Emily Soothill

Information about the specialist

Practice Areas

Emily helps individuals use the law to challenge decisions that violate their rights, seek accountability for unlawful treatment and claim compensation for harm that they have suffered. She has a diverse caseload which includes public law challenges and complex group claims.

After bringing a successful judicial review (NB and Others v SSHD, Claim No. CO/312/2021) challenging the legality of conditions at Napier Barracks and the Defendant’s system for allocating asylum seekers to barracks accommodation, Emily is currently representing asylum seekers accommodated in Napier Barracks in civil claims regarding the adequacy of their accommodation. Emily is also the lead solicitor on a group claim for damages on behalf of individuals detained unlawfully in the controversial Manston short-term holding facility.

Emily has particular expertise in international human rights litigation against corporate actors and complex group claims. She has worked on a number of corporate accountability cases, including a claim against African Barrick Gold (Acacia Mining) relating to injuries and deaths at the North Mara Mine in Tanzania and a compensation claim against Anglo American South Africa and AngloGold Ashanti, brought by former gold miners with the debilitating lung disease silicosis, leading to a ground-breaking settlement for 4,365 former miners.

Emily also has experience of bringing civil claims on behalf of victims of human trafficking and has delivered training to NGOs in this area. In 2016, Emily helped secure the first High Court judgment ever handed down against a British company for claims arising from modern slavery.