Radha Bhatt

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

Contact Radha's Practice Team (Team M): TeamM@matrixlaw.co.uk

Radha joined Matrix in October 2022 following the successful completion of her traineeship. Radha welcomes instructions in all of Matrix’s practice areas. She has a particular interest in public law and human rights, media and information law, and equality and employment law.

Public Law and Human Rights

Radha has experience of a range of public law matters and welcomes instructions in all areas of public law. During her traineeship, Radha was supervised by Sarah Hannett KC, Zoe Leventhal KC, and Chris Buttler KC. Radha’s public law and human rights experience includes:

• Advising on Article 9 of the Bill of Rights 1689 and the use of Parliamentary committee materials in litigation (assisting Sarah Hannett KC).
• Advising on the terms of the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement in the context of ongoing judicial review proceedings (assisting Chris Buttler KC).
• Advising on the requirements of Article 6 ECHR in the EAT (assisting Claire Darwin).
• Advising a regulator on proposed changes to its scheme rules (assisting Zoe Leventhal KC).
• Advising on the scope of the Government’s emergency powers in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic (assisting Zoe Leventhal KC).
• Advising a school on its legal obligations when named as the parental preference for a pupil with an EHCP (assisting Claire Darwin).
• Working on an independent investigation into the handling of complaints at an educational institution (assisting Sarah Hannett KC).

Before joining Matrix, Radha worked in a range of public law and human rights roles including:

• As a human rights and civil litigation paralegal at Hickman & Rose, working on actions against the police, data protection, Article 2 inquests and the Undercover Policing and Grenfell Tower public inquiries.
• Conducting legal research at the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, working on children’s rights, access to justice, and sub-national constitutionalism.
• Working as part of a team of researchers assisting the UN Special Rapporteur for Extra-Judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions with a project on international armed violence reduction programmes.
• Interning for a number of human rights NGOs including ATLEU, INQUEST, REDRESS and the Children’s Rights Alliance for England.

Media and Information Law

Radha welcomes instructions in all areas of media and information law. During her traineeship, Radha was supervised by Anthony Hudson KC. Radha’s media and information law experience includes:

• Advising an APPG on the scope of Parliamentary Privilege (assisting Guy Vassall-Adams KC).
• Advising an online review platform on the correct approach to section 10 of the Defamation Act 2013 (assisting Anthony Hudson KC).
• Advising on liability in a multi-jurisdictional defamation claim (assisting Anthony Hudson KC).
• Advising on the protection of religious speech under the ECHR (assisting Anthony Hudson KC).
• Drafting a Defence and an Offer to Make Amends in the context of defamation proceedings (assisting Anthony Hudson KC).
• Working on the Mobile Telephone Voicemail Interception Litigation (assisting Anthony Hudson KC and Ben Silverstone).

Radha has also worked with the in-house legal team of The Times and The Sunday Times.

While studying for her LLM in the US, Radha specialised in media and privacy law and the law of the First Amendment. She also took additional courses in privacy and cybersecurity at the Wharton School of Business.

Equality Law

Radha welcomes instructions in equality and discrimination law. She has experience of claims under the Equality Act 2010 in judicial review proceedings, in employment settings, and in the provision of education and goods and services:

• Judicial review: a reasonable adjustments challenge to a public authority’s charging policy (assisting Zoe Leventhal KC).
• Employment: claims for equal pay, direct and indirect discrimination (including on the grounds of age, sex, disability) and victimisation, and pensions discrimination cases (all assisting Claire Darwin).
• Education: a claim for disability discrimination in the First Tier Tribunal against an independent school (assisting Claire Darwin).
• Goods and services:
• Advising on the equality implications of a season ticket scheme (assisting Claire Darwin).
• Advising an online social platform on jurisdiction and advising on the correct approach to “service providers” under section 114 of the Equality Act 2010 in a claim for disability discrimination (assisting Claire Darwin).

 Working on discrimination claims arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic in relation to track and trace requirements (assisting Claire Darwin).

Employment Law

Radha accepts instructions in all areas of employment law and was recently instructed to provide advice under TULRCA 1992 (assisting Laura Prince).

During her traineeship, Radha was supervised by Claire Darwin. Radha’s employment experience includes:

• Advising on the requirements of Article 6 ECHR in the context of the EAT (assisting Claire Darwin).
• Drafting a skeleton argument for an EAT hearing in an appeal concerning the Equality Act (Age Exceptions for Pension Schemes) Order 2010 (assisting Claire Darwin).
• Advising on section 61 of the Equality Act 2010 in the context of a pensions discrimination claim (assisting Claire Darwin).
• Working on a TUPE claim (assisting Claire Darwin).
• Working on a claim for equal pay and indirect sex discrimination which concerned holiday pay and Bear Scotland payments (assisting Claire Darwin).
• Advising on a claim for pregnancy discrimination claim and victimisation (assisting Claire Darwin).
• Working on equal pay retail claims (assisting Claire Darwin).

Before joining Matrix, Radha volunteered at the Anti-Trafficking and Labour Exploitation Unit (ATLEU) where she assisted with casework at the intersection of employment, discrimination and immigration law.

Qualifications and Awards

Radha holds a first-class degree in History from the University of Cambridge, where she was elected a King’s Scholar for outstanding academic achievement and received the Cambridge University Not-for-Profit Award.

Subsequently Radha obtained a distinction in her Graduate Diploma in Law and studied for the Bar Course with the assistance of several scholarships including the Lord Denning and Residential Scholarships from Lincoln’s Inn and a postgraduate academic scholarship from City Law School.

Most recently, Radha was awarded a Thouron Fellowship to study for a (fully funded) LLM at the University of Pennsylvania, where she specialised in constitutional, discrimination and media law. She took additional courses in internet law, privacy and cybersecurity at the Wharton School of Business (GPA 4.0).

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