Amelia Williams

Amelia is regularly instructed in all areas of personal injury work. She has experience of serious personal injury litigation and is adept at drafting complex schedules of loss. She has a broad personal injury practice covering employer’s liability, occupier’s liability, product liability and road traffic accidents. She has particular experience of representing both Claimants and Defendants in trials where causation is in issue and where there are allegations of fundamental dishonesty.

Selected Cases

• Junior counsel for the London Fire Commissioner in Abdel-Kader & Ors v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea & Ors (all the civil claims arising from the Grenfell Tower fire).
• Representing the Claimant in a multi-track claim following an accident at work which left the Claimant with anosmia.
• Representing the Defendant insurer in a full day fundamental dishonesty trial where the Claimant was accused of bringing a “phantom passenger” claim.
• Representing the Claimant in a post-Brexit product liability claim against a Swedish company.

Amelia has particular expertise in immigration law. Her immigration experience is very broad, and in recent years she has been instructed in a range of matters including challenges to deprivation decisions, asylum accommodation, deportation, unlawful detention and visitor visas.

She is frequently instructed by the SSHD as junior counsel in high-profile group litigation. She has been instructed by Claimants in immigration appeals both on a pro bono and direct access basis.

Selected Cases

• Instructed by GLD as junior counsel for SSHD in SIAC proceedings.
• Instructed by GLD as junior counsel to Cathy McGahey KC in appeals against deprivation of citizenship and deportation decisions made in respect of individuals convicted of child sexual exploitation offences in Rochdale.
• Instructed by way of off-panel nomination to represent the SSHD in the High Court in interim relief hearings challenging deportation decisions and delays in releasing individuals from immigration detention.
• Instructed to represent the SSHD in the Upper Tribunal, opposing the Claimant’s challenge to a deportation decision.
• Instructed as junior counsel by the GLD to represent SSHD in interim relief and judicial review proceedings concerning the application of the ARAP scheme in light of the collapse of the Afghan government to the Taliban and family members of the Claimant who remained in Afghanistan.
• Instructed as junior counsel by the GLD to represent the SSHD in a case concerning whether failed asylum seekers should be entitled to the provision of support and accommodation pursuant to section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, in light of the national restrictions imposed as a result of the current coronavirus pandemic.

Amelia regularly accepts instructions in public law and maintains a keen interest in the area. She has recently completed a part-time Executive Master in International Humanitarian Law in Armed Conflict at the Geneva Academy.

Amelia is regularly instructed in a range of national security cases. She has experience in advising on the regulation of interception of communications and intelligence service oversight.

Further, she is experienced in advising public bodies given her previous employment within GLD and her current role as junior counsel to the London Fire Commissioner in the civil claims from the Grenfell Tower fire.

Selected Cases

• Instructed by SSHD as a junior post-judgment in R (HM, MA & KH) v SSHD [2002] EWHC 2749 (Admin), in advance of a further hearing addressing the duty of candour concerns raised in the substantive judgment.
• Instructed by a group of Claimants as sole counsel in a claim against a local council, which includes a claim for exemplary damages.
• Instructed by the Ministry of Defence as junior counsel in a case challenging the adequacy of the investigation into the deaths of Afghans in the course of a raid by a UK Army unit in Afghanistan.

Amelia is currently junior counsel for the Department for Health and Social Care in the Covid-19 Inquiry. She has previously been instructed by the London Fire Brigade as a junior member of the team for the Grenfell Inquiry and by the Home Office in the Brook House Inquiry.

Amelia completed a secondment with the Nursing and Midwifery Council in 2022 and continues to regularly receive instructions in regulatory & disciplinary matters. She has experience representing regulatory bodies in a broad range of hearings, from interim order review hearings to substantive hearings. Amelia has previously been instructed to represent both registrants and regulatory bodies at multi-day substantive hearings.

Amelia regularly provides advice in writing and in conference, settles pleadings and attends hearings for clinical negligence matters. She represents both Claimants and Defendants.

Amelia has significant experience in cases involving fundamental dishonesty, having frequently appeared for Defendants, and cross-examined Claimants, in trials where fundamental dishonesty was in issue in her first few years of practice. She is therefore well-placed to both advise and represent parties at trial where allegations of fundamental dishonesty are raised.

Selected Cases

• Representing the Claimant’s estate in a claim alleging a failure to provide adequate care to a bed-bound patient, leading to preventable pressure sores.
• Representing the Claimant in a case concerning the delayed diagnosis of melanoma.
• Representing the Claimant in a claim alleging a failure to prescribe appropriate post-surgery prophylaxis to a patient known to be at raised risk of pulmonary embolism.
• Representing the Defendant Trust in a claim where the Claimant alleged a 4 day delay in diagnosing an abscess, leading ultimately to sepsis.

Amelia welcomes instructions to represent families and other interested persons at inquests. She has previously been instructed in inquests involving persons in custody, deaths in hospital and mental health care.

Given her public law practice she has experience of advising on the merits of any application for permission to judicially review decisions made in the coronial courts.

Amelia has appeared in a number of Equality Act claims in the county courts. She has particular experience in representing service providers, including NHS Trusts, government departments and other public bodies, in Equality Act claims

Amelia began her employment law practice by representing clients on a pro bono basis with FRU in the Employment Tribunals. Since then she has been involved in increasingly complex cases and has recently been instructed in a number of cases by the Government Legal Department as a junior to more senior employment law practitioners across a wide range of Chambers.

Recent cases Amelia has been involved in include:

• A case involving a claim of disability discrimination and failure to make reasonable adjustments arising from a number of medical conditions which was pleaded at over £1 million.
• A matter which pleaded perceived disability discrimination where the Tribunal found that although there was a perception that the Claimant was a disabled person by reason of autism, there were reasonable non-discriminatory reasons for the dismissal.
• An individual who was dismissed whilst abroad and on furlough during the Covid-19 pandemic which has given rise to a claim for unfair dismissal, race discrimination and victimisation.

Amelia has experience in representing and advising clients in employment disputes raising the following issues:

• Unfair dismissal
• Unlawful Deduction of Wages
• Constructive Dismissal
• Discrimination
• Failure to make reasonable adjustments
• Victimisation

Amelia is happy to accept instructions under the Direct Access Scheme.