Katherine Hampshire

EXPERIENCE & EXPERTISE

Public and Administrative Law

Katherine has a busy public and administrative law practice, advising and representing Claimants, Respondents, and Interested Parties in judicial review claims, including those with a human rights element, in the Administrative Court.

She has particular experience acting in complex matters concerning the intersection between the Care Act 2014, immigration law, and the Mental Health Act 1983 – see, e.g., BRO v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWHC 2231 (Admin).

Katherine also has particular expertise in judicial review claims concerning the police. Led by James Berry KC, she acted for the successful Claimant in a claim for judicial review of a decision of a Police Misconduct Panel. Mrs Justice Yip found “significant flaws” in the panel’s approach to outcome: R (Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis) v Police Misconduct Panel & Fletcher [2025] EWHC 93 (Admin).

She is currently instructed (led by James Berry KC and John Beggs KC) in the appeal of the widely-publicised Di Maria litigation, in which she also acted (led) at first instance.

Katherine also has experience of international human rights law, having been instructed by the Public Solicitor’s Office in a breach of constitution claim against the Attorney General of St Helena, and having recently co-written an advice on the rights of public and private sector employees to object to instructions they believe to be unlawful in the context of the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

She is a member of the Attorney General’s Junior-Junior scheme.

Court of Protection

Katherine represents local authorities, the Official Solicitor, accredited legal representatives, and families, in the Court of Protection. She has a breadth of experience across a range of matters and regularly handles matters of significant complexity, and regularly appears opposite barristers who far exceed her years of call.

Her recent instructions include:

• acting for the applicant ICB in urgent proceedings concerning an individual with a serious and life-threatening medical condition whose offending history had also complicated his access to care;
• acting for the Official Solicitor in a closely litigated matter in which the judge took the unusual and helpful step of requiring a “crib sheet” for the litigants in person to refer to following the final hearing, the Official Solicitor’s position having been roundly accepted by the judge;
• ongoing instructions on behalf of an applicant local authority, due for final hearing in October 2025, in a case rendered complex by by P’s absconding, underlying medical conditions, and and potentially changing capacity as regards residence;
• representing P’s father in proceedings in which, although P lacked capacity, it was determined that it was in P’s best interests to reside in the applicant Council’s preferred placement only if she wished to do so; this was the order sought by P’s father (Leicester City Council v HC and RC [2024] EWCOP 24).

Katherine’s previous experience of commercial and pensions practice allows her to grapple effectively with the issues in Property and Finance Court of Protection matters. Her master’s degree in medical law and ethics, including dissertation on lack of capacity and decision-making over medical matters, provides a strong grounding for Health and Welfare and Serious Medical Treatment instructions.

Inquests, Inquiries, and Investigations

Katherine represents families, Trusts, individual healthcare practitioners, police forces, and prisons in inquests dealing with complex medical and legal issues.

Her recent instructions have included:

• representing a retired mental health nurse whose conduct was not found to have contributed to the death in patient at Broadmoor in an Article 2 inquest;
• acting for various NHS trusts in inquests in which no prevention of future death findings were made;
• representing the family of a woman who sadly died following not one, but two, statistically improbable strokes.

Katherine has previously been on the Designated Lawyers team in the Undercover Policing Inquiry, acting on behalf of retired Undercover Officers and their managers. She was instructed by Transport for London (TfL) in the ongoing Covid-19 inquiry.

She is currently co-authoring a chapter on the General Principles of Public Inquiries for a recently commissioned Bloomsbury Monograph on Inquiries and Inquests.

Police Law

Katherine regularly represents police forces in misconduct hearings and gross incompetence meetings, and advises on misconduct and gross incompetence. The forces for which she acts comment in particular on Katherine’s effective skills in examination in chief and cross-examination, and her ability to put police witnesses at ease in “very difficult & tense” environments.

Katherine’s broader practice complements her police law practice. She has recently acted (led) for the Metropolitan Police in multiple judicial review claims (as above).  She also represents police forces in Inquests, and in Employment matters in the Employment Tribunal. Her expertise in human rights law, from her public law practice, complements her work on civil actions against the police.

Employment

Katherine appears in preliminary and final hearings across the range of employment litigation. She accepts instructions for both Claimants and Respondents, and regularly appears opposite barristers who far exceed her years of call.

Katherine has experience in TUPE transfer claims (O’Keefe v Gold Panda Ltd) and particular expertise in claims concerning sex and disability discrimination  (Draus v First Call Contract Services), including on the complex issue of menopause. She recently acted for the Chief Constable of the Norfolk Constabulary in a complex claim brought by a PC who brought no fewer than 24 different claims against the force under four different heads of claim; Katherine successfully defended them all: Dye v Chief Constable of Norfolk Constabulary.

Education Law

Katherine represents local authorities and families in the Tribunal in the First Tier Tribunal (SEND) in appeals of EHCPs, including extended appeals. She has also advised (led) on appealing to the Upper Tribunal, and on judicial reviews concerning the Children and Family Act 2014.

Business and Specialist Crime

Katherine’s exposure to commercial practice, gained prior to her joining Chambers’, makes her well placed to accept instructions in business and specialist crime. She has experience as sole counsel representing businesses in commercial matters involving contractual disputes, and in particular in claims involving breaches of Data Protection Regulations and the GDPR. Katherine has also undertaken led work on higher-value disputes, including high-value fraud claims (including trust elements).

From 2023-2024 she was seconded part-time in house to assist with a multi-jurisdictional insurance claim arising out of the Russian Sanctions legislation, and has assisted on multiple other claims involving questions raised under, and challenges to decisions made under, the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 and Myanmar (Sanctions) Regulations 2021.

She has experience in condemnation and forfeiture (see e.g. “Another Victory”: Rogers Norton).

PRIOR TO THE BAR

Prior to joining Chambers, Katherine worked in the Department of International Trade at the Civil Service, where she undertook research for policy development (trade legislation) and assisted in setting up the new arbitrators panel for international trade disputes. During her Master’s, she worked as a research assistant to academics from Oxford University and LSE on a jointly funded project. Katherine also has experience working in the FTSE 100 Tax Advisory Team at Deloitte, at Save the Children International, and in Child and Adolescent Mental Health in the NHS.

QUALIFICATIONS

Katherine completed her Bar Practice Course at the Inns of Court College of Advocacy, where she was the top performing student in her Examination-in-Chief final examination (2021-2022). She obtained her MA in Medical Ethics and Law from King’s College London, where she was awarded the Tempany Prize in Medical Ethics & Law (2020-2021). Prior to this, Katherine graduated from St Hilda’s College, Oxford University in with a BA (First Class) in Law (Jurisprudence), where she was awarded the Law Network Prize and the Tutorial Committee Prize for outstanding final examinations results (2017-2020).

PRIZES, SCHOLADRSHIPS, ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS

• Inns of Court College of Advocacy, Top Performing student in Examination in Chief (2022)
• Tempany Prize in Medical Ethics & Law, King’s College London
• Law Network Prize for Outstanding Undergraduate Performance, St Hilda’s College, Oxford University
• Tutorial Committee Prize for Outstanding Final Examinations results, St Hilda’s College, Oxford University

RECOMMENDATIONS

“Katherine has made a big difference in streamlining a complex case where we were at a complete loss as to what to do at a stage very shortly before trial. Katherine anticipated what the Judge was likely to decide at trial, advised us accordingly, drafted the necessary pleadings and we then managed to avert a very negative outcome at trial”
Instructing Solicitor

“Katherine did a fantastic job and was a pleasure to work with. I’d be delighted to instruct her again”
Instructing Solicitor

“Her skeleton was better than I have seen from many experienced practitioners and she had clearly put a great deal of work in to it as well as in relation to the case generally”
Opposing Counsel

Appointments and Memberships

Constitutional and Administrative Law Bar Association

Court of Protection Bar Association

Katherine is direct access qualified, and accepts Pro Bono instructions through Advocate.

Privacy

Katherine adopts and adheres to the provisions of the privacy notice which can be accessed here.

FURTHER INFORMATION

For further details of  Katherine’s practice please contact a member of the clerking or client care team.

Bar Council Membership No: 76704

Registered Name: Katherine Hampshire

VAT Registration No: 449348557