Toby Fisher

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

Contact Toby's Practice Team (Team X): TeamX@matrixlaw.co.uk

Toby practices across all areas of public and international law, with particular expertise in environment and human rights. He acts for States, corporations, public bodies, NGOs and individuals.

He has acted at all levels in the UK domestic system up to the Supreme Court, as well as in cases before the International Court of Justice, European Court of Justice, European Court of Human Rights, and Inter-American Court of Human Rights. He has led communications to UN Treaty Bodies and complaints to the World Bank’s Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman.

Between 2019 and 2022, Toby was Deputy Director, International Law for the New Zealand Government, where he advised on international environmental law, international human rights and humanitarian law, counter terrorism, cyber, space, and law of the sea. He led negotiations at the UNFCCC climate change conferences, at the International Seabed Authority, and in other multilateral fora.

Environmental law

Toby is an expert in both domestic and international environmental law. His international law experience is set out in the International Law section. His domestic practice is focused on climate change, water, fisheries, wildlife and biodiversity, and access to justice in environmental matters.

Toby is acting in ongoing litigation challenging:

• The decisions announced by the Prime Minister on 20 September 2023 to abandon key policies in the Carbon Budget Delivery Plan without consultation and without considering the impacts on the ability of the UK Government to deliver its carbon budgets and net zero target (acting for Chris Packham);
• The decision of the Environment Agency to grant an environmental permit for a waste co-incineration plant without consulting the waste planning authority (acting for a commercial client).
• The decision of the Secretary of State for Housing Levelling Up and Communities to grant planning permission for a new coal mine in Cumbria (acting for Friends of the Earth);
• The decision of the Secretary of State for Transport to grant development consent for the A57 bypass (acting for CPRE);
• The failure of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council and the Welsh Ministers to take enforcement action to bring to an end unlawful mining of coal at Ffos-y-fran coal mine in South Wales (acting for Coal Action Network).

Toby’s advisory practice involves advice on obligations under the Town and Country Planning regime, environmental impact assessment, appropriate assessment under the Habitats Regulations, and duties under the Environment Act 2021, the Water Industry Act 1991, and the Fisheries Act 2021. He advises local authorities, the Office for Environmental Protection, NGOs and corporate clients.

Prior to his time as Deputy Director, International Law for the New Zealand Government, Toby was regularly instructed in judicial review and s.288 claims including in R (Parkhurst Road Ltd) v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government [2018] EWHC 991 (Admin), R (FH Green) v South Downs National Park Authority [2018] EWHC 604 (Admin), R (Irving) v Mid Sussex District Council [2017] EWHC 243 (Admin); R (Austin) v Wiltshire Council [2017] EWHC 38(Admin).

Toby is the author of the chapters on climate change law and emissions trading in Garners Environmental Law and is a member of the Council of the UK Environmental Law Association.

International Law

Toby is an expert in both public international law and private international law, with a particular focus on environment and human rights.

Private international law

Toby is an expert in private international law, acting on behalf of individuals and groups seeking remedies for human rights abuses and environmental pollution caused by the acts and omissions of multinational companies.

He currently acts for a group of claimants in proceedings against Barrick TZ Ltd arising out of deaths and injuries caused by Tanzanian police in and around the North Mara gold mine. He also acts for two separate groups of Kenyan individuals seeking remedies for human rights abuses in (currently) confidential matters. He previously acted in Nyasulu v Vedanta Resources and Konkola Copper Mines, a claim arising out of environmental pollution caused by a UK incorporated parent company and its Zambian subsidiary and in Women of Marikana v Lonmin, a complaint to the World Bank’s Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman in relation to the International Finance Corporation’s failure to enforce environmental performance standards in its South African investments in Lonmin plc.

Public international law

 International environmental law

 Toby has a busy practice advising and acting for states, corporates, and NGOs on a wide range international environmental law issues. In the last 12 months he has acted in the following proceedings:

• International Court of Justice advisory proceedings on states’ obligations under international law to mitigate climate change;
• Inter-American Court of Human Rights advisory proceedings on states’ obligations under the American Convention of Human Rights to mitigate climate change;
• Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee proceedings brought by Friends of the Earth, alleging a failure by the UK Government to enable adequate public participation prior to the introduction and enactment of the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, in breach of Article 8 of the Aarhus Convention;
• Permanent Court of Arbitration arbitral proceedings relating to the allocation of fisheries quota by the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation;
• High Court proceedings relating to allegations of fraud in the operation of a multilateral international organisation.

In addition, he has advised states, NGOs and corporates on a range of international environmental law matters. He has advised states on maritime boundary delimitation and other law of the sea isssues. He has advised states and corporates on the intersection of international trade and environmental law. And he has contributed to two published pieces, including:

• An opinion for Pew Trusts on the obligations of the International Seabed Authority and the consistency with international law of a proposed moratorium on deep sea mining.
• A paper for the Clean Air Task Force on a proposed European import standard on methane.

Toby is member of the ICCA Panel of Experts responsible for devising a draft conciliation annex to the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement. He is the author of the chapter on climate change law in Garners Environmental Law and has particular expertise on the operation of carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

As Deputy Director, International Law for the New Zealand Government, Toby was part of the drafting committee which devised the Pacific Islands Forum Declaration on Preserving Maritime Zones in the Face of Sea Level Rise. He advised on the range of climate and biodiversity commitments, fisheries obligations, chemicals and waste conventions, as well as obligations under the Antarctic Treaty.

International human rights law

Toby is currently acting for New Zealand in proceedings at the International Court of Justice under the Genocide Convention: Allegations of Genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Ukraine v. Russian Federation). He acts for an NGO preparing an amicus brief for the Inter-American Court of Human Rights advisory proceedings on states’ obligations to mitigate climate change under the American Convention of Human Rights. And he is acting for a group of indigenous people filing a communication before the UN Human Rights Committee for breach of their right to culture.

From 2019 – 2022, as Deputy Director, International Law for the New Zealand Government, Toby advised and represented New Zealand in its engagement with the UN Human Rights Committee, including on communications alleging a breach of New Zealand’s obligations under the ICCPR; he led the development of cross-government strategic advice on mitigating the risk of aiding or assisting internationally wrongful acts (responding to an official report on alleged complicity of the New Zealand intelligence agencies with the CIA detention programme); he co-led the development of a New Zealand Detention Policy Framework, arising out of an inquiry into alleged war crimes and human rights abuses by the New Zealand Defence Force in Afghanistan; and he led the preparation of New Zealand’s statement on the application of international law to state activity in cyberspace.

From October 2012 – February 2015, he was co-counsel for the South African Human Rights Commission in the Marikana Commission of Inquiry, a judicial inquiry into i) the events of 16 August 2012 at Marikana, South Africa, where 34 striking miners were shot dead by police; and ii) the extent to which a mining company, Lonmin plc, and various arms of South African national and local government, had complied with their environmental and human rights obligations.

From 2012 – 2016, he was a senior legal adviser to Prof Christof Heyns, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. In that role he coordinated the drafting and negotiation of the UN Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death (2016).

International law in domestic proceedings

Toby acts in domestic proceedings with significant international law elements, including where questions of state immunity or jurisdiction arise. Notable cases include:

• Junior counsel in R (Hoareau) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs [2016] EWHC 2102 (Admin) and R (Hoareau and Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs [2019] EWHC 221 (Admin), judicial review proceedings relating to the UK Government’s decisions to refuse to allow those exiled from the Chagos Islands to return home.
• Junior counsel in an appeal to the Court of Appeal from the High Court’s judgment in Kontic v Ministry of Defence [2016] EWHC 2034 (QB) and an application to the European Court of Human Rights on the question of attribution in United Nations mandated military operations.

While Deputy Director, International Law for the New Zealand Government, he advised on several matters involving the intersection of domestic and international law, including Mohamed v Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation [2021] NZHC 512 (whether NZ’s superannuation fund had breached its obligations through investments related to phosphate sourced from Western Sahara) and Lawyers for Climate Action New Zealand v The Climate Change Commission and the Minister for Climate Change [2022] NZHC 3064 (whether advice from the CCC and adopted by the Minister was consistent with the Paris Agreement purpose of limiting global temperature rise 1.5 degrees C).

For further information see entries for public law and environmental law.

Public and Administrative Law

Toby has experience across a wide range of domestic public law matters, having advised and acted for corporations, government departments, arms-length bodies, local government, NGOs, and individuals. He has expertise in planning and environmental law, immigration and asylum, data and information, healthcare, education and social security. He is a member of the UK Attorney-General’s B panel of counsel and author of the chapter on judicial review procedure in Judicial Review (Supperstone, Goudie and Walker eds)

 Toby’s experience in environmental judicial review, and his expertise in the interface of domestic and international law, is set out in other sections.

In education law, Toby acts across a range of matters, including most recently R (All Saints Academy) v OFSTED [2023] EWHC 1834 (Admin).

In immigration and asylum, Toby acts in unlawful detention / false imprisonment claims, asylum and trafficking claims, and general Points Based System judicial reviews. Although he has acted for government the bulk of his instructions now come from individuals. He has an excellent record in securing remedies for clients without the need for a substantive hearing. Notable cases include:

• R (Robinson) v SSHD [2019] UKSC 11: Supreme Court case addressing the role of paragraph 353 of the Immigration Rules in the scheme of appeal rights introduced by the Immigration Act 2014.
• AB v SSHD [2018] EWCA Civ 383: acting for the exiled opposition leader of an African state in this appeal to the Court of Appeal against the order of the High Court dismissing an application for judicial review of the SSHD’s failure to determine his asylum claim.
• Cases on failures to comply with Rules 34 & 35 of the Detention Centre Rules: see R (Anugha) v SSHD [2017] EWHC 1391 (Admin); and Johnson v Home Office.

 In international human rights, Toby acted for the claimants in R (Hoareau) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs [2016] EWHC 2102 (Admin) and R (Hoareau and Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs [2019] EWHC 221 (Admin), judicial review proceedings relating to the UK Government’s decisions to refuse to allow those exiled from the Chagos Islands to return home. He also acted as junior counsel in an appeal to the Court of Appeal from the High Court’s judgment in Kontic v Ministry of Defence [2016] EWHC 2034 (QB) and an application to the European Court of Human Rights on the question of attribution in United Nations mandated military operations.

In social security / healthcare, Toby has advised and acted for claimants and for the Department of Health and Department for Work and Pensions in judicial reviews, Upper Tribunal appeals, and in the Court of Appeal. Notable cases included MH v SSWP (PIP) (human rights – article 14) [2017] UKUT 424 (AAC); Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Fileccia [2017] EWCA Civ 1907; LH v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (RP) (Recovery of overpayments – failure to disclose) [2017] UKUT 249 (AAC); R (M) v London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham [2011] EWCA Civ 77.

Investigations and Inquiries

Toby has extensive experience, across multiple jurisdictions, in public inquiries. He is currently instructed by the British Business Bank in the COVID Inquiry. Previous instructions include:

• Counsel to Lord Evans, Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, in the Infected Blood Inquiry (2022)
• Counsel to New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in the Government Inquiry into Operation Burnham and other matters, a judicial inquiry into alleged war crimes and human rights abuses by the New Zealand Defence Force in Afghanistan (Oct 2018 – Jun 2020).
• Counsel to New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in the Royal Commission into the terrorist attack on Christchurch masjidain on 15 March 2019, a judicial inquiry into the Christchurch terrorist attack (May 2019 – Apr 2020).
• Counsel to the New Zealand State Services Commissioner in the Government Inquiry into the Appointment Process for a Deputy Commissioner of Police (Jul – Dec 2018).
• First Junior Counsel to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (Apr 2015 – Dec 2016), an inquiry into the extent to which state and non-state institutions had failed in their duty of care to protect children against sexual exploitation.
• Co-counsel for the South African Human Rights Commission in the Marikana Commission of Inquiry, a judicial inquiry into i) the events of 16 August 2012 at Marikana, South Africa, where 34 striking miners were shot dead by police; and ii) the extent to which a mining company, Lonmin plc, and various arms of South African national and local government, had complied with their environmental and human rights obligations (Oct 2012 – Feb 2015).
• Junior counsel to the Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the press, arising out of the ‘phone hacking’ scandal (Apr 2012 – Nov 2013).

Sanctions

Toby advises individuals and corporate entities on the application the UK’s sanctions regimes. He is the co-author of the chapter on sanctions in National Security Law, Practice and Procedure (Ward and Blundell, 2^nd ed). As Deputy Director, International Law for the New Zealand Government, he oversaw New Zealand’s implementation of UN Sanctions and its establishment of an autonomous sanctions regime to apply sanctions against Russia.

Publications

• Contributing author to the UN Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death (2016)
• Human Rights Practice (Simor, ed): chapter on freedom of expression
• Judicial Review (Supperstone, Goudie and Walker): chapter on judicial review procedure
• Garner’s Environmental Law (Lexis Nexis Butterworths): chapters on climate change law and renewable energy law.
• Children’s Social Care Law (Legal Action Group): chapters on safeguarding and human rights.

Education

Selwyn College, Cambridge University (Oct 1998 – June 2001)

• BA (Hons) Social and Political Sciences: Double First Class (2nd highest in year)
• Cambridge Commonwealth Scholar

City University, London (Oct 2005 – June 2006)

• Graduate Diploma in Law: Distinction
• Lord Mansfield Scholar

London School of Economics (Oct 2006 – Jun 2007)

• LLM (International Human Rights Law): Distinction

Other

CEDR accredited mediator and a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

Legal consultant/associate producer for BBC Radio 4’s flagship legal programme ‘Unreliable Evidence’ (2007-12) and BBC World’s ‘The Legal World’ (2011).

Prior to his career as a lawyer, Toby was an award-winning actor in film, television and theatre.

Toby is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. In order to provide legal services to his clients, including advice and representation services, Toby needs to collect and hold personal data. Toby’s Privacy Notice contains full details of when, why and how he will store and process personal data. To read his Privacy Notice, please click here.

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