Katherine Hampshire

EXPERIENCE & EXPERTISE

Court of Protection
Katherine has experience representing local authorities, the Official Solicitor, and other interested parties in the Court of Protection. Her recent instructions include acting for the Official Solicitor in s16 MCA 2005 proceedings where the imminent risk of P’s removal from the UK necessitated the urgent appointment of a personal finances deputy, and an ongoing instruction for a local authority in which P’s assessment as lacking capacity owing to alcohol-related brain injury has been called into question following conflicting expert reports.

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 dissertation, focused on lack of capacity and decision-making over medical matters, provides a strong grounding for Health and Welfare Court of Protection instructions.

Inquests, Inquiries, and Investigations
Katherine has experience representing families, Trusts, and individual healthcare practitioners in inquests. Her recent instructions have included an Article 2 inquest into the death of a patient Broadmoor, where she represented a retired mental health nurse whose conduct was not found to have contributed to the death of the deceased.

Katherine is part of the Designated Lawyers team in the Undercover Policing Inquiry, acting on behalf of retired Undercover Officers and their managers.

Public and Administrative, Education, and Police Law
Katherine has a busy paperwork practice advising on the merits of judicial review actions, and has experience bringing judicial review claims in the Administrative Court. She is a member of the Attorney General’s Junior Junior scheme.

She is currently instructed by the Public Solicitor’s Office on a breach of constitution claim against the Attorney General of St Helena, brought by various current and past prisoners of St Helena’s prison.

Katherine has experience representing local authorities and families in the First Tier Tribunal (SEND) in Education matters. Her work through the Junior Junior scheme, on the Undercover Police Inquiry, and for the PSO in St Helena, provides a strong grounding for instructions in police law matters.

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

Recent matters have included success in a complex unfair dismissal and discrimination claim with TUPE transfer elements, in which she also successfully obtained costs on the basis that the two liable defendants had applied to be struck off the Companies House register and/or failed to object to being struck off  (O’Keefe v Gold Panda Ltd), and success in an unfair dismissal, indirect sex discrimination, and disability discrimination claim with a total award of £72,948.30, of which £30,000 was a Vento award for injury to feelings (Draus v First Call Contract Services).

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). She was recently 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 is currently instructed as a junior on a matter that involves potential offences under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, and has a growing practice in condemnation and forfeiture claims. Recent instructions include a disputed forfeiture claim concerning approximately £20,000 of goods; Katherine successfully resisted condemnation of these goods and obtained their restoration to the importer. (“Another Victory”: Rogers Norton).

Professional Discipline and Regulatory
Katherine has a growing practice in professional discipline and regulatory work, tying in with her Inquests, Inquiries, and Investigations experience, particularly as regards work involving the police. She recently appeared before the Sports Resolutions National Anti-Doping Panel, where she successfully challenged the start date of an Athlete’s suspension. Katherine has also had exposure to higher-value regulatory work, including work involving the new Building Safety Regulator.

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

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