Guidance

Honorary King’s Counsel Awards: case studies

Published 10 August 2026

Applies to England and Wales

John Battle

Awarded Honorary King’s Counsel in 2023, for contributions to open justice and cameras in court.

John Battle Image credit: ITN/Peter Searle

John Battle is an employed barrister, with a particular focus on media, open justice and the broadcasting of court proceedings. He was nominated for leading the broadcast industry’s engagement with the Ministry of Justice and senior judiciary over two decades. His work included establishing the broadcast media group, supporting the Court of Appeal filming pilot, advising on the Supreme Court’s approach to filming, lobbying for legislative changes enabling Court of Appeal and Crown Court broadcasting, and helping develop the CPS Media Protocol, which allowed broadcasters to use images and footage shown in open court.

Professor Martin Dixon

Awarded Honorary King’s Counsel in 2025, for contributions to property law scholarship.

Professor Martin Dixon

Professor Martin Dixon is a legal academic specialising in property law. He was nominated for being one of the leading academic authorities on property law in England and Wales, with scholarship widely cited by the senior courts, including the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. The nomination also highlighted his co-authorship of leading practitioner texts, participation in Law Commission projects, co-leadership of the Modern Studies in Property Law conference, and editorship of The Conveyancer.

Dean Dunham

Awarded Honorary King’s Counsel in 2026, for contributions to consumer law and alternative dispute resolution.

Dean Dunham

Dean Dunham is a solicitor specialising in consumer law and alternative dispute resolution. He was nominated for creating innovative and accessible routes to redress in key consumer sectors, including through the founding of Consumer Dispute Resolution Limited in 2014, the first approved ADR scheme under UK regulations. The nomination highlighted his development of other major schemes including AviationADR, RetailADR and UtilitiesADR, which handled tens of thousands of complaints, improved access to justice, and helped reduce pressure on the courts. It also recognised his role as a national commentator on consumer rights through broadcast and print media, contributing to wider public understanding of legal rights. 

Dame Elizabeth Gardiner DCB

Awarded Honorary Queen’s Counsel in 2020, for contributions to government law and legislative drafting.

Dame Elizabeth Gardiner DCB

Dame Elizabeth Gardiner DCB was a government lawyer specialising in legislative drafting and the first woman to become First Parliamentary Counsel. She was nominated for her leadership of drafting teams on tax legislation, her work on consolidation and law reform projects at the Law Commission, and her oversight of major Brexit-related primary legislation. The nomination also recognised her work to improve the quality of modern legislation, reduce unnecessary complexity, build parliamentary capability across the Civil Service and champion diversity and inclusion within the Cabinet Office. 

Lynda Redfern Gibbs 

Awarded Honorary Queen’s Counsel in 2020, for contributions to advocacy training and legal education.

Lynda Redfern Gibbs

Lynda Redfern Gibbs is a legal educator and barrister specialising in advocacy training, particularly for advocates working with vulnerable witnesses and children. She was nominated for her co-authorship of the national Advocacy for Vulnerable People and Children training course, her work with the Family Law Bar Association to roll-out that training to family lawyers, and her work towards national training for advocates who prosecute and defend children. She also developed a two-part Bar Course: an online first stage designed to improve access, diversity and social mobility, followed by a practical second stage covering excellence in advocacy, vulnerable witnesses, youth justice, and specialist lectures. The course has led to exceptional academic and pupillage outcomes. 

Millicent Grant 

Awarded Honorary Queen’s Counsel in 2020, for contributions to legal executive leadership, diversity and social mobility.

Millicent Grant

Millicent Grant is a Chartered Legal Executive, and was formerly CILEx President and the first person from a non-white background to lead a legal professional membership body. She was nominated for her sustained work to widen opportunity and promote diversity across the legal profession and judiciary, including giving evidence to the Constitutional Committee on judicial eligibility for chartered legal executives and contributing to the Pre-Application Judicial Education programme. The nomination also recognised her practical support for lawyers and aspiring lawyers from under-represented groups, reflected in her 2017 Black Solicitors Network Lawyer of the Year award, and her wider social mobility work through coaching, tutoring and chairing the Knights Youth Centre, a youth work charity.  

Professor James C Hathaway CM FRSC 

Awarded Honorary King’s Counsel in 2026, for contributions to international refugee law and asylum jurisprudence.

Professor James C Hathaway CM FRSC

Professor James C Hathaway CM FRSC is a North America-based legal academic specialising in public international law, with a particular focus on international refugee law. He was nominated for the influence of his scholarship on asylum jurisprudence in England and Wales, including through leading works such as The Law of Refugee Status and The Rights of Refugees under International Law. His work has been cited extensively by UK courts and tribunals, including the House of Lords and Supreme Court, and has shaped judicial interpretation of the 1951 Refugee Convention. The nomination also recognised his contribution to aligning domestic refugee law with international standards, and to the education and training of students, practitioners and judges. 

Professor David Hodson OBE 

Awarded Honorary Queen’s Counsel in 2022, for contributions to family law, mediation and arbitration.

Professor David Hodson OBE

Professor David Hodson OBE is a family law solicitor, mediator, arbitrator and Deputy Judge, specialising in international family law and dispute resolution. He was nominated for his work developing England’s family law arbitration, directive mediation, family accreditation and plain-English good practice codes. These initiatives were recognised for encouraging out-of-court settlement and making family law more accessible. The nomination also pointed to his authorship of a leading practitioner text on international family law and his co-founding of innovative law firms that brought together lawyers, mediators and counsellors and to support international families, which won the Law Society’s Excellence award in 2019. The nomination also recognised his long-standing work to promote understanding of the international aspects of family law among lawyers in England and Wales. 

Angela Jackman 

Awarded Honorary Queen’s Counsel in 2021, for contributions to vulnerable clients, education law and human rights.

Angela Jackman

Angela Jackman is a solicitor and legal academic specialising in mental capacity, education and public law. She was nominated for her work promoting the legal rights of vulnerable and disadvantaged adults and children. The nomination highlighted her practitioner text Practical Education Law, published by the Law Society in 2005, and her long-running sharing of expertise through writing for the Legal Action Group, public talks and delivering specialist practitioner training. She was also recognised for her engagement with law and government policy through expert consultation responses, her membership of the Law Society’s Human Rights Committee, and her role as an expert panel member of the Strategic Legal Fund.

Peter Kandler 

Awarded Honorary King’s Counsel in 2026, for contributions to community-based legal services and access to justice.

Peter Kandler

Peter Kandler is a solicitor and pioneer of community-based legal services. He was nominated for his role in co-founding the UK’s first Law Centre in North Kensington in 1970 and serving as its first director. His pioneering model established a distinctive form of practice that combined legal services, social policy work, and public legal education, providing free legal assistance to people experiencing poverty. The nomination recognised that this approach inspired the national Law Centres movement and strengthened the profession’s commitment to rights and community-based practice. His approach helped give rise to social welfare law, including the development of new areas of practice such as housing law and criminal defence at police stations. 

Glyn Maddocks 

 Awarded Honorary Queen’s Counsel in 2020, for contributions relating to miscarriages of justice and criminal appeals.

Glyn Maddocks

Glyn Maddocks is a South Wales-based solicitor specialising in civil litigation, personal injury, human rights, inquests, child abuse claims and criminal appeals. He was nominated for his miscarriage of justice work, including notable successes in overturning wrongful convictions and a 12-year case for which he was named Welsh Lawyer of the Year in 2005, much of it undertaken pro bono. The nomination also cited his wider contribution to wrongful conviction work through publications, broadcasts, lectures and evidence to parliamentary select committees, and his role as a founding trustee of the Centre for Criminal Appeals, now APPEAL, which represents people seeking to overturn unsafe convictions. 

Professor Renato Nazzini 

Awarded Honorary King’s Counsel in 2025, for contributions to competition,  arbitration and construction law.

Professor Renato Nazzini

Professor Renato Nazzini is a legal scholar and practitioner specialising in competition law, commercial arbitration and construction law. He was nominated for his scholarship and practice across those fields. The nomination highlighted his contribution to competition law policy, including work on collective actions and abuse of dominance that influenced the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the European Commission’s 2008 guidance on Article 102. It also recognised his contribution to construction law through his leadership of the Centre of Construction Law and Dispute Resolution at King’s College London, reports on construction adjudication, and work promoting diversity within the field. 

Professor Surya Subedi OBE 

Awarded Honorary Queen’s Counsel in 2017, for contributions to international law and human rights.

Professor Surya Subedi OBE

Professor Surya Subedi OBE is a legal academic and barrister specialising in international law and human rights. He was nominated for his extensive scholarship, his service between 2010 and 2015 on the Advisory Group on Human Rights to the British Foreign Secretary, and his work as UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in Cambodia. In that role, he produced four substantive UN reports on judicial, parliamentary, electoral and land reform. A number of his recommendations were implemented and the reports became an important reference point for human rights defenders, UN agencies and donor bodies. 

Marcia Willis Stewart 

Awarded Honorary Queen’s Counsel in 2017, for contributions to civil liberties, public law and inquests.

Marcia Willis Stewart

Marcia Willis Stewart is a solicitor specialising in civil liberties, public law and administrative law. She was nominated for her work on demanding and high-profile matters, including representing the family in the Duggan inquest and leading a team of more than 30 lawyers representing 77 of the Hillsborough families. The nomination also recognised her leadership of clients and colleagues, her mentoring of pupils from a local community school during the Hillsborough Inquests, and her wider commitment to the voluntary sector and legal aid. 

Daniel Winterfeldt MBE 

Awarded Honorary Queen’s Counsel in 2020, for contributions to capital markets practice, inclusion and professional culture.

Daniel Winterfeldt MBE

Daniel Winterfeldt MBE is a solicitor specialising in capital markets. He was nominated for his contributions to capital markets practice, including his role in founding and co-chairing the Forum for US Securities Lawyers in London, established in 2006 to address US securities law issues affecting London and international capital markets. The nomination also recognised his founding of the InterLaw Diversity Forum in 2008 and described its work with government, regulatory bodies, law firms, chambers and in-house counsel on diversity, inclusion and workplace culture. It pointed to the Forum’s scale and cross-sector reach, and highlighted his wider support for legal employers on talent management, leadership and culture change.