ABOUT THE WRITER
Imogen Smalley
Imogen Smalley was called to the Bar of England and Wales by the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple in November 2023. She received multiple scholarships to become an unregistered barrister: Major Exhibition Award, the Honourable Society of Inner Temple; Academic Excellence Scholarship, City Law School; Career Changer Scholarship, the University of Law; and a scholarship from the Yorkshire Ladies Council of Education.
Imogen has been passionate about environment protection from a very young age. Having been inspired by the work of David Attenborough, Imogen began saving to travel to South Africa to fight the illegal poaching of wild animals at the age of four years old. At the age of six Imogen won the BBC House Sparrows competition and aged seven she wrote her first handbook on how to protect hedgehogs from extinction, which was published in her local veterinary centre.
During her teenage years and early twenties, Imogen’s musical talents steered her focus away from environment protection. Imogen received her opera-singing training from the renowned Scottish tenor, Neil Mackie (a prodigy of Peter Pears) at the prestigious Royal Academy of Music. Her training was in tandem with her academic studies as part of her undergraduate degree in Musicology from King’s College London (2016).
Upon entering the University of Oxford, St Catherine’s College (2017), for her Master’s degree, Imogen turned to specialising in consumer trends and consumer protection across private music-listening and opera and ballet production. As a first generation female student, Imogen remains proud to be able to contribute to the history of St Catherine’s, which was established for working class women in the 1960s.
During her time at Oxford, Imogen was preoccupied with the lack of regulation and medical advice around private music-listening (this being listening through headphones, for example). She began volunteering with the charity Sing Inside to bring awareness to prisoners about the dangers of isolated music-listening and the importance of collective music-making. Imogen also contributed to the charity’s blog, writing on this matter to promote the cause.
It was also during her time at Oxford that Imogen re-ignited her passion for environment protection through her new-found interest in consumer regulation. She became a regular attendee of the Future of Food seminars ran by the University of Oxford, learning about the differences in food standards regulation across the globe. She also promoted the work of Oxford-based company SESI Refill and began working for the award-winning Modern Baker in their experimental cafe on Sundays. It was at these latter two companies she learnt about the poor regulation of supermarkets regarding meeting net-zero targets and the impact on consumers’ health. Further, during the MSt, Imogen was an active member of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics where she attended weekly debates about tackling global warming.
Having qualified as an unregistered barrister in November 2023, Imogen is now focussed on promoting awareness about updates in consumer and environment protection laws.
She has gained work experience at Gough Square Chambers (2023) (the leading barristers’ chambers for consumer law); Cornerstone Chambers (2023) (one of the leading barristers’ chambers for planning law) and 39 Essex Chambers (2020) (one of the leading barristers’ chambers in environment law).
Imogen is a member of the Planning and Environment Bar Association, the Financial Services Lawyers Association, the Young Fraud Lawyers Association, the Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers and the Discrimination Law Association.
Imogen currently works as a data protection paralegal for a local council, guarding against data breaches. It is important to note that as an unregistered barrister Imogen is not able to provide legal advice.
Through her blog Imogen hopes to use her legal training to share news about developments and discussions around consumer and environment protection in the jurisdiction of England and Wales.