Richard Clayton KC
Richard Clayton KC practises from London, England. He undertakes many Supreme Court/ Privy Council appeals, practising in public, constitutional and commercial law. His four Privy Council appeals in 2021 include a Bahamas constitutional challenge to security for costs for disproportionately restricting access to the Court and he also represents the AG of Anguilla in compulsory purchase compensation appeal.
Richard works in Anguilla, Bahamas, Belize, Cayman, St Vincent, Trinidad, Turks & Caicos, Channel Islands, Gibraltar, Hong Kong and Isle of Man and in cases before the European Court of Human Rights. His Supreme Court and Privy Council appeals include Seepersad (2021) (detaining juveniles in adult prison breaches constitutional rights against deprivation of liberty without due process of law and protection of law) Maharaj (2019) (freedom of information), Maharaj (2018) (Commission appointing Supreme Court judges must include lay people), Kennedy (2015) (freedom of information and common law rights), Suratt (2008) (constitutionality of discrimination legislation) Toussaint (2007) (right of access to the court and parliamentary privilege), Huang (2007) (important human rights proportionality case), Greenfield (2005) (principles for human rights damages) and the first environmental case before the Privy Council from Belize, BACONGO (2003).
Richard successfully represented former Prime Minister, Basdeo Panday before the Trinidad CA and was lead Counsel in the 8-day Court of Appeal case for the former Chief Minister of Turks & Caicos, Michael Misick and his cabinet. He was recently instructed in Trinidad in the cartel case and successfully defended judicial review against a Commission of Inquiry.
Richard has been a Deputy High Court Judge since 2011. From 2011-2019 he was the United Kingdom’s representative to the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional law, the Venice Commission. Richard is a former Chairman of the Constitutional and Administrative Bar Association, a Visiting Professor at University College, London and joint author of the Law of Human Rights (Oxford University Press) cited by the Supreme Court about 45 times.
