Anna Moradi
Anna specialises in inquests, inquiries, abuse claims and international law.
Anna holds the ‘Young Pro Bono Barrister of the Year (2022)’ title and was a finalist for the ‘International Pro Bono Barrister of the Year (2022)’.
In inquests, Anna’s specialism is in healthcare. She acts in inquests involving a wide range of healthcare services in the community and in detention. She provides early advice and representation at Pre-Inquest Reviews and is heavily involved in preparation for final hearings. Anna accepts instructions in associated civil claims. Anna is available to advise on judicial review claims relating to inquest procedures and fresh inquests. Recently, her judicial review claim submissions as junior counsel resulted in the pre-action withdrawal of a decision made under Section 13 of the Coroners Act 1988.
In inquiries, Anna has extensive experience acting on public inquiry legal teams, including as Second Junior Counsel. She is available for instructions from inquiry legal teams and state and non-state core participants, and to act on non-statutory inquiries and investigations. Please contact her clerks for security clearance details.
In abuse and torture claims, Anna welcomes instructions in cases involving ‘failure to remove’ children, human trafficking, modern slavery, sexual abuse, safeguarding in sports, foreign prisons, and other forms of torture and ill-treatment within the UK and abroad. Her recent cases include advising on Article 3 and negligence claims in sexual abuse cases against public authorities and a major institution. Anna has extensive experience in these areas having represented victims in immigration detention and prisons abroad contexts and in Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority claims and having acted as a legal expert to the Council of Europe on the legal framework for detention conditions and the protection of human trafficking victims. Anna is available to advise on National Referral Mechanism procedures, limitation periods and jurisdiction issues.
In international law, Anna is instructed by families and victim groups and is often sought by lead counsel in cases before human rights and diplomatic mechanisms. She is regularly sought by organisations and individuals to provide legal opinions on international human rights law issues. She specialises in cases engaging issues of healthcare, due process interferences, torture and ill-treatment, consular duties, and the rights to land and natural resources. She is on the International Criminal Court’s ‘List of Assistants to Counsel’, available for instruction by victim and defence teams.
Inquests & Inquiries
Anna is regularly instructed in healthcare inquests. This includes a wide range of disciplines and services including primary care, general and emergency medicine, nursing and midwifery, psychiatry and pharmaceutical care. She welcomes instructions in associated human rights and civil claims. Her work includes:
- Inquest concerning pneumonia, sepsis, and liver disease (On-going)
- Inquest concerning COVID-19 (On-going)
- Inquest concerning mental health and social services (On-going)
- Inquest concerning mental health and support services (On-going)
- Inquest concerning mental health (On-going)
- Advice on inquest concerning pulmonary embolism and DVT (On-going)
- Advice on Fatal Accidents and Law Reform claims (2024)
- Judicial review claim concerning new inquest (2023 -challenged decision withdrawn pre-action)
- Inquest concerning midwifery, neonatal and obstetric care (2023 – Prevention of Future Deaths report published concerning NHS Trust)
In statutory and non-statutory inquiries, Anna is available for instructions from inquiry teams and core participants. She represents individuals in independent investigations. For security clearance details, please contact her clerks. Her work includes:
- Undercover Policing Inquiry (Second Junior Counsel, On-going)
- Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry (On-going)
- Independent investigation into abuse (On-going)
- Undercover Policing Inquiry (2022 – 2023)
- Independent investigation into abuse (2020)
Abuse
Anna welcomes instructions in abuse, torture and Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority claims, and safeguarding in sports matters. She has expertise in issues of human trafficking, modern slavery, sexual abuse and torture. She has acted for a multitude of human trafficking and modern slavery victims in immigration detention cases and CICA claims. Between 2020 and 2022, she led Harrow Law Centre’s ‘Victims of Crime’ department, representing CICA claimants. Her work includes:
- Sexual abuse claim against major institution (on-going)
- Advice on sexual abuse claim against school (on-going)
- Advice on sexual abuse claim against school (2024)
- Advice on Article 3 claim against local authority (2024)
- Advice on sexual abuse claim against local authority (2024)
- CICA claim concerning rape (secured highest available award)
- Out of time CICA claim concerning multiple rapes in the context of cross-border human trafficking for sexual exploitation (secured highest available award)
Anna’s seminars on human trafficking, modern slavery and torture include:
- ‘Victims’ Code: ways forward for reform’, Harrow Law Centre, 2021
- ‘Strengthening accountability through the Specialized Criminal Chambers in Tunisia: principles and recommended practices on the investigation, prosecution and adjudication of sexual and gender-based crimes’, International Commission of Jurists, 2021
- ‘Criminalisation of young victims’, Law Centres Network Annual Conference, 2020
- ‘Indicators of sexual exploitation of children and young people’, Harrow Association of Somali Voluntary Organisations, 2020
- ‘Human trafficking and modern slavery indicators’, Romanian and Eastern European Network, 2020
- ‘Criminal exploitation of youths’, Harrow Law Centre, 2020
- ‘Improving access to justice for victims of exploitation – II’, Harrow Law Centre, 2020
- ‘Improving access to justice for victims of exploitation – I’, Harrow Law Centre, 2020
- ‘Defending clients who may be human trafficking / modern slavery victims’, Sonn Macmillan Walker, 2018
International Law
Anna specialises in cases involving detention, torture and healthcare. She acts before regional and international human rights and diplomatic mechanisms. She has considerable experience representing individuals and families before the UK’s Foreign Office, the UK Foreign Minister, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the UN Committee Against Torture. Her work includes:
- Communications before the UK Foreign Office: on behalf of individual detained and tortured in Asia (On-going)
- Communication before UN Special Procedures and UN Special Rapporteurs: on behalf of individual detained in Asia (On-going)
- Communication before the UN Committee Against Torture: on behalf of individual at risk of torture in Europe (On-going: secured interim measures)
- Communication before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights: on behalf of victim group concerning rights to land and natural resources in Africa (on-going)
- Communications before the UK Foreign Office: on behalf of British national arbitrarily detained and tortured in Middle East (2020 – 2022: repatriated)
- Communication before the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention: on behalf of British national arbitrarily detained and tortured in Middle East (2021 – 2022: secured finding of arbitrary detention. Repatriated)
- Advice on proposed EU Regulation on the protection of adults deprived of their legal capacity
- Advice on the criminalisation of forced sterilisation at EU level
- Advice on EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime concerning alleged torture in Middle East
- Legal expert to the Council of Europe: drafted and presented codifying document on international laws concerning administrative detention conditions (adopted by Member States in May 2023 and co-authored by former European Court of Human Rights judge, Judge Ledi Bianku)
Qualifications & Awards
- Shortlisted nomination ‘Junior Pro Bono Barrister or the Year 2024’ – results TBC May 2024
- Winner, ‘Young Pro Bono Barrister of the Year’, Advocate, 2022
- Finalist, ‘International Pro Bono Barrister of the Year’, Advocate, 2022
- Scholar, Prince of Wales Scholarship, Gray’s Inn – £16000, 2015
- Recipient, Performance Award, University of Law – £1000, 2015
- BPTC, University of Law (2015 – 2016)
- MA Legal and Political Theory, University College London (2014 – 2015)
- LLB, School of Oriental and African Studies (2011 – 2014)
Appointments
International Criminal Court – List of Assistants to Counsel (On-going)
Download sectionTestimonials
“Thank you so much for all your hard work on this case … As always, you have gone above and beyond what we would expect and that made all the difference.” – Instructing Solicitor (2024)
“[Y]ou did a great job today. … we did much better than expected.’ – Instructing Solicitor (2024)
“[Anna is a] reliable junior for cases [involving] individuals and communities suffering serious human rights violations.” – Lead Counsel (2024)
“This is such an incredible outcome in an extremely difficult case … but we won because you cared and worked so hard on this.” – Instructing Solicitor (2023)
“[D]uring the hearing it was clear she left no stone unturned and fought tooth and nail to put my case forward. I couldn’t have asked for better representation. Sound advice and a force to be reckoned with in the courtroom.” – Client (2023)
“[Anna] … was super thorough in going through the case documents and she was able to flag potential issues and highlight further documentation we needed. She provided advice to the client in a clear and compassionate way and she was especially considerate of our client’s vulnerabilities … She was extremely communicative and easily reachable throughout the case – it was an absolute pleasure to work with her! Our client was truly delighted with the outcome and with all of [Anna’s] work on his case.” – Instructing Solicitor (2023)
“The preliminary work you carried out for my client was … extensive [and] shows that you really care about the client’s situation … [The client] is very lucky that a hearing was scheduled for the day that you were [available] as without your hard work and deep understanding of the law I can very much imagine things would have turned out differently.” – Instructing Solicitor (2023)
“[Anna] proved to be a Godsend to our family […] [F]or everything she has done for us […] we are eternally grateful. She is a shining beacon in the legal industry.” – Client (2022)
“[Anna] always makes herself available to assist with our most complex and often, last minute requests […] [She] has been disarmingly proactive when approaching a case, carrying out a meticulous review of evidence and ensuring that all legal arguments are considered and evidenced. […] We are consistently impressed by [Anna’s] dedication to her casework. […] All our legal staff agree that she is a marvel” – Instructing Solicitor (2022)
“[We] work with numerous … barristers … but [Anna’s] conduct stood out. … [Anna] has been communicative, personable and reassuring … I was extremely well impressed by her commitment to the client [and] dedication to the case [and] her ability to grasp complex information in a short period of time. … [W]hen engaging with the client following the hearing, he told me that he was very grateful to have [Anna] fighting for him and that he felt that that made all the difference” – Instructing Solicitor (2022)
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