Overview
Since taking silk in 2009, Mark Hill has established a broad and varied common law practice with an emphasis on civil litigation and an acknowledged expertise in ecclesiastical law. His particular specialisms are judicial review, personal injury, costs and planning cases, and he is regularly retained in these practice areas both in an advisory capacity and as an advocate in the higher courts. He has represented clients in the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, as well in the European Court of Human Rights, other international courts and tribunals, and the ecclesiastical courts of the Church of England. He has an international reputation on matters of religious liberty and often acts in disputes involving faith communities. He is an accredited mediator, trained by the ADR Group, and is a Legal Assessor with the General Medical Council.
Ecclesiastical Law
Mark is the author of Ecclesiastical Law, now in its fourth edition (2018) and is Consultant Editor of the Ecclesiastical Law Journal. He is currently engaged as Contributing Editor for the Sixth Edition of the Ecclesiastical Law volume of Halsbury’s Laws of England, scheduled for publication in 2024. His other publications include English Canon Law (1998) and Faithful Discipleship: Clergy Discipline in Anglican and Roman Catholic Canon Law (2001), Religion and Law in the United Kingdom (2021) Religious Confession and Evidential Privilege in the Twenty-first Century (2021) and Routledge Handbook on Freedom of Religion of Belief (2021).
He is Chancellor of the Dioceses of Chichester, Leeds and Europe and for more than a decade sat on the Legal Advisory Commission of the General Synod of the Church of England. He is a member of the Standing Committee of the Ecclesiastical Judges Association.
He has appeared in the Court of Arches in the leading cases of Re Blagdon Cemetery (2002) and Re Holy Trinity, Eccleshall (2010), and Re Christ Church, Spitalfields (No 1) (2015). He regularly represents clients in the Consistory Courts and in Clergy Discipline Tribunals. He is an acknowledged expert on the operation of the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003. He has also acted in one of the rare contested cases of pastoral breakdown under the Incumbents (Vacation of Benefices) Measure 1977.
In the secular courts, his casework includes faith schools and academies, charity, employment, trusts and property matters. He was retained in the Supreme Court in Preston v President of Methodist Conference (2013), on the employment status of clergy, Shergill v Khaira (2014) on the justiciability of religious doctrine, and Re Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (2018) abortion and the right to life. He has represented clients in the European Court of Human Rights and been a signatory to several amicus briefs in the United States Supreme Court and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
Notable cases
National Employers’ Mutual Insurance Company Limited v Jones [1990] 1 AC 24, House of Lords
Pacific Associates v Baxter [1990] 1QB 993, Court of Appeal
Re Blagdon Cemetery [2002] Fam 299, Court of Arches
R (J and P) v West Sussex County Council [2002] 2 FLR 1192, High Court Sullivan J
Parochial Church Council of Aston Cantlow v Wallbank [2004] 1 AC 546, House of Lords
– Stretch v United Kingdom (2004) 38 EHRR 12, European Court of Human Rights
R (Swindon Borough Council) v Swindon Justices [2004] EWHC 2240, Administrative Court
Kuenyehia v International Hospitals Group Limited (2006) Times, 17 February, Court of Appeal
R (on the application of HM Coroner) v Secretary of State for Justice [2009] EWHC 1974, Administrative Court, Laws LJ and Tugendhat J
– Greater Manchester Police v Power [2009] UKEAT 0434, Employment Appeal Tribunal
– Holliday v Musa [2010] EWCA Civ 335, Court of Appeal
– His Holiness Sant Baba Jeet Singh Ji Maharaj v Singh [2010] EWHC 1294, High Court, Eady J
– Re Holy Trinity, Eccleshall [2010] 31 July, Court of Arches
Kuenyehia v International Hospitals Group Limited (2006) Times, 17 February, Court of Appeal
R (on the application of HM Coroner) v Secretary of State for Justice [2009] EWHC 1974, Administrative Court, Laws LJ and Tugendhat J
Greater Manchester Police v Power [2009] UKEAT 0434, Employment Appeal Tribunal
Holliday v Musa [2010] EWCA Civ 335, Court of Appeal
His Holiness Sant Baba Jeet Singh Ji Maharaj v Singh [2010] EWHC 1294, High Court, Eady J Re Holy Trinity, Eccleshall [2010] 31 July, Court of Arches
Associations
Western Circuit (Executive Committee 1997 – 2002),
Personal Injury Bar Association,
Professional Negligence Bar association,
Human Rights Lawyers Association,
Ecclesiastical Law Society,
Anglican – Roman Catholic Colloquium of Canon Lawyers,
European Consortium for Church and State Research (Standing Committee since 2008),
Internationational Consortium for Law and Religion Studies,
Interfaith Legal Advisers Network
Appointments
Recorder on the Midland Circuit
Chancellor of the Diocese of Chichester
Chancellor of the Diocese in Europe
Deputy Chancellor of the Dioceses of York and Blackburn
Honorary Professor of Law, Centre for Law and Religion, Cardiff University
Editor of the Ecclesiastical Law Journal
Visiting Fellow, Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge
Member of the Legal Advisory Commission of the General Synod of the Church of England
Publications
Ecclesiastical Law, Third Edition (Oxford University Press, 2007)
English Canon Law (co-editor) (University of Wales Press, Cardiff 1998)
Religious Liberty and Human Rights (editor) (University of Wales Press, 2002)
Jowitt’s Dictionary of English Law (specialist contributing editor) (Sweet & Maxwell, 2010)
Butterworths Costs Service (editor of section on Counsel’s Remuneration) (Butterworths, 2010)
Religion Law (International Encyclopaedia of Laws (Leuven, 2010)
Education
LLB, King’s College, University of London
AKC, Cardiff University
LLM (Canon Law)
Prescribed information
Mark Hill KC is a practising barrister, who is regulated by the Bar Standards Board. Details of information held by the BSB about him can be found here.
Mark Hill KC’s clerks will happily provide no obligation quotations for all the legal services that he provides. Their contact details can be found here. It is most common for him to attend Courts, Tribunals and Mediations for a fixed brief fee plus a fee for each refresher day. Advisory work, paperwork and conferences are usually charged at an hourly rate. Mark Hill KC’s will typically return paperwork within 14 days, however professional commitments, complexity and volume of documentation can affect this approximate timescales.
