Richard Honey QC practises as a barrister in the fields of public law and environmental law, with particular specialisms in judicial review and similar statutory challenges, infrastructure projects, compulsory purchase and compensation, and climate change and ESG litigation.  He is called to the Bars of England and Wales and Northern Ireland.  Richard appears most frequently in the Administrative / Planning Court and in the Upper Tribunal Lands Chamber.  He is also an experienced appellate advocate, having appeared in the Court of Appeal 18 times, including 14 appearances as lead/sole counsel.  Until he took Silk, he was a member of the Attorney General’s A Panel of junior counsel to the Crown, having spent some 12 years on the AG’s panels in total.

Richard is ranked as a leading barrister in four separate fields in both Chambers and Partners and Legal 500: local government; environment; planning; and agriculture and rural affairs.  He was the environment/planning junior barrister of the year at the Chambers UK Bar Awards in 2018 (nominated in 2016 also).   

In environmental law, Richard has since 2010 been ranked as a leading barrister by both Chambers and Partners and Legal 500.  He was also listed as the leading junior barrister in environmental law by Who’s Who Legal.

In planning law, Richard has been ranked as a leading barrister by both Chambers and Partners (since 2012) and Legal 500 (since 2008).  Prior to taking Silk, he was regularly ranked in the top 10 highest rated planning junior barristers in the Planning magazine survey and was ranked top of Band 1 in Chambers and Partners 2020 and the 2021 Legal 500.  

Richard is also ranked by Chambers and Partners in local government (2014-2015, 2019-2020) and in agriculture and rural affairs (2015-2020), and by the 2021 Legal 500 in local government and agriculture.