About Public Law
As a government lawyer your clients are experiencing various impacts on policy making from numerous and competing interests such as austerity, efficiency, collective/individual rights, European and devolved/delegated jurisdictions. Your job advising on legislation and risk of challenge through judicial review is increasingly time consuming and complex.
Brexit
With reform of retained EU law high on the agenda, post-Brexit legal changes remains a key issue. Get key information and updates for all practitioners, with practice area specific Brexit content across the modules.
Judicial Review
We outline the key principles and procedural requirements with a clear focus on the public sector perspective. The content focusses primarily on judicial review in the Administrative Court in England and Wales.
Public Procurement
Failure to stick to procedures can have significant legal, financial and practical consequences for a contracting authority. We guide you through various processes, focussing on the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.
Expertise on all matters
An essential resource providing guidance & materials on core legal subjects relevant to lawyers in all areas of legal practice, as well as specialist content designed to assist government lawyers in a range of key areas
Topics We Cover
Latest Public Law News
Corporate Crime analysis: The court held (in a majority judgment (4:1)) that sanctions imposed by the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and...
The Supreme Court has published a speech given at Singapore Management University by Lord Sales, analysing the rise of automated decision-making (ADM)...
Local Government analysis: The appeal in Abdelrahman v The Mayor and Burgesses of The London Borough of Islington concerned whether, in interpreting...
Public Law analysis: This article discusses the transformative impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the public sector, highlighting its role in...
The Bar Council of England and Wales has called for an urgent investigation following a leaked Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS)...
Latest Public Law Practice Notes
Closed Material ProcedureThis Practice Note considers the closed material procedure (CMP) in CPR 82 which allows the state to disclose national...
Profiling and automated decision-makingFORTHCOMING CHANGE: On 19 June 2025, the Data (Use and Access) Bill received Royal Assent, becoming the Data...
Processing personal data—standard of consentThis Practice Note is based on the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and consent guidance...
Court of Justice State aid national references—ongoing cases trackerThe table below lists national references to the Court of Justice concerning the...
State aid and the market economy operator principleEconomic transactions carried out by Member States do not confer an advantage in favour of an...
Latest Public Law Precedents
Improving efficiency: Making changes across the department (worked example)This Precedent provides a worked example relating to a hypothetical...
Improving efficiency: Making changes across the department—blankThis Precedent will help you identify and deal with issues around making and...
Improving efficiency business case (worked example)Executive summaryThis report analyses why 25% of the calls we receive are from the procurement team...
Improving efficiency—Voice of the Customer (VOC)—worked example for in-house lawyersThis Precedent provides a worked example of Precedent: Improving...
Improving efficiency—Voice of the Customer/Client (VOC)—blankThis Precedent can be used to gather customer information and feedback to determine the...
Latest Public Law Q&As
Featured Public Law content
Sources of constitutional law
Sources of constitutional lawIn briefThe British constitution is unwritten in the sense that it does not derive from a single constitutional text. It...
Methods of statutory interpretation
Methods of statutory interpretation used to resolve disputes about the meaning of legislationIntroduction to statutory interpretationThe aim of...
Convention rights—structure of qualified rights
Convention rights—structure of qualified rightsThe rights preserved under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), as set out in the Human...
Judicial review—time limits and the pre-action protocol
Judicial review—time limits and the pre-action protocolWhen considering whether and how to bring a claim for judicial review, the first step is to...
Grounds of judicial review—unreasonableness
Grounds of judicial review—unreasonablenessThis Practice Note outlines the ground of judicial review usually known as unreasonableness or...
What is fettering of discretion in judicial review? When is it an actionable ground of challenge and what must be established for a challenge to succeed?
Separation of powers—legislative, executive and judiciary
Separation of powers—legislative, executive and judiciarySource of the doctrine of the separation of powersThe origins of the doctrine of the...
Grounds of judicial review—illegality
Grounds of judicial review—illegalityOverview of the illegality groundIllegality is the first of the grounds on judicial review set out by Lord...
What is a public authority?
What is a public authority?There is no single, universal answer to the question whether a particular organisation is treated, in law, as a public...
Grounds of judicial review—procedural impropriety
Grounds of judicial review—procedural improprietyProcedural impropriety as a ground of judicial review‘Procedural impropriety’ is the last of the...
Judicial review—interested parties and interveners
Judicial review—interested parties and intervenersInterested partiesIn the context of judicial review, an interested party is 'any person (other than...
Parliamentary supremacy—implied repeal
Parliamentary supremacy—implied repealEssential to Parliament’s legislative supremacy is the principle that Parliament is not bound by its...
What is the legal basis and effect of revoking UK legislation?
Grounds of judicial review—breach of legitimate expectation
Grounds of judicial review—breach of legitimate expectationThe ground of challenge based on legitimate expectations is designed to hold a public...
Royal Charters
Royal ChartersWhat is a Royal Charter?The term 'Royal Charter' has transformed over time. Originally, a Royal Charter was a procedure by which the...
Costs for judicial review—general principles
Costs for judicial review—general principlesGeneral rule on costs in judicial reviewThe general rule in relation to costs in judicial review, as in...
Judicial review—what it is and when it can be used
Judicial review—what it is and when it can be usedWhat is judicial review?Judicial review is a process by which the courts exercise a supervisory...
Judicial deference and the margin of appreciation
Judicial deference and the margin of appreciationJudicial deference is also known as the principle that 'respect is a central concept in judicial...
Associated legal terms
Compensating shielding
An amount of radiation shielding implemented in a design to compensate for the lack of shielding in a certain area because of a concession for the incorporation of something else.
Office of the Public Guardian
The holder of this office in Scotland is the official who supervises powers and orders related to adults with incapacity under the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 asp 4 and related regulations.
R2P2
Reducing Risks Protecting People: A document which describes the decision-making process of the HSE. It aims to make the procedures and protocols which the HSE follows transparent so as to ensure that the HSE's decision-making process, including risk assessment and risk management, is perceived as valid.
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