The High Court has heard three Hamid referrals, two of which concerned asylum cases and one of those resulted in a referral to the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Given the professional implications, any practitioner reading this should already be well aware of the Hamid jurisdiction, which is essentially a disciplinary process...
In the short but landmark judgment of R (Hamid) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2012] EWHC 3070 (Admin), the High Court affirmed that it has the power to oversee the conduct of lawyers in immigration cases. Judges have regularly used the disciplinary process that has evolved out...
This month Sonia and Colin discuss the latest with Albanian cases as uncovered in the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration’s report on asylum casework, the recent changes to the Ukraine schemes, as well as a reminder of the existence of Hamid cases and how to avoid being on...
In the March roundup, Sonia and Colin discuss the latest with Albanian cases as uncovered in the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration’s report on asylum casework. We cover articles looking at recent changes to the Ukraine schemes, as well as a reminder of the existence of Hamid cases...
Page contentsProcedural rigourDuty of candourClaimant’s duty of candourThe Hamid jurisdictionA continuing dutyDefendant’s duty of candour Procedural rigour In recent years the courts have highlighted the need for procedural rigour throughout all steps in judicial review proceedings (see, for example, R (Talpada) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ...
Page contentsProcedural rigourDuty of candourClaimant’s duty of candourThe Hamid jurisdictionA continuing dutyDefendant’s duty of candourEvidenceWitness evidenceExpert evidenceGrounds for judicial reviewIllegalityIrrationalityProcedural unfairnessDisproportionalityReview – rationality and proportionalityRemediesQuashing ordersProhibiting ordersMandatory ordersDeclarationsInjunctionsDamagesOuster clauses Procedural rigour In recent years the courts have highlighted the need for procedural rigour throughout all steps in judicial review proceedings...
All parties to judicial review are under a duty of candour. The duty requires parties to ensure all relevant information and all material facts are disclosed, even where such information undermines their case. For a more detailed exposition of the duty, see our blog post on the topic. In the...
The courts have in recent years highlighted the need for procedural rigour throughout all steps in judicial review proceedings (see, for example, R (Talpada) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 841 at [67]; R (Dolan) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care [2020]...
I missed this at the time and only saw it thanks to Joshua Rosenberg’s helpful Substack. SW v United Kingdom (App no. 87/18) was about a judge making adverse findings about a social worker and referring her to her professional body without giving her a chance to respond. The Human...
Regular readers of Free Movement will be aware of the recent judgment finding serious breaches of the duty of candour by the Home Office in the mobile phone seizures case. Jed Pennington has discussed the judgment in a previous post. But, what is the duty of candour? The duty of...
Strategic litigation is a hot topic. Jolyon Maugham’s controversial Good Law Project provokes a visceral marmite effect. Some people absolute love it. Some, not so much. Sometimes referred to as ‘impact’, ‘test case’ or ‘public interest’ litigation, the idea that legal cases can be brought in order to achieve a...
The Divisional Court has now published its judgment addressing the Home Office’s breach of the duty of candour in the mobile phone seizures case. It is reported as R (HM, MA & KH) v SSHD [2022] EWHC 2729 (Admin). Earlier posts address the Divisional Court’s main judgment and order. Edis...
The duty of candour relates to the duty not to mislead and also the duty to uphold the rule of law, which is detailed in the relevant codes of conduct. OISC: Organisations and advisers must always act in accordance with UK law. SRA: You act…in a way that upholds the...
The High Court has taken a leading firm of solicitors to task for its handling of an urgent application for judicial review of conditions at a converted military barracks holding asylum seekers, but concluded that the case was not serious enough to warrant referral to the solicitors’ regulator. Instead the...
Last year, Nick wrote up the case of MA (Pakistan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] EWCA Civ 1252, summarising it as follows: If a foreign criminal wins their deportation appeal, can the Home Office try and deport them again, even where there has been no further offending?...
The Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) has been busy this month, announcing bans or convictions for three unqualified immigration advisers after pursuing them through the courts. The OISC first secured an indefinite ban on Kalpesh “Bobby” Karia of Whizzlaw Associates, Barnet, North London. The First-tier Tribunal for immigration...
The High Court has referred an immigration law firm to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, citing “serious concerns” over its conduct of several cases. The case is R (Al Mahfuz & Anor) v Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) & Anor [2019] EWHC 2318 (Admin) and the firm concerned is Heans...
Recently revised The Codes of Conduct are the starting place for any examination of legal ethics and professional obligations. The thrust of both relevant Codes is similar, emphasising a lawyer’s duty to the court. The barrister Code goes into more detail on the extent of the duty to the court....
Two solicitors have been fined for pursuing “spurious” immigration cases — many of which they knew were hopeless because they had advised the client as much. Nurgus Malik and Jusna Begum Miah, who at the time worked for M-R Solicitors in London, admitted several counts of professional misconduct at the...
The Upper Tribunal has referred an immigration adviser to the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC), accusing him of running judicial review cases without a licence and failing to properly check expert reports. The case is R (Hoxha & Ors) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (representatives:...
The High Court has called in the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Director of Public Prosecutions over the conduct of a shambolic citizenship case. The judgment is Jetly & Anor v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] EWHC 204 (Admin). The circumstances of the case are baffling even when laid...
The co-founder of an immigration law firm has failed in a High Court bid to overturn Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal sanctions for professional misconduct. Mr Justice Lavender rejected the appeal of Malik Mohammed Nazeer, a solicitor of over 21 years’ call, against a £20,000 fine and practice restrictions imposed by the...
R (Shrestha & Ors) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Hamid jurisdiction: nature and purposes) [2018] UKUT 242 (IAC) was another in the recent line of ‘Hamid’ cases in which the High Court and Upper Tribunal metaphorically publicly flog immigration lawyers who do not meet their own exacting...
Another shot fired in the ongoing skirmishes between judges, perhaps starting to feel some of the workload pressure that legal aid lawyers have been labouring under for years, and immigration practitioners. Last week a JUSTICE report ominously recommended “greater use of the Hamid procedure”, a hearing convened to haul practitioners over...
The human rights and law reform organisation JUSTICE has launched a new report on the immigration asylum appeals system, saying that the tribunals have “become relatively complex and slow in parts of their operation, and overburdened by paper and unnecessary bureaucracy”. A working party chaired by Professor Sir Ross Cranston calls for 49 tweaks...
This was the month that the Windrush scandal came to a head, so I start by focusing on the fallout from that before looking at an issue that would otherwise have led this update: more law firms in serious trouble with the regulator over their conduct of litigation. It’s not...
Welcome to the April 2018 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This was the month that the Windrush scandal came to a head, so I start by focusing on the fallout from that before looking at an issue that would otherwise have led this update: more law firms...
The Court of Appeal’s decision in Parveen v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 932 seems to be an additional nail in the coffin for the once renowned (and now shut down) Malik Law Chambers, with the court repeatedly criticising the firm’s preparation of the application...
This month I start on the Brexit outlook for EU citizens before turning to several immigration law issues affecting children that came to light in March. The Upper Tribunal reported a fresh batch of decisions, a couple on its jurisdiction and some more on other procedural bits and pieces. I...
An individual’s right to access information held about them under the Data Protection Act 1998 is arguably one of the greatest legacies of the New Labour government. In immigration law, where complexity abounds and cases often roll on for years through changes in rules and regulatory frameworks, this right is...
Welcome to the March 2018 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month I start on the Brexit outlook for EU citizens before turning to several immigration law issues affecting children that came to light in March. The Upper Tribunal reported a fresh batch of decisions, a couple...
A lawyer is not merely a conduit through which their client’s grievances can be aired in court. The grievance must be formulated into a coherent and stateable case and presented in a professional, honest, and courteous manner. The Solicitors Regulation Authority requiressolicitors in England and Wales to refrain from any “attempt...
A struck-off solicitor has failed in a High Court bid to overturn the decision of a disciplinary tribunal to ban him from legal practice. The case is Ip v Solicitors Regulation Authority [2018] EWHC 957. Immigration specialist Vay Sui Ip was struck off following a decision of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal...
Short and sweet is the best way to describe the High Court’s decision in BS v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWHC 454 (Admin). It comes as a useful reminder that whether detention is “reasonable” depends on all the circumstances of the case. In particular, the risk of a...
At a time when immigration practitioners are facing a wave of referrals and allegations of misconduct, the Upper Tribunal’s decision in Shah (‘Cart’ judicial review: nature and consequences) [2018] UKUT 51 (IAC) comes as another timely reminder that judges are in no mood to deal with haphazard or slapdash appeals...
The recent decision in R (SB (Afghanistan)) v SSHD [2018] EWCA Civ 215 concerned the removal of an Afghan asylum seeker last year. As the judgment records, the case generated a significant amount of media attention amid reports that it had taken place in breach of a High Court order, with...
A solicitor has been suspended from practice for 18 months, and his brother heavily fined, in the latest disciplinary ruling over tactical judicial reviews designed to frustrate deportations. Malik Mohammed Saleem and Malik Mohammed Nazeer, of London firm Malik & Malik, were sanctioned by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal following a...
An immigration lawyer praised for his “good deeds” among the Chinese community has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. Vay Sui Ip, a partner at Manchester firm Sandbrook Solicitors, was prosecuted by the Solicitors Regulation Authority over judicial reviews issued as a means of “frustrating deportations“. The tribunal,...
In one of his final judgments as outgoing President, Mr Justice McCloskey launched a bitter broadside at the conduct of government lawyers in long-running litigation over the entry of refugee children. While the criticism of the solicitors at the Government Legal Department and of previous barristers instructed for the Home...
The Solicitor Disciplinary Tribunal has fined an immigration solicitor £10,000 for signing off “grossly misleading and inaccurate” statements of truth for judicial review applications. The solicitor concerned, Achyuth Rajagopal of G Singh Solicitors in London, admitted acting recklessly and in a manner apt to mislead the tribunal and failing adequately...
