Duncan Lewis Solicitors

Duncan Lewis successful in mishandled private fostering agreement in reported case: B v M [2018] EWHC 1473 (Fam) (26 April 2018).
Representation: our family and child care director Vanket Appalakondiah and solicitor Emily Alice Reed acted for the child’s carers. Counsel – Frank Feehan QC of 1KBW Chambers and Dr Charlotte Proudman of Goldsmith Chambers.
#PrivateFostering #PrivateFosteringAssessment #Fostering #PrivateFosteringAgreement

In what is believed to be the first successful case of its kind, Mr Justice Lane and Upper Tribunal Judge O’Connor have directed the Secretary of State for the Home Department (SSHD) to fund and facilitate the return of our client (WW) to the United Kingdom, in circumstances where he had been denied the opportunity to obtain the ‘best evidence’ relating to the best interests of his British children in his human rights appeal.
Representation: Sulaiha Ali and Philip Armitage of the Harrow Public Law team and counsel include Sonali Naik QC, Bijan Hoshi and Ali Bandegani of Garden Court Chambers.

We have been granted permission in our challenge to #HomeOffice practice of locking #detainees in cells for over 12 hours at #BrookHouse IRC each day, in conditions the Claimants say are unsanitary, poorly ventilated and which breach their rights to observe their religion.
The Claimants legal team consist of lead solicitorLewis Kett, assisted by Jamie Bell, Marie Nedelec, Lottie Hume and all of the Harrow Public Law Department. They have instructed Stephanie Harrison QC, Raza Halim and David Sellwood of Garden Court Chambers.
Read more: https://www.duncanlewis.co.uk/…/Duncan_ Lewis_Solicitors_Gra…

We will be closed on Good Friday and Easter Monday. See below for our opening hours across the Easter weekend.
Contact details are available here - https://www.duncanlewis.co.uk/Home/contac t
Happy Easter to you all!

Impressive work from Marina Khan and our immigration department today who prevented the deportation of an Afghan national whose plane was two minutes away from taking off.
We represented an Afghan national who left Afghanistan at the age of just 5 years old. He was due to be deported on today (17th April) at 4.30pm. The client instructed us on 15th April, and despite the late instructions, we endeavoured to act in his best interests due to his vulnerabilities and mental heal...th.
Further representations were submitted to the Home Office. The Secretary of State failed to engage at all with our client’s submissions as regards to the correctness of the CG case of AS (Safety of Kabul) Afghanistan CG [2018] UKUT 118 (IAC), as regards the risk of indiscriminate harm in Kabul, based on the decision of the ECRE and the EASO and UNAMA publications. Even if this was not sufficient to disturb the general presumption, it is further evidence of the current security situation which is relevant to the question of relocation to Kabul. These representations were ignored and the Secretary of State placed no anxious scrutiny to the same. Client was placed on the plane ready to depart.
Following a Judicial Review application, and the Judge contacting us and informing us that OSCU were advised to cancel the client's removal just minutes before departure time.
Results like this highlight just how committed we are to each and every one of our clients and the lengths we are willing to take to ensure that vulnerable clients are protected. Tasaddat Hussein of Garden Court North is instructed.
More details to follow...
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Eastern Eye has reported on Lord Karan Bilimoria’s comments in the House of Lords in March. He has highlighted to fact that foreign lawyers and barristers are not permitted to practice in India, causing problems for UK legal practitioners providing advice, “not just to British companies in India, but also to Indian companies”, which he argues is “a huge loss for India and our British legal services.” Significantly, it is thought that India will become a prominent market for t...he UK once Britain leaves the European Union.
In response, Tamana Aziz, who is a director in our Business Immigration department, states: “As we are heading towards Brexit, it is vital for the UK to have a stabilised economy. With a number of UK companies operating in India, it is important that UK lawyers are given permission to practise in India so they can advise their clients on foreign law on a temporary and casual basis. It is also vital for international commercial arbitration, which involves a party which is not Indian and law that may be foreign. If someone wants to practise Indian law in the UK, they can do so by setting up an office here. We are open to Indian lawyers practising in the UK, therefore our lawyers should be given similar opportunities in India.”
https://www.easterneye.biz/make-reciproci ty-the-law/
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Holownia v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] EWHC 794 (Admin) (03 April 2019)
The Claimant in this case is one of many rough sleepers who have been detained by the Secretary of State for the Home Department (SSHD) for an alleged breach of treaty rights under Immigration (EEA) Regulations 2006 (the EEA Regulations). Ruling in this case, Mrs Justice Simler DBE found it in favour of the Claimant, determining that he had been unlawfully detained between 12 April 2...017 and 11 September 2017, and as such he is entitled to £37,000 in damages.
Representation: Mr Holownia instructed Marina Khan of Duncan Lewis’ immigration and public law team, with Stephen Knight of One Pump Court acting as Counsel.
#roughsleepers #immigration #unlawfuldetention #Polishnational
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Gina Sarfo, of our Dalston immigration department, has successfully obtained a grant of permission in Judicial Review proceedings against the Secretary of State for the Home Department’s (SSHD) irrational negative Reasonable Grounds decision and the proposed removal of the Claimant from the UK.
Read more: https://www.duncanlewis.co.uk/…/Permiss ion_for_Judicial_Rev…
#immigration #JudicialReview #ModernSlavery #detention

Gabor Nagy, a solicitor and director of immigration, acted on behalf of two clients that were detained purely because they were found to be homeless. As Hungarian nationals, the Home Office detained them under immigration powers on the basis that it is an abuse of EU treaty rights, despite the fact that the policy on EEA rough sleepers no longer applies. It was as a result of Gabor’s representations that the Secretary of State eventually conceded that both had been detained unlawfully, awarding each a sum in damages.
Read more: https://www.duncanlewis.co.uk/…/Hungari an_nationals_detaine…
#immigration #homeless #roughsleepers #detention #unlawfuldetention

Divorce Law in England & Wales is to be overhauled so that couples will no longer have to apportion blame for the breakdown of their marriage or else wait for at least 2yrs of separation to take place before they can divorce.
#NoFaultDivorce

On 13 March 2019, the Supreme Court concluded that the rejection of the Appellant’s further submissions did not attract a right of appeal after the Appellant sought for the Court to find that the Secretary of State for the Home Department’s (SSHD) approach to further submissions (and that of the Courts as well), since the amendments to the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, was incorrect. As a result, it follows that the status quo continues and if the SSHD finds t...hat an Appellant’s further submissions do not satisfy the fresh claims test then their only remedy is to challenge that decision by way of judicial review.
Representation: The Appellant was represented by Stefan Vnuk of Duncan Lewis with Michael Fordham QC, of Blackstone Chambers, Ronan Toal, of Garden Court Chambers, and Catherine Robinson, of One Pump Court Chambers, instructed as Counsel.
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Last weekend (30th March), clinical negligence and personal injury solicitor Nilma Shah and family and child care solicitor Sarah Rashid attended the #TUC Midlands Annual Conference in Derby in order to meet with TUC delegates from across the Midlands and deliver specialist legal advice and support as well as highlight the most telling issues surrounding access to justice today.
Read more about their time at the conference: https://www.duncanlewis.co.uk/…/Solicit ors_Nilma_Shah_and_S…

When embarking on residential building projects we often rely on professionals such as a surveyor or an architect to ensure that the building work is carried out in accordance with our specifications. However, in the recent case of Freeborn and another v Marcal [2019] EWHC 454 (TCC), an architect was found liable for failing to carry out their clients’ wishes and instructions in a renovation project he was contracted to complete.
Read Director and Professional Negligence Solicitor Anthony Okumah's commentary on this case: https://www.duncanlewis.co.uk/…/Buildin g_Professional%E2%80…
#professionalnegligence #architects #solicitors #architectsnegligence #negligence

We are pleased to announce that Solicitor Graeme Rothwell has been appointed as director of the Action Against Public Authorities department at our Dalston office.
Graeme joined Duncan Lewis in 2016 and specialises in both actions against public authorities and criminal defence work. His key focus is holding public authorities to account when they act unlawfully, abuse their powers, or fail to observe their duty of care. He has significant experience in handling misconduct cases relating to battery and assault, false imprisonment, misfeasance, malicious prosecution, and negligence.
#ActionAgainstPublicAuthorities #criminaldefence #legaladvice

We are pleased to announce that solicitor Lynda Reid has been appointed Director of Housing at the firm’s Cardiff office.
Lynda will be leading the #Cardiff based housing department which handles both publically and privately funded social housing matters including; #homelessness, #disrepair, #eviction, possession proceedings and neighbourhood problems.
Lynda joined Duncan Lewis in 2015 and has over 25 years of post-qualification experience, litigating across a range of #hou...singlaw matters with a particular speciality in Equality Act defences.
Read more: https://www.duncanlewis.co.uk/…/Solicit or_Lynda_Reid_become…
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Entrepreneurs intending to set up a business in the United Kingdom will now need to comply with the new Tier 1 Start-Up Visa route which launches today, 1st April 2019.
Business and Private Immigration solicitor Jayesh Jethwa writes article setting out the key points to note for prospective applicants.
#immigration #visas #Tier1