to refer benefit claimants for workplace capability assessments.
• Successfully acting in a permission hearing in R (FG) v London Borough of Lambeth (AC-2023-LON-003792), challenging the local authority’s assessment of the claimant’s eligibility for support under the Care Act.
• Acting for two children asylum seekers in a challenge to a local authority’s failure to provide access to education.
• Acting for children in challenges under the Children Act 1989, both in relation to accommodation support under s.20 and in financial support under s.17.

Josh is often instructed in judicial reviews and civil claims on behalf of victims of trafficking and immigration detainees. Recent instructions include:

• Acting for victims of trafficking in a challenge to the Secretary of State’s arrangements to remove asylum seekers to Rwanda as part of the Migration and Economic Development Partnership.
• Acting and advising in false imprisonment and Human Rights Act damages claims against the Home Office in the context of immigration detention.
• Acting and attaining settlement for a victim of trafficking in a High Court damages claim regarding the Home Office’s delay in granting leave to remain and providing a biometric residence permit under Article 8 ECHR, and Article 8 with Article 14 ECHR.
• Acting for victims of trafficking in a challenge to negative reasonable grounds decisions under the National Referral Mechanism.

Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours), University of Birmingham, 2017

• JF Gregg Prize for Best Law Student, 2017
• Sir Henry Barber Law Scholarship, 2017

Master’s in Public International Law (Cum Laude), University of Amsterdam, 2018

• Valedictorian Speech, 2018

Bar Practice Training Course (Outstanding), City Law School, University of London, 2020 

• BPTC Scholarship, 2019
• Queen's Scholar, Middle Temple, 2019

Josh has advanced intermediate proficiency in Spanish.

Rachel Barrett and Joshua Jackson, ‘The Human Rights Act and Judicial Review’ in Sir Michael Supperstone, James Goudie KC, and Sir Paul Walker (eds.), Judicial Review (7th Edition, 2024, Lexis Nexis). 

Schona Jolly KC and Joshua Jackson, ‘Buttet v United Kingdom: A Missed Opportunity for the Court to Clarify the Relationship between State Immunity and Article 6 of the ECHR in the Context of Employment’ (2022) 33(5) European Human Rights Law Review 469. 

Catherine Casserley and Joshua Jackson, ‘Discrimination as a Public Law Wrong: Using the Equality Act and Art 14 in Judicial Review' (Training, November 2021). 

Joshua Jackson, ‘Pathways to Justice in a Globalised World: An Assessment of the Justiciability of the Extraterritorial Obligations in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights' (2018) Amsterdam Center for International Law No. 2018-09. 

Josh is from Northern Ireland. His family ran a cross-community youth club in an interface area in inner-city Belfast during the Troubles and have a history of service to those less fortunate than themselves. In line with his background, Josh has a deep-seated commitment to poverty alleviation, equality, and human rights protections. He volunteers at a food bank in his local community on the weekends and is involved in numerous human rights and civil society organisations. 

Prior to becoming a barrister, Josh worked as a project manager at Action4Justice, where he helped develop access to justice platforms in different countries. Previously, he spent a year as an intern in Greenpeace International's legal team. He has also gained experience with the UN and the Global Legal Action Network.