Jack Boswell

Contact Jack: jackboswell@matrixlaw.co.uk | +44 (0)20 7404 3447

Contact Jack's Practice Team (Team T): TeamT@matrixlaw.co.uk

Jack accepts instructions in all of Matrix’s practice areas, with particular emphasis on public law, human rights, crime, extradition, and immigration.

Public Law and Human Rights

Jack is acting for a group of Tamil asylum seekers who were detained on a military base on Diego Garcia in the British Indian Ocean Territory (led by Chris Buttler KC), including:

• R (VT & Ors) v Commissioner for BIOT (BIOT SC 15 of 2023), in which the Court held that asylum seekers had been unlawfully detained for over three years. The decision was upheld by the Court of Appeal: [2025] BIOT CA (Civ) 1.
• R (VT & Ors) v Commissioner for BIOT [2024] BIOT CA (Civ) 1, upholding the claimants’ right to have the trial heard on Diego Garcia.
• R (VT & Ors) v Commissioner for BIOT [2024] BIOT CA (Civ) 2, confirming the asylum seekers’ right to “bail” pending determination of their habeas corpus
• R (AAD & Ors) v Commissioner for BIOT (BIOT SC 33 of 2024), concerning the inadequacy of accommodation within the detention camp.
• R (CT & Ors) v Commissioner for BIOT (BIOT SC 20 of 2024), in which the Court held that the Children Act 1989 applies in the BIOT, and in which the Commissioner conceded that he had breached safeguarding duties owed to children in the detention camp.
• R (BAA & Ors) v SSFCDA & SSHD (AC-2024-LON-001076), which the UK Government conceded, by agreeing to relocate the asylum seekers to the UK.
• R (RT & CT) v Commissioner for BIOT (BIOT SC 26 of 2024), a successful challenge to the local police’s failure to investigation allegations of child sexual abuse.
• R (RT & CT) v Commissioner for BIOT (BIOT SC 2 of 2025), in which the Commissioner conceded that he had breached his statutory duties to victims of crime in the BIOT.

Jack represented the University of Sussex in its successful challenge to a £585,000 fine, in which the High Court held that the University’s policy prohibiting the bullying and harassment of trans and non-binary people did not breach its duty to uphold freedom of speech (R (University of Sussex) v OfS [2026] EWHC 984 (Admin)).

Jack represented the successful applicant in R (RG & Ors) v SSHD [2026] UKAITUR JR2025LON2557, in which the Upper Tribunal held that the decision to impose a “no recourse to public funds” condition on his leave to remain in the UK interfered with the peaceful enjoyment of his possessions, contrary to Article 1 of Protocol 1 to the ECHR.

Jack is regularly instructed in systemic policy challenges before the UK courts, including R (Duncan Lewis) v Lord Chancellor, which led to the Lord Chancellor increasing legal aid rates for legal aid work in the field of immigration and asylum.

Jack acts as sole counsel in inquests engaging the right to life under Article 2 ECHR. He is also instructed in the Independent Inquiry relating to Afghanistan, concerning allegations that UK Special Forces unlawfully killed Afghan citizens between 2010 and 2013 (led by Edward Craven KC).

Jack has advised clients on novel public law and human rights issues, including a human rights claim concerning two people who had been swapped at birth; a case concerning the right to be forgotten from the Police National Computer under Article 8 ECHR and the UK GDPR; and a case concerning the implications of dual nationality under Senegalese election law.

Jack is frequently instructed in complex asylum cases, particularly claims arising from political persecution. Before joining Matrix, Jack worked on complex immigration and asylum matters at Gherson Solicitors.

Crime and Extradition

Jack is regularly instructed to advise and represent defendants in criminal and extradition proceedings before the magistrates’ courts, the Crown Court, and the High Court.

Notable cases include:

• R v Hawkins & Ors, in which he represented three Just Stop Oil protesters who were unanimously acquitted of causing criminal damage to BP fuel pumps.
• R v Ecclestone, in which he assisted Clare Montgomery KC and Katherine Hardcastle in the defence of a complex fraud case.
• Nosek v Poland [2024] EWHC 3119 (Admin), an extradition appeal concerning, inter alia, novel issues relating to conviction in absence.
• Smithies v Cyprus, an extradition case concerning forum, Article 3 ECHR, and the permissibility of making adverse findings of fact on matters that were not subject to cross-examination.

Before joining Matrix, Jack worked on complex extradition and sanctions matters at Gherson Solicitors.

Private Law

Jack is instructed in BAA & Ors v General Counsel for the BIOT & G4S (BIOT SC 12 of 2023) (damages claim for false imprisonment and negligence).

Jack advises ITV on media law in connection with Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother.

Jack has been instructed in prisoners’ rights claims against the Ministry of Justice and claims for unlawful detention against the police.

In the Operation Fort claims, Jack assisted counsel for the Claimants (Richard Hermer KC and James Robottom) in a group claim brought by the victims of the UK’s largest modern slavery conspiracy against their former corporate employers.

Qualifications and Awards

• Bar Practice Course, University of Law: Outstanding
• MA in Law, University of Law: Distinction (highest mark in national cohort)
• BSc in Politics with Economics, University of Bath: First-Class Hons
• Uthwatt Scholar and Residential Scholar at Gray’s Inn (2020-2021)

Professional Memberships

• Neurodiversity in Law (Champion and Co-Founder)
• Young Bar Mentoring (Mentor)
• Constitutional and Administrative Law Bar Association
• Bar Human Rights Committee
• Defence Extradition Lawyers’ Forum

Publications

Jack is the co-author (with Mathew Purchase KC) of Practical Law’s practice note, Proportionality: what does it mean and when does it need to be applied?

Jack is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. In order to provide legal services to his clients, including advice and representation services, Jack needs to collect and hold personal data. This includes his client’s personal data and the personal data of others who feature in the matter upon which he is instructed. To read Jack’s privacy notice in full, please see here.