Welcoming Paula Kelly and Rebekah Lee as new tenants - Oct 2024
Rebekah joined Chambers as a tenant in October 2024 following the successful completion of her pupillage, during which she was supervised by Alasdair Henderson, Matthew Barnes, Matthew Hill and Jo Moore.
Most recently, Rebekah undertook a three-month secondment in-house with a law firm within their Employment Team. During this time, Rebekah regularly appeared in the Employment Tribunal in a wide range of employment matters including discrimination, unfair dismissal and protected disclosure. She has also provided advice and drafted pleadings on complex legal issues, including maternity pay disputes, discrimination by association and advice on appeal. This has built upon her pro bono representation through Advocate and FRU where she has represented Claimants in cases, including Unfair Dismissal, Employee Status and Unlawful Deduction from Wages. Rebekah is particularly interested in the overlap of employment law and personal injury and how an insight into complex loss of earnings claims in employment cases informs a clinical negligence practice.
Rebekah is building a public law practice and most recently drafted submissions on behalf of a Claimant in a Judicial Review. As part of her inquests practice, Rebekah has appeared as sole counsel on behalf of both the family and a health body in inquests or pre-inquest review hearings. Rebekah is building a practice in clinical negligence and was recently instructed as a junior on a high-value birth injury case, assisting a senior member with quantum. She has also co-authored the chapter “Fatal Claims” in the upcoming edition of Clinical Negligence – A Practitioner’s Handbook edited by Elizabeth-Anne Gumbel KC and Richard Lodge. Rebekah is also keen to build her personal injury practice and appears regularly in the County Court in a range of small claims and fast track cases.
Rebekah was ranked first in her year at university. Prior to starting pupillage, she spent three months in South Africa, working with a leading human rights organisation assisting with constitutional matters and indigenous land rights. Before coming to the Bar, she worked as a paralegal in a human rights charity, having previously managed a team offering housing, immigration and benefits advice to clients in the North Kensington area; many affected by the Grenfell tragedy. Here, Rebekah had provided immigration advice as a qualified Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner Level 1 Immigration Advisor.
She is currently building a diverse practice and is happy to consider instructions across all of Chambers’ core areas.
Public Law & Human RightsRebekah has recently drafted submissions on behalf of a Claimant in a Judicial Review case. Throughout pupillage she assisted several members of Chambers in a range of public law cases. This included drafting a pre-action judicial review letter, challenging the scope of an inquest and producing a written advice in a VAT Judicial Review claim. Additionally, Rebekah has written several pieces of advice concerning Article 2 damages, in sensitive cases acts of terrorism and death in custody. This drew upon Rebekah’s academic experience during her LLM, where she gained a high distinction in Public Law. Rebekah is a regular contributor to the UK Human Rights Blog and recently wrote an article analysing the human rights considerations of injunctions made against members of the Traveller Community. Rebekah has a strong interest in Public Law and Human Rights and is keen to build her practice in this area.
Most recently, Rebekah undertook a three-month secondment in-house with a law firm within their Employment Team. During this time, Rebekah regularly appeared in the Employment Tribunal in a wide range of employment matters including discrimination, unfair dismissal and protected disclosure. She has also provided advice and drafted pleadings on complex legal issues, including maternity pay disputes, discrimination by association and advice on appeal. This has built upon her pro bono representation through Advocate and FRU where she has represented Claimants in cases, including Unfair Dismissal, Employee Status and Unlawful Deduction from Wages. Rebekah is particularly interested in the overlap of employment law and personal injury and how an insight into complex loss of earnings claims in employment cases informs a clinical negligence practice.
Rebekah has recently been instructed as a junior on a high-value birth injury case, assisting a senior member with quantum. She has also appeared in several interlocutory hearings involving matters of clinical negligence. Rebekah also co-authored the chapter “Fatal Claims” in the upcoming edition of Clinical Negligence – A Practitioner’s Handbook edited by Elizabeth-Anne Gumbel KC and Richard Lodge. Rebekah drafted pleadings under the supervision of Matthew Barnes in a range of clinical negligence matters, including cauda equina and birth injury. Rebekah also provided written advice in several complex clinical negligence matters under the supervision of Richard Booth KC. Rebekah is keen to develop her practice further and welcomes instructions on behalf of both Claimants and Defendants.
Rebekah recently acted as sole counsel on behalf of a health service in an inquest. Rebekah represented a family at a PIRH which led to several significant admissions prior to the inquest. Throughout pupillage, she drafted written submissions in several high-profile inquests under the supervision of Matthew Hill and Neil Sheldon KC. Rebekah also assisted a senior member of Chambers in drafting a skeleton argument in a High Court case concerning the anonymisation of the Deceased in an inquest. Rebekah undertook research which contributed to the upcoming 2nd edition of the Inquests Book (published 2025).
Recently Rebekah worked as junior- junior counsel for the Government Legal Department in a high-profile detention centre case.
During pupillage, Rebekah drafted several pieces of written advice in cases of Unlawful Detention. She also took a note in a ten-day immigration tribunal case. Prior to undertaking pupillage, Rebekah was a qualified Level 1 Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner Advisor and set up an immigration clinic in partnership with a law centre. Here, she supported Claimants in a range of immigration matters and built upon her previous voluntary experience with multiple refugee and asylum charities. Rebekah welcomes instructions in this area.
During pupillage, Rebekah developed an interest in tax and ratings. She assisted Sarabjit Singh KC and Isabel McArdle in drafting a skeleton argument on behalf of the Claimant and written advice on behalf of a Respondent in VAT Judicial Review cases. Rebekah is keen to develop her practice in this area.
Rebekah has appeared in the County Court representing Claimants and Defendants in a range of personal injury disputes. Throughout pupillage she also assisted members of Chambers with pleadings and written advice in high-value injury cases. Rebekah welcomes instructions in this area of law.
Welcoming our 2023 pupils Paula Kelly and Rebekah Lee - Oct 2023
