Karen Staunton

Prior to pupillage, Karen qualified as a Level 2 accredited immigration and asylum senior caseworker. She regularly worked with victims of trafficking and torture in preparing asylum, trafficking, discretionary leave and bail applications, which were often run alongside complex public law challenges.

Karen has continued to build on this experience at Chambers, and is regularly instructed in bail, asylum, deport and private immigration matters. She represents clients in appeal hearings in the First and Upper Tier Tribunals, and drafts grounds and opinions in the area.

While working as a public law caseworker prior to pupillage, Karen worked on a number of high profile public law cases in a variety of courts, including the High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights. These included challenges to the legality of the Detained Fast Track Rules, which fast-tracked asylum claims for applicants in immigration detention, and challenges to the time-limit on the support provided by the Home Office to victims of trafficking. A number of these challenges were brought on an urgent basis. Karen also worked on several unlawful detention and false imprisonment cases, and human rights claims.

Since joining Chambers, Karen has been instructed in a number of judicial review cases in both the Upper Tribunal and Administrative Court, false imprisonment claims and prison law human rights cases.

Karen welcomes instruction in family law act, children and financial remedy proceedings. During her first six, Karen gained experience of a range of work in this area, including public and private children applications, and complex, multi-day, final hearings in financial remedy proceedings. Together with shadowing court hearings, Karen also accompanied members of Chambers to various types of alternate dispute resolution.

She has built on this experience since taking tenancy, having been instructed in Family Law Act, private children matters and matrimonial finance cases. Karen has acted at all stages of proceedings, including in multi-day fact findings hearings and final hearings.

Karen is regularly instructed in the County Court, representing clients in Stage 3 hearings, infant settlement hearings, small claims and fast track trials. She has experience in making relief from sanctions and other applications.

During pupillage, Karen shadowed a number of mediations in wills disputes, including Inheritance Act 1975 claims. Karen accepts instruction in this area.

She also accepts instruction in landlord and tenant cases, acting for both landlords and tenants in possession and disrepair claims.