Immigration

Ofonimeh was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2001. Although she had studied and lived in Newcastle for years it was the attraction of a job in London that made her leave "As a child I remember watching Crown Court with fascination and dreamed of being an advocate one day".

She joined Duncan Lewis in July 2002 as a Non-Practising Barrister in the Immigration Department and worked as a caseworker. As Duncan Lewis expanded into one of the largest legal aid firms in the country, she assisted as a team leader, was appointed a supervisor and then passed the Qualified Lawyer Transfer Test and was admitted as a Solicitor. She was then promoted to Head the Advocacy/ Upper Tribunal department at Duncan Lewis.

She is qualified under the Law Society's Immigration & Asylum Accreditation Scheme as a Senior Caseworker and Supervisor, which allowed her to specialise in Immigration & Nationality law and provide specialist legal help for publicly funded work under the firm's LSC franchise with assistance to private clients.

She continued her career in the Advocacy / Upper Tribunal team practising in all aspects of Immigration law with her main focus being Appeals across the varied elements of personal immigration and preparing and presenting appeals within the First and Upper Tribunal with success.

Her drive to provide an excellent service irrespective of cost and her approach to individual cases with particular attention to how each should be determined on its facts alongside her resilience in putting forward arguments regardless of the level of the Tribunal has won her admiration amongst her colleagues and peers, respect within her firm and continued success for her clients.

A panel, hearing submissions from Ofonimeh commented : "the compassionate circumstances were extremely well articulated by the Appellants distinguished counsel Miss Umoh. Indeed, her speech in mitigation was one of the finest that Mr Taylor and I had heard and we expressed this view in open court…" Ofonimeh's commitment to her work is reflected in her growing Court of Appeal practice generated mainly from her current workflow and based on her sharp and instinctive view for determining the true merits of he applications.

In her spare time, Ofonimeh enjoys singing and leading worship in a Pentecostal Church with over 102 different nationalities. She has done backing vocalist work at Wembley Arena, Hammersmith Apollo and Westminster Central Hall. She has sung at the Royal Albert Hall as part of a choir at the BBC Proms and more recently has taken up song writing.

She is a member of the Lawyers Christian Fellowship, JCWI, Lincolns Inn and the Bar of England and Wales. She is fluent in the Hausa, Ibibio and French languages.