Tom has a developing practice in line with Chambers’ core practice areas, working both as sole counsel or as part of a counsel team. 

He has been instructed in high profile and complex litigation, including acting for the claimant in Wilson v Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police (concerning police officers who deceived women into sexual relationships); for Privacy International in R (HM) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (concerning the Border Force's unlawful practice of seizing mobile phones and extracting personal data from individuals arriving at Dover in small boats); and for the Serious Fraud Office in ENRC v SFO (an 11-week trial which was one of The Lawyer's Top 20 Cases for 2021, concerning allegations made against the SFO of inducement of breach of contract and misfeasance in public office).  

He is on the Civil Aviation Authority's Panel of Counsel, in which capacity he advises in particular on the implications of Brexit, developing aviation technologies and the climate emergency.

Prior to coming to Blackstone, Tom studied for a DPhil, specialising in education law, human rights law, and privatisation; and was a Lecturer in Law at St Peters’ College, Oxford (teaching EU and administrative law). Tom retains his interest and accepts instructions in all these areas. 


Experience

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Civil Liberties & Human Rights

Tom accepts instructions in all areas of human rights and equality law. 

Tom acted pro bono (led by Ben Jaffey QC) for Privacy International, which intervened in a judicial review brought by individuals who arrived across the Channel in small boats and whose phones were seized, and the data extracted and retained, by border officials. 

Tom has been instructed, led by other members of Chambers, in the preparation of applications to the European Court of Human Rights arising out of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Tom has a particular interest in claims brought against law enforcement bodies. He acted (with Charlotte Kilroy QC and Isabel Buchanan) pro bono for the claimant in Wilson v Commissioner of Police, a  Human Rights Act claim brought in the IPT by a woman deceived into a long-term sexual relationship by an undercover police officer. The IPT found for the claimant, holding that there had been a “formidable list of Convention violations” and “disturbing and lamentable failings at the most fundamental levels”. He has been instructed (again led by Charlotte Kilroy QC) in the Undercover Policing Inquiry by core participants subject to political surveillance and deceived in sexual relationships by undercover police officers. Tom has experience of misfeasance in public office claims from his work on ENRC v SFO. 

He has also advised on an urgent basis (led by Shaheed Fatima QC, Naina Patel and Gayatri Sarathi) an individual whose family were trapped in Kabul during the fall of the city to the Taliban, and assisted in the making of representations on that individual’s behalf to the FCDO.

Tom acted pro bono led by Tim Otty QC, advising elements of the opposition to the regime in Belarus on international law and sanctions. Tom also assisted Mr Otty QC pro bono with work for the Venice Commission on the Rule of Law on the rule of law implications of Covid-19 emergency law-making. 

Tom has a particular interest in children’s rights and education, which was his area of academic specialism before coming to practice at the bar.


Cases

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Public & Regulatory

Tom accepts instructions in all areas of public and regulatory law, including human rights claims, data protection, civil actions against public authorities, inquiries, immigration, judicial review, procurement, aviation and education. Prior to coming to the bar, Tom taught administrative law at the University of Oxford.

In particular, Tom is developing a specialised practice in aviation law. Tom is one of very few barristers appointed to the Civil Aviation Authority’s panel of counsel, and advises the CAA both led and as sole counsel on emergent technologies in aviation, as well as the implication of Brexit for aviation regulation. Tom has a particular interest in aviation regulation in the context of law’s response to the climate crisis.

Tom also regularly acts in the County Court in claims brought by consumers pursuant to retained EU Regulation 261/2004. 

Tom’s aviation practice is complemented by a regulatory practice in other areas, including in particular energy. Tom has advised the North Sea Transitional Authority on vires and Convention issues, as well as BEIS on certain aspects of energy law after Brexit which raised questions of vires, purposes, powers under the European Union Withdrawal Act, and EU law and Energy Charter Treaty issues.  

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Education

Tom has a particular interest in children’s rights and education, which was his area of academic specialism before coming to practice at the bar.

Tom has assisted a children’s digital rights charity with a complaint to the ICO concerning the use of children’s data by various apps and compliance with the Age Appropriate Design Code, and has been instructed to advise (led by Gemma White QC) constituent colleges of a Russell Group university on their non-academic disciplinary procedure, with particular focus on their approach to dealing with allegations of sexual misconduct.       

Tom has developed experience advising parents and students when things go wrong in their (children’s) education. In particular, he has advised a client as sole counsel pro bono on the prospects of an Equality Act claim for racial discrimination where their child may have been excluded from school on racial grounds; has advised a student client and her parents about potential recourse and/or appeal from a decision of their university to require the client to suspend their studies for academic reasons (led by Gemma White QC); and advised parents as sole counsel about a potential judicial review in respect of alleged errors in the calculation of their child’s centre assessed grades for the purposes of the award of GCSEs during the Covid-19 pandemic. Tom understands how distressing such circumstances can be, and the importance of managing them with sensitivity and pragmatism.        

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Discrimination

Tom has experience advising both claimants and defendants in equality law matters. Tom has a particular interest in equality in education, and has advised pro bono as sole counsel on a potential race discrimination claim against a school for an alleged racially motivated exclusion. 

Tom has particular experience as an advocate in County Court claims brought by individuals alleging disability discrimination against service providers. 

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Media & Entertainment

Tom is developing a practice in media law, with some ancillary intellectual property work. He has advised and drafted particulars of claim in a matter relating to sports broadcast rights as sole counsel, and has advise (with Tom Hickman QC) on a contracts purporting to assign rights to the exploitation of films. He has advised and settled particulars of claim for a well-known influencer in a dispute over the remuneration due for promoting certain products. He has also advised the BBC on matters relating to spectrum management, and Ofcom on certain matters relating to its statutory broadcast functions. 

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Financial Services & Regulatory Disputes

Tom is developing a practice in financial services law. Tom is instructed by the FCA (led by Andrew George QC, Harry Adamson and Ajay Ratan) in significant proceedings against certain authorised persons for breaches of COLL rules. He also has experience, as sole counsel, advising on disputes arising in respect of societies registered under the Cooperative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014. 

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Commercial

Tom regularly acts in commercial matters, both as junior and sole counsel. Tom has acted in major commercial litigation, having been on the SFO’s counsel team in the claim brought by ENRC against Dechert LLP and the SFO. He has acted as sole counsel in a construction matter, involving a claim for debt under an introducer agreement  and counterclaims for defects.

He has broad experience settling particulars of claim and defences in various commercial matters, including those arising from debt claims, construction disputes, breach of contract, real and intellectual property licences and bond transactions.  

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Employment

Tom accepts instructions in all areas of employment law. He has experience both of Employment Tribunal claims, and High Court employee competition work. 

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EU Law

Tom accepts instructions in all areas of EU law. He has particular experience of EU law as it applies to the aviation sector. Prior to joining Blackstone, Tom was a Lecturer in EU law at St Peter's College, Oxford.

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Environment

Tom accepts instructions in all areas of environmental law. He has particular experience of advising on the implications of tackling the climate emergency for the aviation sector. 

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Achievements

Education

  • BA Jurisprudence with Law Studies in Europe (German Law)
  • BCL
  • BPTC, City Law School (Outstanding)

Prizes

  • Oxford Law Faculty Graduate Assistance Fund Award (2016, rewarded 2017)
  • Middle Temple Certificate of Honour (2016)
  • Ralph Chiles CBE Award for Comparative Human Rights Law (2015)
  • Middle Temple Queen Mother's Scholarship (2015)
  • Trinity FLAC Human Rights Award (2015)
  • Martin Wronker Prize for Administrative Law (2014)
  • AV Dicey Prize in Law (2014)
  • Brackenbury Scholarship (2011, re-awarded 2012)

Mooting/Public Speaking

  • Coach of the Oxford ELSA Moot Team and Oxford Price Moot Team
  • Assessing undergraduates for Oxford University’s first-year advocacy and legal research programme
  • Judging undergraduate intercollegiate mooting competitions
  • LSE LGBT Moot: runner-up
  • Shearman and Sterling Moot: winner
  • Oxford Public Law Moot: runner-up
  • 7KBW Commercial Law Moot: Oralist’s Prize
  • Part of the team representing the UK at the European Youth Parliament

Publications

T. Lowenthal, The Role of Dignity in Human Rights Theory: Constituent or Teleological? Trinity College Law Review, (2015) 18 TCLR 56

T. Lowenthal, “Essop v Home Office: Proving Indirect Discrimination” (OxHRH Blog, 6 April 2017)

T. Lowenthal, "Drafting guiding principles on state obligations concerning private schools: Lessons and strategic considerations from a rights perspective", (World Education Blog, 22 January 2018)

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