Public Law Experts Join Irwin Mitchell's National Team

The Public Law team at Irwin Mitchell has been boosted with the appointment of three specialist senior lawyers working with on national briefs.

Prison law specialist Nancy Collins will be joining Irwin Mitchell’s London office as an Associate Solicitor, whilst working out of the Sheffield office will be environmental and planning solicitor Dr Justin Neal and solicitor Michael Robinson who will be taking on environmental and healthcare briefs.

Nancy Collins has 12 years experience working on all aspects of prison law at Liberty, the Prisoners Advice Service and Bhatt Murphy. She is also a member of the Prisoners’ Legal Rights Group, Liberty and the Human Rights Lawyers Association. She has been involved in challenges heard in the European Court of Human Rights and has acted in a number of important judicial reviews.

Dr Justin Neal, a former lecturer, specialises in Environmental law and Planning/Local Government litigation. Before coming to Irwin Mitchell Justin headed the team at Fish Legal - a not-for-profit organisation - for six years, specialising in nuisance cases, civil litigation, laws governing the water industry and a wide range of cases involving environmental legislation. He is also a member of the UK Environmental Law Association.

Justin said: “The work I undertake spans England and Wales and I am committed to developing the law in this field on behalf of clients. I am particularly keen to work with people who want advice on pollution or planning issues, environmental Information regulations requests and dealings with the Information Commissioner. I have also a great deal of experience relating to the water industry and the laws affecting fisheries, angling and designated habitats.”

Also new to the Public Law team is solicitor Michael Robinson, who will deal with regulatory disputes, particularly for professionals. He has worked for the Crown Prosecution Service and in an in-house regulatory role for the Environment Agency. This involved advisory work in relation to the removal of hazardous materials from land. 

More recently, he has gained experience in the healthcare sector and helping individuals dealing with regulatory bodies.

Michael said: “I am very excited to have joined Irwin Mitchell as the firm has a strong and growing reputation in public law. The firm has been involved in many landmark cases and I am sure I have a lot of specialist knowledge to bring to the team and client work.”

Andrew Lockley, national head of Public Law at Irwin Mitchell, said: “The addition of these three experienced solicitors gives us even greater depth across our specialisms. Our focus is always on helping our clients achieve justice in their cases.”