Public & Administrative Law

Carson McDowell has a longstanding reputation in advising a wide range of clients in the public sector in Northern Ireland, including Arm’s Length Bodies (ALB), Cross Border Bodies and other statutory bodies, public bodies and regulators.

For over a decade we have acted for an Arm’s Length Body charged with producing hundreds of sensitive public law decisions annually and have successfully defended numerous judicial review challenges taken against it on grounds including alleged irrationality, procedural impropriety, illegality, legitimate expectation and infringements of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Where matters have progressed to court proceedings, we have appeared in the High Court, Divisional Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, such that our Public and Administrative Law team has unrivalled public law litigation experience in Northern Ireland.

In addition, we continue to act for a number of ALBs active in areas ranging from second and third level education to industrial development, and have successfully defended various judicial review challenges against those bodies.

We have also acted for a range of prominent individuals, ALBs, corporations, academics and professionals in Statutory Inquiries.

We have considerable experience in supporting our public sector clients in their decision making processes, acutely aware of the close scrutiny that potentially contentious decisions can have, and the political, social and commercial sensitivities at play. We interpret legislation and provide practical advice to ensure that our public sector clients follow due process and make decisions lawfully, rationally and fairly.

Our cross disciplinary team provides both contentious and non-contentious advice, enabling us to support our clients through each stage in the decision making process to include any challenges that may arise.