PILC - Key Persons
Alexandra is a solicitor working on PILC's Gentrification Project- supporting access to justice in the class-based transformation of urban space.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Founding Member of the Focus E15
Ayesha is a founding member of the Focus E15 housing campaign, which fights with residents of Newham for the right to be housed decently.
With the Focus E15 campaign she has organised weekly stalls and public events. She has raised funds to develop an office base and worked to expand the campaign's public profile, including through the use of social media. Ayesha also maintains the campaign website and blog.
Ayesha works for a charity supporting families to overcome challenges. In this role she meets regularly with families to discuss issues that prevent regular school attendance. She also sits on a school's safeguarding team.
Ayesha completed an MA in Ethnicity, Globalisation and Culture at Birbeck, University of London, in 2010.
Ayesha has lived in East London for 30 years.
Charlotte Smith v SSHCLG [2020] Charlotte Smith v SSHCLG and Newark 16th October 2020, Mr Strachan QC, sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge (CO/2063/2019)
Job Titles:
- Treasurer
- Trustee
- Member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants
A passionate Chartered Accountant, David has 12 years' work experience in a wide range of areas in finance including financial and management accounting, treasury, taxation, and auditing.
Having started his career in 2011 with PKF, a medium-tier audit firm in South Africa where he qualified in 2014, David then moved to the UK that same year to work for EY, one of the Big Four global audit firms. During his time in audit, David worked with both large corporations and small-medium sized enterprises where he was involved in auditing and evaluating business systems, controls, and processes. He also had the opportunity to work with charities and schools assisting them with financial matters including preparing accounts, budgets, and forecasts.
In 2016 David moved into the corporate world where he has held various roles, assisting businesses with financial reporting, process improvement, tax efficiency & reporting and daily cash management and forecasting.
David is a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SA) for 9 years now and a member of the Association of Tax Technicians (UK) for the past 4 years.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Board Member of Walterton & Elgin Community Homes
- Co - Chair of Trustees
- Specialist
Elizabeth O'Hara is a co-Chair of Trustees. Elizabeth O'Hara is a housing specialist with a longstanding interest in using the law to address problems of every day life. She has spent many years developing policy and strategy, including at Shelter. Her background is in housing and homelessness services and the not-for profit advice sector. Elizabeth has worked with long term rough sleepers; managed a housing and benefits service for homeless families in temporary accommodation; worked as part of a specialist HIV housing advice team; and worked under legal aid contracts in the housing team at North Kensington Law Centre.
Elizabeth has served as an elected board member of Walterton & Elgin Community Homes (WECH), a resident controlled, community-led housing association. She was a trustee in the early years of Bail for Immigration Detainees, a charity set up to challenge unfair immigration in the UK. Elizabeth has also worked with the Housing Ombudsman Service on its Panel of Advisers.
Job Titles:
- Secretary of State for the Home Department
Helen is a human rights and public law solicitor and acts for individuals and campaign groups whose rights have been infringed by state bodies. She represents clients in a range of matters, including: housing and homelessness, unlawful detention, access to education, and challenges to cuts made by local government.
She is currently working on a research and advocacy project with specialist organisations that support survivors of domestic abuse. Part of that project involves using strategic litigation to help those who suffer domestic abuse and are then systematically excluded by local authorities from urgent accommodation. In 2020, Helen co-led PILC's legal campaign against the government's failure to support domestic abuse survivors during Covid-19.
Helen also has experience in pursuing complaints and civil actions against the police and prison authorities and is an accredited police station representative.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Helen has advised and represented clinically vulnerable and clinically extremely vulnerable families around school attendance. Through this work she has won significant concessions from government, leading to the withdrawal of penalty notices and children being reinstated to the school roll.
In 2019 Helen was nominated for Best Legal Aid Newcomer at the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards.
Background
Helen graduated from Queen Mary University of London, and obtained a Masters in Law at University College London. She completed the LPC at the University of Law before undertaking her training contract at Public Interest Lawyers and qualifying as a solicitor in March 2017 at Tuckers Solicitors.
Holly is a legal assistant at PILC, working with Keith Coughtrie on legal challenges relating to the Gypsy and Traveller and Bargee Traveller communities through housing and homelessness legislation.
Before joining PILC, she worked at Crisis for two years and has also volunteered as a caseworker with Advocate and as a representative for the School Exclusion Project. She also currently volunteers as an Appropriate Adult with young and vulnerable detainees in Southwark police stations.
Holly has a BA in Arabic and Spanish from the University of Cambridge, and recently completed a GDL and the Bar Training Course at City University London.
Job Titles:
- Specialist in Social Welfare
Keith Coughtrie is a specialist in Social Welfare and Public Law with particular expertise in relation to the rights of the travelling community.
He has expertise in matters relating to Housing and public and administrative legislation as well as legal issues relating to the Gypsy and Traveller community and also the Bargee Traveller Community. He assists families and individuals who are seeking a place to live, whether in planning proceedings or through housing and homeless legislation.
Keith has represented Gypsies and Travellers for over 15 years and gained the trust and confidence of this underprivileged community alongside a formidable reputation. He is known for his tireless determination in high profile and smaller enforcement cases alike.
He represented the Claimant Lisa Smith in her recent successful challenge to the definition of a Traveller which was found by the Court of Appeal to be discriminatory to both disabled and elderly people and changed the landscape for planning decision makers and council's.
He was involved in the long-running legal dispute centred on Dale Farm, Essex - a case which attracted widespread media coverage. He represented residents in Human Rights claims and a judicial review.
He was among the shortlisted finalists at the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year (LALY) Awards 2016.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Co - Chair of Trustees
- Partner at Miles & Partners
- Trainer for Shelter and Delivers Seminars for HLPA
Lou Crisfield is a co-Chair of Trustees. Lou is a partner at Miles & Partners and is head of the Housing and Community Care Team there. However, her pathway into the law was unconventional. She initially trained as a cabinet maker and worked as a carpenter whilst at the same time volunteering at the Advisory Service for Squatters (ASS) and playing an active role in the London squatting movement. She still provides back-up support to ASS.
In the mid-1990s she worked for Mind in Tower Hamlets as a welfare rights and housing adviser (she also taught woodwork). Lou then spent fifteen years as a Housing and Community worker at Tower Hamlets Law Centre. Her role there included tackling and raising awareness of domestic violence and racial harassment on local estates and she gave evidence arising from that work to the Stephen Lawrence Enquiry. She moved to Miles & Partners in 2012.
Lou is a trainer for Shelter and delivers seminars for HLPA on a regular basis.
Luisa is a legal assistant at PILC. Prior to joining, she was the social media editor at Novara Media. She also volunteered at PILC on a campaign with clinically vulnerable and clinically extremely vulnerable families during the coronavirus pandemic and on PILC's domestic abuse and housing campaign.
Luisa has a BA in English Literature from Goldsmiths University and recently completed a GDL at London Metropolitan University.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Secretary of PILC 's Board of Trustees
Niall Mulholland is the Secretary of PILC's board of trustees. Growing up in Northern Ireland, Niall was active in anti-sectarian, cross-community socialist politics and was Chair of Youth against Sectarianism.
Since moving to London in 1997, he has worked as a journalist and is the editor of socialistworld.net. Niall is currently vice-chair of the London NUJ Magazine branch, and vice-chair of Newham Trades Council. Since 2007, he has served almost continuously on the Management Committee of Longlife Housing Cooperative (Newham) and currently is its Chair.
Niall sits on the Executive of the London Federation of Housing Cooperatives and is also Chair of the Social Housing Action Campaign (SHAC), which brings together housing workers, housing association tenants and housing cooperative tenants.
Paul is a lawyer, socialist and activist. He is the Legal Director and Senior Solicitor at the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC). After many years working in the law centres movement and private practice in 2016 he established PILC.
Paul acts in a wide range of public law and human rights cases, including claims for judicial review and all aspect of public inquiry work. Through his cases, he has not only achieved tangible results for his clients but has also made a broader impact, benefiting numerous individuals through his strategic and calculated approach to litigation.
Driven by a genuine passion, Paul views the law as a powerful tool to bring about progressive social change, particularly for the working-class and marginalised communities. His commitment is reflected in his active role as an executive committee member of the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers.
He regularly contributes to the publication Socialist Lawyer, both in print and online, as well as The Socialist newspaper. He has also written for Declassified UK and the Justice Gap.
Suzanne worked for the social housing regulator for almost 20 years supporting the publication of regulatory judgements and the organisation's broader quality assurance function. For the duration of her employment she served as an elected trade-union representative, initially as a member of Unison and subsequently as a member of Unite.
In 2011, Suzanne was elected to the position of branch secretary for the large, dynamic, multi-employer Unite Housing Workers Branch, which primarily represents members across the housing-association sector. For the last five years she has served as an elected member of Unite's National Executive Council, the union's highest ruling body.
Alongside others in her branch, Suzanne was a founding member of the Social Housing Action Campaign, creating a common organising forum for housing workers, tenant groups, campaign organisations and housing activists. She continues to support SHAC's development. Whilst serving as a trade unionist, Suzanne achieved a first-class honours degree in Industrial Relations, Economics and Labour Law, and subsequently gained a PhD in community unionism from Birkbeck, University of London.