We specialise in cases protecting and promoting the rights of women.
Our team is unique in that we can provide expert legal advice on both private law claims for discrimination – where an individual sues an organisation over the discriminatory treatment they have experienced – and judicial review claims, where we use the law to get discriminatory policies changed or unfair decisions reversed.
We have expertise in representing women who the police have failed to protect from domestic violence. We represent the families of loved ones who have died as a result of domestic homicides, both in inquests and in the civil courts. We have brought claims on behalf of women discriminated against by the police when investigating domestic abuse by an ex-partner. And we act in test cases aimed at protecting women facing discrimination in the criminal justice system.
Our team has represented the claimants in a number of key cases protecting services for women fleeing domestic violence, including the first case to use the equality duty to stop cuts to a specialist refuge for BME women. We work closely with Women’s Aid and Imkaan in this area, receiving referrals from all over the country and helping to get decisions overturned to keep vital funding in place. We use the equality duty – the law that requires public bodies to consider discrimination and equality of opportunity when making decisions – to help our clients to lobby and campaign at the point at which services are commissioned.
Working with the End Violence Against Women coalition, we have prepared briefings and represented individuals in cases arising from sexual violence on campus that universities are failing to address. We represented the feminist campaigner, Caroline Criado-Perez, in her case against the Bank of England to ensure that banknotes would include a female historical character. We also act for a feminist couple challenging the ban on opposite-sex couples have civil partnerships.
Our recent work has also covered claims arising from unfair pension provision that has a disproportionate impact on women. We also are advising women’s groups on protecting and promoting women-only spaces and services.