She has more than 30 years’ experience of prison law, and she has acted for prisoners in a wide range of judicial review proceedings, including challenges to parole proceedings; security classification; oral hearings for Category A prisoners; eligibility for Release on Temporary Licence; denial of medical treatment and other challenges to conditions & facilities; discrimination; and access to visits and lawyers. She has also represented prisoners in private law claims involving assault; negligence; misfeasance in public office; discrimination (disability, racial, gender, and sexuality); and obligations under the Human Rights Act. 

Successful cases include:

• R (MP) v Secretary of State for Justice [2012] EWHC 214, holding that the Secretary of State’s interpretation of his policy on eligibility for Childcare Resettlement Leave for prisoners who are sole carers of children was unlawful; that Article 8 was engaged by the decision; and that the interests of the children must be considered in resettlement leave decisions; 

• R (Longmire) v Secretary of State for Justice [2011] EWHC 1488, concerning oral hearings in categorisation review for Category A prisoners; 

• R (Kebilene) v Secretary of State for Justice, concerning the legality of holding an administrative detainee in Category A conditions at HMP Belmarsh; 

• R (Khan) v Secretary of State for Justice, where the unlawfulness of the then-existing policy on calculation of eligibility for release on temporary licence for prisoners serving a default term was conceded; and 

• R v Pitchfork [2009] EWCA Crim 1231, concerning tariff reduction for exceptional progress. 

Quincy has an extensive civil practice covering all aspects of police misconduct and public law policing issues, including detention issues, representing victims of trafficking, and holding police accountable for the improper retention and misuse of personal data. Her particular interest in civil liberties and the right to protest is discussed below. She is currently instructed at the Undercover Policing Inquiry on behalf of three non-state core participants whose justice campaigns were spied on by undercover police officers. 

Quincy has successfully acted for claimants in actions against the police and prison authorities for false imprisonment and malicious prosecution; assault; negligence; misfeasance in public office; discrimination issues (racial, disability, gender, and sexuality); and under the Equality Act and the Human Rights Act. She also acts for trafficking victims and immigration detainees in claims against the Home Office. 

Quincy has advised in numerous cases involving data protection, principally within the criminal justice context but also in cases related to the misuse of private information by state and private bodies. This includes claims arising from Operation Elveden, in which corrupt police officers sold private information of high-profile individuals to newspapers. 

Within the criminal justice context, Quincy has acted in judicial review and private law proceedings concerning the liability of police, judicial, and prison authorities for inaccurate data held on the PNC, court, and prison records; inaccurate disclosure to Social Services; and disclosure of the criminal convictions of a juvenile in their care, raising issues of the interplay between the Data Protection Act and duties under the Children’s Act. She has also acted for prisoners in numerous judicial review proceedings concerning security categorisation and subject access disclosure. She is frequently involved in cases involving Enhanced Criminal Record Certificate disclosure to employers. 

Information obtained through the Freedom of Information Act has played a crucial role in Quincy’s judicial review work. In one case, tailored FOI requests demonstrated that a criminal offence created by secondary legislation had been enacted in error, leading to the resulting regulations being quashed. 

She co-authored with Keir Starmer KC Criminal Justice, Police Powers & Human Rights and was responsible for writing the chapters on the collection and retention of personal data; surveillance; the investigation of electronic data; and the interception of communications. 

Quincy’s interest in international criminal law began in the early years of her practice when the International Tribunals for Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda were established. She took a year out of practice to study for a master’s degree in international criminal law. She subsequently appeared as defence counsel before the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, where she was also briefed to act as an amicus to the Appeal Chamber. She has a particular interest in transitional justice in post-conflict societies and has worked for the (then) Department for International Development as a senior criminal justice consultant in Kosovo. She has conducted human rights law training and seminars for government departments and senior police officers in the UK and for judges, lawyers, and prison officials in Sierra Leone, Botswana, Cameroon, and Turkey. 

Quincy has an in-depth knowledge and working experience of Caribbean constitutional law, with a particular emphasis on the death penalty. She has appeared in many of the leading cases in this area at the Privy Council, including:

• Thomas & Hilaire v AG Trinidad & Tobago [2000] 2 A.C. 1, holding that it is unconstitutional to execute a prisoner while he has an outstanding application to an international human rights body; and 

• Neville Lewis v AG Jamaica [2001] 2 A.C. 50, holding that the exercise of the prerogative of mercy is subject to natural justice, allegations of unconstitutional mistreatment must be determined with oral evidence, and all proceedings must be concluded within five years, or else execution violates the constitutional prohibition on inhuman and degrading treatment.

Quincy also spent six months in Trinidad working on behalf of death row inmates. 

Quincy has successfully acted in many criminal cases involving political protest, including representing the Greenpeace activists who were acquitted of causing criminal damage to Kingsnorth power station with the first successful use of a “climate change defence” (R v Hall & Others) and those acquitted of public nuisance for boarding a tanker laden with GM animal feed (R v Ayliffe & Others). She also successfully represented anti-war protesters acquitted of causing criminal damage to B-52 bombers at RAF Fairford (R v Olditch & Pritchard). 

Quincy has successfully acted on behalf of many criminal defendants in challenges to the compatibility of criminal law and procedure with human rights law by way of Judicial Review and Case Stated applications to the High Court, particularly in cases involving protest. However, she also successfully challenged the legality of an amendment to the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981, which had created a criminal offence in error by secondary legislation  R (Dodsworth) v DEFRA & CPS.