Profile
Nigel’s professional experience includes work in private practice, government and the courts. Prior to transferring to the Bar in 2025, Nigel qualified as a solicitor in 2022. They trained at Linklaters LLP and qualified into the litigation team, working on public law, competition, sports and general commercial cases. During their training as a solicitor, they worked at the Mary Ward Legal Centre in the housing and homelessness litigation team (on secondment).
They were a Judicial Assistant to Lady Rose at the United Kingdom Supreme Court and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. They were also a Judicial Assistant in the High Court (Administrative Court) to the Judge in Charge of the Administrative Court, first to Mr Justice Swift and then to Mr Justice Chamberlain.
Nigel holds a BA in Philosophy and Law, an LLB from the University of Cape Town, a Graduate Diploma in Law, and an MSc in Law, Business and Management from the University of Law.
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Jameela Sheikh
Assistant Practice Manager
Publications
- 2023: “A Queer Chinkhoswe: Re-imagining the Customary in Malawi” in Criminal Legalities and Minorities in the Global South – Rights and Resistance (Palgrave Macmillan).
- 2017: “Violent cistems: Trans experiences of bathroom space”, Agenda (UNISA Press, Routledge).
Publications
- 2023: “A Queer Chinkhoswe: Re-imagining the Customary in Malawi” in Criminal Legalities and Minorities in the Global South – Rights and Resistance (Palgrave Macmillan).
- 2017: “Violent cistems: Trans experiences of bathroom space”, Agenda (UNISA Press, Routledge).
Contact Us
Jameela Sheikh
Assistant Practice Manager
Areas Of Expertise
During their public law seat, Nigel was supervised by Peter Mant KC, Tom Tabori and Nicola Kohn, and worked on a broad range of administrative and public law matters. Their experience includes:
- Drafting grounds of defence to a judicial review challenge against a local authority’s decision to reduce a care package.
- Drafting grounds of defence to a challenge to a hospital’s leave of absence policy under section 17 of the Mental Health Act 1983.
- Advising on the litigation risk arising from a proposed judicial review of protest-related legislation and policy.
- Drafting grounds of appeal to the Court of Appeal against the Upper Tribunal’s decision concerning the correct approach to delayed enforcement of a deportation order.
- Drafting a skeleton argument for a defendant in a duty of care appeal addressing whether a regulator owes a duty of care to individuals under investigation.
- Advising an Integrated Care Board on the scope of the Standard General Medical Services Contract.
- Drafting a statement of facts and grounds on a judicial review challenging the decision to close a day centre.
- Advising on the merits of an appeal against a Medical Practitioners Tribunal determination of no impairment of fitness to practise.
- Drafting grounds of appeal on behalf of the Professional Standards Authority against a Fitness to Practise Committee determination of the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
As a Judicial Assistant in the United Kingdom Supreme Court, Nigel was involved in leading public law cases, including:
- Reference by the Lord Advocate of Devolution Issues under the Scotland Act 1998 [2022] UKSC 31 – A devolution reference of the question of whether the Scottish Parliament has legislative competence to provide for a second independence referendum.
- R (Marouf) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] UKSC 23 – On the territorial scope of the public sector equality duty.
As a Judicial Assistant in the High Court (Administrative Court), Nigel was involved in public law cases, including:
- R (Donald) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWHC 1492 (Admin) – A challenge to the Home Secretary’s decision not to proceed with recommendations from the independent review into the Windrush scandal.
- R (FDA) v Minister for the Cabinet Office [2024] EWHC 1729 (Admin) – On civil servants’ obligation to comply with the law, including international law, under the Civil Service Code.
As a solicitor at Linklaters, Nigel worked on a pro bono judicial review in which permission was granted to challenge the Home Secretary’s refusal of an asylum claim, ultimately resulting in the client being granted asylum.
As a solicitor in the Government Legal Department’s immigration litigation group, Nigel worked on a range of Upper Tribunal and Court of Appeal cases on behalf of the Home Secretary.
Cases of Note:
- Nguyen v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWCA Civ 1452 – Acting as a Government Legal Department solicitor with conduct of the case related to the application of section 117C of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 where a foreign criminal, having been deported, applied from abroad to revoke the deportation order.
Nigel is currently undertaking their seat in civil liability under the supervision of Michael Standing and Daniel Laking.
As a Judicial Assistant in the United Kingdom Supreme Court, Nigel was involved in civil liability cases, including:
- Paul and another v Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust [2024] UKSC – Established that a secondary victim cannot recover damages for psychiatric harm caused by witnessing a primary victim’s medical crisis.
During their commercial, construction and property seat, Nigel was supervised by David Sawtell KC, Hannah McCarthy and David Hopkins. They gained experience across a broad range of commercial, construction, and property matters, including:
- Drafting particulars of claim for damages and an injunction in a property dispute involving continuing nuisance.
- Drafting a defence to a debt claim brought against personal guarantors.
- Advising on the merits of a claim for loss of profit and for breach of implied terms in an international sale of goods dispute.
- Advising on the enforceability of an incomplete contract, including whether a dispute resolution clause was binding.
- Advising a responding party in an adjudication on jurisdictional issues arising from a notice of adjudication.
- Advising on liability for the costs of works under contractual provisions in a PFI agreement.
- Assisting David Sawtell on a matter concerning an injunction to restrain an adjudication.
As a Judicial Assistant in the United Kingdom Supreme Court, Nigel was involved in leading commercial appeals, including:
- Stanford International Bank Ltd (in liquidation) v HSBC Bank plc [2022] UKSC 34 – On recoverable loss in a Quincecare claim.
- Barton v Morris [2023] UKSC 3 – A contractual case on the relationship between implied terms and unjust enrichment.
- PACCAR Inc v Competition Appeal Tribunal [2023] UKSC 28 – On whether litigation funding agreements are damages-based agreements under section 58AA(3) of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990.
As a solicitor at Linklaters, Nigel worked on a range of commercial and competition matters, including:
- Defending a global digital payments company in competition claims before the Competition Appeal Tribunal.
- Defending a media company against an abuse of dominance claim in the Competition Appeal Tribunal.
- Advising a media company on defamation and tortious interference claims.
- Acting on a VAT expert determination.
- Advising on a commercial judicial review.
- Advising on a private body’s amenability to judicial review.
- Advising on the application of financial fair play rules for a football league.
- Drafting submissions for a commercial client on the governmental consultation on housing law reforms.
During their planning and environmental law seat, Nigel was supervised by Celina Colquhoun, Ned Helme and Daniel Stedman Jones. Their experience includes:
- Advising on the merits of a council’s defence to an appeal against its decision to refuse to issue a certificate of lawfulness of existing use or development for the use of land as a caravan site and associated operational development.
- Drafting a skeleton argument and grounds for an application for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal following the High Court’s dismissal of a claim brought under section 288 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, in a matter concerning the inevitability test in Simplex GE (Holdings) Ltd v Secretary of State for the Environment [2017] PTSR 1041.
- Drafting pre-action correspondence in a matter concerning a proposed judicial review of a grant of planning permission for the conversion of an existing building to tourist accommodation.
- Research on the construction and interpretation of community infrastructure levy legislation.
- Research on which court to bring proceedings for a declaration.
- Advising on potential judicial review grounds and prospects against a decision to grant planning permission for retrospective earthworks.
- Drafting pre-action correspondence and merits advice in relation to a pre-action protocol challenge to a council’s approval of planning permission, involving issues concerning the council’s scheme of delegation, the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations, highways, and development plan policy.
- Advising a council on the legal steps required to commence preparation of a new Local Plan under the plan-making system introduced by the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023.
- Drafting pre-action correspondence and advising on the validity and modification of section 106 obligations under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
As a Judicial Assistant in the United Kingdom Supreme Court, Nigel was involved in leading planning and environmental cases, including:
- R (Day) v Shropshire Council [2023] UKSC 8 – On what happens to the public’s rights to use land that is subject to a statutory trust when the local authority disposes of the land but fails to comply with the statutory consultation requirements.
As a Judicial Assistant in the High Court (Administrative Court), Nigel was involved in public law cases, including:
- R (Friends of the Earth Ltd, Kevin Jordan and Doug Paulley) v Secretary of State for Environment, Road and Rural Affairs [2024] EWHC 2707 (Admin) – A challenge to the Government’s plan to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
