When a government department, council or regulator gets a decision wrong in law, judicial review is often the only way to challenge it — and the deadlines are unforgiving. Connaught Law's judicial review solicitors act for individuals, businesses and organisations across the UK, from urgent interim relief to full hearings in the Administrative Court.
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How We Can Help
Challenging Public Body Decisions
Judicial review tests whether a public body's decision was made lawfully — not whether it was the decision you wanted. The recognised grounds are illegality, irrationality, procedural unfairness and breach of legitimate expectation, and the court can quash an unlawful decision and require it to be taken again properly. We assess your case against those grounds honestly before you spend anything on proceedings.
Our complete judicial review guide explains the grounds, stages and remedies in detail.
Planning & Environmental Challenges
We act for objectors, developers and community groups challenging planning permissions, refusals and environmental decisions — where the window to act is six weeks, not three months. That includes challenges to local authority decision-making and to consenting for major infrastructure projects, where recent reforms have tightened the process further.
Local Authority & Housing Decisions
Councils make decisions that change lives — homelessness findings, housing allocation, community care assessments, school places. When those decisions are unlawful, we challenge them, and because many of these cases affect people in urgent need, we move quickly on interim protection while the challenge proceeds.
Regulatory & Procurement Decisions
We challenge decisions of regulators and licensing authorities — professional bodies, trading and premises licensing, enforcement action — and act in public procurement disputes, where a supplier challenging a contract award faces some of the shortest deadlines in public law, generally 30 days.
Urgent Applications & Interim Relief
Some decisions cause irreversible harm before any hearing — a removal, an eviction, a contract signed, a demolition. We make urgent applications for interim relief and injunctions to hold the position, using the Administrative Court's urgent procedures where the timescale demands it.
How We Work
Judicial review is front-loaded: the merits assessment, the pre-action protocol letter and the permission application decide most cases, so that is where we concentrate the work. A well-argued letter before claim resolves many challenges without proceedings — public bodies frequently withdraw or remake unlawful decisions when the defects are set out precisely.
Time limits are the hardest in civil litigation: a claim must be filed promptly and in any event within three months of the decision — six weeks in planning cases, about 30 days in procurement — and the court can refuse a claim filed within the deadline but not promptly. The Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022 has also changed the remedies available. If you think a decision is unlawful, contact us the week it happens, not the month after.
Why Connaught Law
01Honest merits advice firstJudicial review is costly to run and hard to win without grounds. We tell you plainly whether your case has them — before you commit.
02Built for deadlinesThree months, six weeks, 30 days — our process is designed around public law's short windows, including same-week pre-action letters.
03Senior attention throughoutYour challenge is run by our experienced litigation team, not passed down — with direct access to the person handling it.
04Public law across sectorsImmigration, planning, housing, regulatory and procurement challenges under one roof — with the specialist input each demands.
Fee structures and funding options — including costs protection where it applies — are set out on our fees page. We discuss costs and the risk of adverse costs openly before you commit to anything.
Frequently Asked Questions
What decisions can be judicially reviewed?
Decisions of public bodies — government departments, councils, regulators, and private bodies exercising public functions — where there are arguable grounds: illegality, irrationality, procedural unfairness or breach of legitimate expectation. Most decisions also require you to have exhausted any right of appeal first.
How long do I have to bring a judicial review?
Promptly, and in any event within three months of the decision — six weeks for planning challenges and around 30 days in procurement cases. Courts refuse claims for delay even inside the deadline, so early advice matters more here than in any other area of litigation.
Will judicial review overturn the decision?
If the challenge succeeds, the court normally quashes the decision and the public body must take it again lawfully. That usually means a fresh decision, not a guaranteed different outcome — though in practice a remade decision under correct principles often changes the result. We advise you honestly on what winning would actually deliver.
What does judicial review cost?
It depends on how far the claim runs — many challenges resolve at the pre-action stage at a fraction of the cost of a full hearing. Court fees, our fee structures and funding options are covered on our fees page, and we assess costs protection and adverse costs risk with you at the outset.
Facing an unlawful decision?
Tell us what was decided and when. We'll give you an honest view of the grounds, the deadline you're working against and the realistic costs — before you commit to anything.
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