Stephanie has a particular specialism and interest in cases relating to the prison system and prison settings. She has experience of public law challenges, civil claims and in-prison hearings.

Recent public law work as sole counsel includes:

• Pre-action work on a challenge to a refusal to transfer a prisoner out of a prison following a violent attack. The prison agreed to a transfer a matter of hours before the claim was issued.

• A challenge on behalf of a prisoner refused release by the Parole Board during the period in which witnesses were prevented from making recommendations to the panel. The claim was settled in the Claimant’s favour.

• A challenge to a refusal to hold an oral hearing to review the Claimant’s security categorisation. Following issue, the Claimant was downgraded at his next review.

• A contemplated challenge to a decision by the Secretary of State for Justice to reject a recommendation by the Parole Board to transfer a prisoner to open conditions. Following pre-action correspondence, the Defendant conceded and agreed to re-take the decision.

Stephanie acted for the Claimant in R (Dich) v Parole Board [2023] 1 WLR 4287 (led by Jude Bunting KC). The Court clarified an important aspect of how the Parole Board’s statutory release test is applied to determinate sentence prisoners, holding that the Board’s guidance was unlawful.

Stephanie has experience of in-prison hearings, including Mother and Baby Unit (“MBU”) Boards and Category A reviews. She recently represented a client in a successful internal appeal against the denial of a place in a prison’s MBU.

She regularly advises third sector organisations on prison law matters and delivers training on prison law.

Previously, during her pupillage at Doughty Street, Stephanie assisted Jude Bunting KC across a wide range of prison law matters spanning judicial review challenges and advisory work, including R (Austin) v Parole Board [2022] 1 WLR 2489 and R (Zaman) v Secretary of State for Justice [2022] EWHC 188 (Admin).

Stephanie sits on the Executive Committee of the Association of Prison Lawyers. She was a member of the sub-group examining detention settings in JUSTICE’s Working Party on Outsourcing and Administrative Justice.

Away from law, Stephanie is a trustee of Spark Inside, a charity providing coaching to young people in prisons. Prior to the Bar, she worked at the Howard League for Penal Reform. Stephanie’s prison law practice is informed by her experience of policy and advocacy work relating to the prison system.

Stephanie practises in public law.   

In her prison law practice, Stephanie has been instructed unled in public law matters relating to re-categorisation, open transfer, Article 3 violations and parole (detailed above). Stephanie acted for the Claimant in R (Dich) v Parole Board [2023] 1 WLR 4287 (led by Jude Bunting KC). She regularly advises charities on public and administrative law matters relating to prisons.

Stephanie has experience of crime-related public law. She assisted with the Supreme Court case of PWR v DPP [2022] 1 WLR 78, which concerned the correct interpretation of an offence under the Terrorism Act 2000. Stephanie has advised on challenging CPS decision-making. She has assisted on several cases concerning the policing and enforcement of Covid restrictions.

Stephanie’s broader public law experience includes:

• Successfully acting for an interested party in contemplated proceedings related to the challenge of an investigation by a professional regulator.   

• Advising on the human rights compliance of proposed policy and legislative reforms.

• Being part of the counsel team representing intervenors in the judicial review by the Scottish Government of the first ever use of Section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998 to block legislation.

Stephanie practises in media and information law.

Stephanie has a particular interest in open justice matters and has appeared unled for media organisations in the magistrate’s court and Crown Court. Recent experience includes:

• Representing documentary-makers Atticus in a successful opposed application to lift a reporting restriction under s.45 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999, in order to permit the screening of their documentary about domestic abuse on Channel 5.

• A successful opposed application for access to court documents (as reported in the FT Magazine).

Stephanie has assisted Jude Bunting KC on open justice cases in the employment tribunal, family and civil courts. This included Guardian News and Media’s challenge before the Court of Appeal concerning media access to a hearing about the Duke of Edinburgh’s will.

More broadly, Stephanie advises Claimants and Defendants on media law matters. She has experience of working on media law cases raising issues of commercial law.  

Stephanie is currently a duty lawyer at two national newspapers and has completed a short secondment at a third.  

She has experience assisting on cases about surveillance, protest and criminal record deletion.

Stephanie represents families at inquest hearings. She has experience of unled work and also of acting as a junior on complex inquests.

Stephanie has a particular interest in inquests relating to prisons and policing. She is currently instructed by families in:

• A series of joined inquests into deaths in HMP Lowdham Grange (led by Fiona Murphy KC).

• An inquest into a death following a high-speed collision with a police car (led by Tim Moloney KC).

Stephanie was second junior counsel in the legal team for the family in the inquest into the death of Gaia Pope-Sutherland (led by Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC). She represented the family of Samuel Howes at his inquest, in which the Court found that failures across multiple agencies contributed to his death (led by Sam Jacobs).

Stephanie also has experience of inquiry work. She was instructed for preliminary hearings in the McGrail inquiry, acting for the former Chief Commissioner of the Royal Gibraltar Police (led by Adam Wagner).

Previous inquiry experience includes assisting senior members of chambers in their work representing core participants in the Brook House Inquiry and the Covid Inquiry.

Stephanie has experience of civil claims against public authorities in tort, under the Human Rights Act 1998 and under equality law.

Stephanie has experience of procedural hearings in the County Court and round-table negotiation. She has made successful quantum submissions to the Ministry of Justice’s miscarriages of justice compensation scheme. Stephanie can assist with civil claims arising out of inquests.

Her management consulting experience, which included extensive quantitative modelling, means she is well placed to assist with complex advice on quantum and schedules of loss.