Oliver Lewis, Rabah Kherbane and Marie Paris are finalists in the LALY Awards 2022
Doughty Street Chambers is delighted to announce that three of our barristers, Oliver Lewis, Rabah Kherbane and Marie Paris have been shortlisted in the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards 2022.
These awards are organised by the Legal Aid Practitioners’ Group on a not-for-profit basis to celebrate the work of grassroots lawyers doing publicly-funded work.
Rabah and Marie are finalists in the category of ‘Legal Aid Newcomer’, in which pupil or barrister nominees of under 7 years’ call have undertaken a significant amount of legal aid work over the past year. Oliver is a finalist for ‘Legal Aid Barrister of the Year’ in recognition of his significant work in advancing the rights of people with mental or physical health issues or disabilities. All will be recognised for their expertise and commitment to access to justice at the awards ceremony on 12 July.
Rabah is a specialist in crime, extradition, and crime-related public law, particularly where national security and terrorism issues arise. He represents defendants including those with significant vulnerabilities in serious and complex criminal cases such as murder, terrorism, or large-scale conspiracies involving firearms or drugs. Rabah also acts in appeals against unjust outcomes and historic or recent miscarriages of justice. His work for clients in extradition matters is at all levels. He represents claimants in public law or judicial review cases related to criminal justice matters. At 6 years’ call, Rabah is currently leading counsel and co-defending with 2022 Silk Liam Walker QC at the Old Bailey, in a three-month murder trial.
Marie completed her pupillage and accepted tenancy in 2021 having previously worked at South West London Law Centres as a housing paralegal. Committed to ensuring the most vulnerable have a safe home, and to redressing the imbalance in power between landlords and tenants, Marie undertakes the full range of housing work including appeals and judicial reviews in respect of homelessness decisions, and defending tenants against possession claims and applications for injunctions and closure orders. Within two years of her call to the Bar, Marie’s selfless and dedicated approach to her work and clients has seen her assisting on significant cases as a first-six pupil (High Court victories (R (Nur) v Birmingham City Council, El Kundi & Ors v Birmingham City Council)), and now in her own right representing homeless applicants with severe mental impairments to challenge decisions relating to their housing or accommodation.
Oliver has dedicated his career to promoting disability rights globally. Internationally, he was director of the Mental Disability Advocacy Centre (now 'Validity') in Budapest for several years, where he oversaw the world's largest docket of international disability rights cases. He is currently engaged in disability rights work in Georgia, Mauritius and Taiwan. Domestically, Oliver’s legal aid work focuses on public law and mental health and capacity, pressing for access to justice and proper standards of care in health and social care services. In the Court of Protection, Oliver currently represents the parents of Tony Hickmott, a man with learning disabilities detained for 21 years under the Mental Health Act.
Oliver represents bereaved families in inquests touching on the deaths of disabled people. He recently acted for the family of Manon Jones, a 16-year-old girl who died in a mental health unit in Wales. Providing a testimonial for Oliver's LALY nomination, Manon's mother Nikki Jones said:
"The narrative conclusion was lengthy and detailed and contained many findings of fact - much of which hinged on the excellent Independent Expert Witness evidence that Oliver had been so key to securing. At no point did we feel his commitment was anything less than full (and brilliant) and in no way compromised by working for legal aid rates. We remain truly grateful for the attention to detail, compassion and commitment to discovering the facts that Oliver showed. We felt a real and immediate connection with his values and were proud to be represented by such a skilled, thoughtful and decent Barrister. We remain hugely grateful."
The winners of the LALY awards will be announced at a live ceremony in central London on 12 July – the first in-person ceremony after the pandemic lockdown, which coincides with the 20th anniversary of LALY awards.
The full shortlist of finalists in all award categories can be found here.
