Natasha Barnes

Public Law

Natasha advises and acts for a range of private and government clients across a wide spectrum of administrative and public law. She is a member of the Attorney General’s A Panel.

Selected Cases

• R (AAA & Ors) v SSHD [2023] UKSC 42: Junior counsel in challenge to Government scheme to remove asylum-seekers to Rwanda for the processing of their asylum claims.
• R (Cabinet Office) v Chair of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry [2023] EWHC 1702 (Admin): Junior counsel in challenge to the decision of the Covid-19 Inquiry to compel the Government to provide it with certain WhatsApp message threads.
• R (GA) v SSHD [2022] EWCA Civ 304: Sole counsel before the Court of Appeal concerning whether the Special Immigrations Appeals Commission can refuse a remedy having concluded the SSHD’s decision to refuse GA naturalisation was procedurally unfair on review.
• R (Shahi) v SSHD [2021] EWCA Civ 1676: Sole counsel in Court of Appeal concerning the circumstances in which a grant of interim relief should be treated as success for the purposes of granting a Claimant his costs in a judicial review claim where the claim settles before substantive determination by the Court.
• R (Privacy International & Ors) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs [2021] EWCA Civ 330: Junior counsel in high-profile challenge to MI5 agents engaging in criminal activity.
• R (Carr) v Secretary of State for Justice (2020): Sole counsel in judicial review of decision not to relax individual’s prison conditions.
• R (Saifullah) v Ministry of Defence (2020): Challenge to adequacy of the investigation into the killing of four Afghan nationals by British armed forces in 2011.
• R v SSHD [2019] EWHC 1772 (Admin): Junior counsel in high profile litigation challenging the use of children as informants in criminal investigations, known as the ‘child spy case.’
• R (TN (Vietnam)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] UKSC 41: Junior Counsel in joined lead cases concerning the lawfulness of the Detained Fast Track Rules 2005. 10,000 asylum appeals were heard under the Rules.
• R (NM) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] EWHC 2798 (Admin): Sole counsel in a complex trafficking claim involving a 3-day hearing before the High Court.
• R (Nawaz) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] UKUT 288 (IAC): Sole counsel in a Judicial Review challenge arising out of the ETS language testing fraud.
• R (Siddique) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2016] EWCA Civ 570: Sole counsel in proceedings before the Court of Appeal. Natasha successfully argued that the Secretary of State acted lawfully in refusing to issue an appealable removal decision to the Appellant. The Court of Appeal praised parties’ ‘helpful and realistic’ submissions.