Katherine Barnes

Barrister, 39 Essex Chambers


Katherine practises planning and environmental law, as well as public law and human rights in its broadest sense.

She graduated from Queens’ College, Cambridge with a First Class degree in French and Spanish before converting to law. She then obtained an LLM with distinction in public law and human rights from the London School of Economics.

Katherine has appeared as sole counsel in the Court of Appeal, High Court, Upper Tribunal, Court of Protection, County Court, Crown Court and Magistrates Courts.

She is listed as one of the top ten ‘Highest Rated Planning Juniors Under 35’ by Planning Magazine (2019) and is identified as “Up and Coming” by Chambers and Partners (2019) in the field of community care.

As former co-chair of Young Legal Aid Lawyers (2017-2019), Katherine is committed to access to justice and legal aid work. She is also a member of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s panel of counsel.