Good Law Practice

Managing Partner: Lochlinn Parker

Legal Counsel: Helen Fry, Sahil Kher

Number of partners: 1

Number of other fee-earners: 3

Good Law Practice (the Practice) is an independent law firm set up by Good Law Project (the Project), a not-for-profit campaign organisation that seeks to use the law to bring about positive, practical change. The Practice is headed by Lochlinn Parker, who was previously a partner and the head of civil liberties at ITN Solicitors. Three of its public law solicitors (Helen Fry, Sahil Kher and Polly Jackman) all worked in private practice before joining the Project, and transferred over to the Practice when it launched in 2022.

Although also working for third party clients on a number of cases, its core work is in providing a dedicated, specialist legal team to run the Project’s extensive litigation portfolio on a not-for-profit basis, as well as utilising its lawyers’ specialist experience to assist in the development of new cases and strategies.

The team’s main areas of Practice are Administrative and Public Law; Environmental Law; Civil Liberties and Human Rights (including Protest); and Inquests.

Administrative and Public Law

The Practice was instructed in a number of the Project’s pandemic-related procurement challenges as well as litigation relating to the Government’s failure to publish contracts issued pursuant to the “ventilator challenge”. Helen Fry was instructed in a judicial review into the Police’s handling of the “Partygate” investigation. Lochlinn Parker and Sahil Kher are instructed on a potential challenge to HMRC’s treatment of ‘carried interest’ in the private equity industry on behalf of Ecotricity founder, Dale Vince OBE.

The Practice has acted in a number of cases seeking to advance the rights of marginalised groups. For example, Helen Fry and Sahil Kher acted for the Project and Fuel Poverty Action in a challenge to Ofgem’s proposed increase to the energy price cap. Helen acted for the charity Mermaids in a challenge concerning the registration of anorganisation with anti-trans views as a charity (which had significant charity law implications). Polly Jackman is also instructed on the development of a number of cases concerning women’s rights, and around potential disenfranchisement following recent proposals to introduce Voter ID.

Environment Law

This is a growing practice area for Practice, reflecting in part the Project’s focus on issues of water pollution and climate change. Recent cases include Sahil Kher acting on behalf of the Marine Conservation Society in a challenge to the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, which resulted in the Government conceding that it had failed to take adequate steps to consider the marine environment and subsequently extending the scope of the plan to deal with the issue. This workstream extends to non-contentious advice for charities and community groups in relation to public consultations and campaigning efforts. For example, the Practice is advising the Friends of the Dart in negotiations with SouthWest Water to fix their assets that pollute the River Dart in Devon.

Sahil Kher is also currently instructed on a high-profile challenge to the Government’s Carbon Budget Delivery Plan to deliver Net Zero, following a previous successful challenge brought by the Project against the Government’s original Strategy.

Civil Liberties and Human Rights & Protest

A significant part of Practice’s work considers the human rights implications of government policy, whether it is in respect of potentially discriminatory voter ID requirements, the rights of trans people to access healthcare or schooling, or the rights of women to name their abusers.

Lochlinn Parker has worked with a wide variety of organisations and activists on protest rights though civil claims, public law challenges, and in an advisory role. He is assisting Project to develop their strategy on standing up for protesters, particularly in respect of climate activists who have been silenced by the courts and those being targeted by state bodies or companies with injunction proceedings. Lochlinn and Helen Fry have recently advised on the GMC’s treatment of doctors with convictions for climate protest, as well as in relation to the “Lawyers Are Responsible” declaration by a group of barristers intending to refuse instructions which would have negative climate impacts.

Inquests

Lochlinn Parker has more than a decade of experience assisting in guiding families, bereaved after a death in custody, through the inquest process. Helen Fry has worked (alongside a team at Bindmans) on inquests supported by the Project, including representing the family of Alice Litman where the coroner found that the entire system of gender-affirming care in England was insufficiently resourced.