Matthew Leitch

Public Law and Human Rights

Matthew gained considerable experience of public law and human rights during pupillage. During pupillage Matthew:

• Assisted Jeremy Hyam KC and Alasdair Henderson in O v P [2024] EWCA 1577 involving the court’s ‘best interests’ jurisdiction with respect to consent given by a competent sixteen-year-old to cross-sex hormones by an overseas provider.
• Conducted research into a potential judicial review of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman for Matthew Hill.
• Drafted advice and detailed grounds of defence in a case involving the BN(O)HK visa scheme and alleged political persecution in Hong Kong.
• Drafted detailed grounds of review in an immigration challenge where the Applicant was unable to correspond with the Home Secretary due to the political situation in Bangladesh.
• Assisted Emma-Louise Fenelon in a case involving alleged breaches of Article 3 and Article 8 ECHR by a prisoner.
• Gained extensive experience in extradition law and associated human rights arguments under the supervision of Benjamin Seifert.

Matthew represents both Applicants and Respondents in judicial review proceedings. He was recently instructed by the Government Legal Department as Junior Junior counsel to draft summary grounds of defence in an immigration challenge. He is a regular contributor to the UK Human Rights Blog.