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Darren Middleton , Duncan Lewis , Immigration Solicitor , Birmingham

Darren Middleton

Director & Solicitor

Contact Information

Profile / Experience

Awards and Recommendations for Darren Middleton
uk-next-generation-partner-2024.jpg Legal 500

"Darren Middleton has gone the extra mile ensuring every detail of my case has been looked at."

Legal 500 2024 Edition.
Immigration / West Midlands

Next Generation Partner, Darren Middleton "excels in publicly funded immigration issues including representing vulnerable clients, victims of torture and trafficking, and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children."

Legal 500 2024 Edition.
Immigration / West Midlands

Darren is a Recommended Lawyer for Immigration Law across the West Midlands in the 2023 edition of The Legal 500.

Legal 500 2023 Edition.
Immigration / West Midlands
I am a Director in the Immigration department at Duncan Lewis Solicitors, and I supervise a team that specialises in asylum, immigration and public law.

I am accredited as a Supervising Senior Caseworker under the Immigration and Asylum Law Accreditation Scheme. I specialise in working with vulnerable individuals and complex cases, including further submissions, and deportation. I have had further submissions accepted outright with a grant of refugee status. I have provided representation where the SSHD has sought to dispute if an offender in prison was a British citizen, and I have also provided representation to an individual that was in France, and we sought to bring back to the United Kingdom under the Dublin Regulation, on the basis of him having previously claimed asylum here. I am very much of the view that a well prepared application can make an important difference in the overall outcome to clients.

I am experienced at preparing asylum and immigration appeals for the Tribunal. I have provided representation for nationals of Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Mongolia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sudan, Uganda and Zimbabwe, who have had their appeals successfully allowed by Tribunal. I have successfully provided representation at the appeal stage where the SSHD has sought to deprive an individual of British citizenship on the basis of deception.

I am also a participant in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber Committee Working Group at the Tribunal in Birmingham, which meets on a periodic basis.

I am experienced in preparing and lodging Judicial Review claims for asylum and immigration related decisions. This includes successfully using the Pre Action Protocol to avoid court litigation whilst obtaining favourable outcomes for clients. I have issued Judicial Reviews including: where there has been a refusal to accept that further submissions amount to a fresh claim; and to obtain asylum support by the SSHD. This includes the reported decision of R(ZV) v SSHD [2020] EWHC 3562 (Admin), where Justice Fordham gave guidance on four 'needs' that are to be taken into account at the interim relief stage, when holding that the SSHD should be providing our client with support. I was also the solicitor for Mostafa Shahi v SSHD[2021] EWCA Civ 1676, in which we obtained permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal to challenge a decision of 'no order' as to costs, when the initial Judicial Review had been successful in obtaining interim relief and then the claim was withdrawn by consent. The Court of Appeal provided guidance to claimants and practitioners as to what they will need to achieve in order to have an arguable claim for costs after obtaining interim relief.



Education

  • Legal Practice Course (LPC) - Birmingham City University
  • Graduate Diploma in Law - Birmingham City University
  • MA Refugee Studies - University of East London
  • BSc Geography - University of Sheffield

Career

  • Admitted as a Solicitor in September 2017
  • Duncan Lewis Solicitors: 2015 - present. Appointed as a Supervisor in 2018 and Director in 2022
  • Legal Officer, Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre: 2012 - 2015
  • Intern, Death Penalty Litigation Clinic, Kansas City, USA: July 2011 - August 2011
  • Immigration Caseworker, Coventry Refugee Centre: 2008 – 2010
  • Intern, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ('UNHCR'), Bangladesh: December 2007 – January 2008
  • Intern, Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit, Dhaka, Bangladesh: August 2007 – November 2007

Testimonials

  • "I was instructed to provide an independent social work expert report in an immigration case. The case was very complex and at the outset it seemed like an impossible case. However the task was made much easier as he [Darren] had taken the trouble to work methodically, providing detailed statements and background information, putting together a letter of instruction that was by far the best letter of instruction I had come across in my extensive experience as an expert witness." - Social work expert

  • "I have had excellent communication with Mr. Middleton, always responding promptly, courteously and professionally. I also noted that the clients involved - although they were feeling powerless due to their circumstances - they however felt empowered by the way Mr. Middleton was dealing with them. In my opinion he left no stones unturned and made maximum use of expert witnesses such as myself, without which the case would have been lost. After all the hard work it was a pleasure to see the case was won." - Maswood Ahmed, Independent Social Worker.

Awards

  • Next Generation Partner - Legal 500 UK, (2024)
  • Recommended Lawyer - Legal 500 UK, (2024 - 2023)
  • In 2018, I received the Duncan Lewis 'I Made a Difference' award.
  • At the Duncan Lewis Awards 2017, I was nominated for the Trainee Solicitor and Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year Awards.
  • Following the Legal Practice Course, awarded the Sweet and Maxwell Vocational Law Prize for outstanding achievement.
  • Following the Graduate Diploma in Law, awarded the Peter Nicholls Prize by Birmingham Law Society in recognition of achieving a high mark in Equity and Trusts.

Notable Cases

Court of Appeal
  • Mostafa Shahi v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWCA Civ 1676
  • ZV (Lithuania) v SSHD [2021] EWCA Civ 1196

High Court
  • R(ZV) v SSHD [2020] EWHC 3562 (Admin)

Membership & Accreditations

  • Immigration and Asylum Accreditation Scheme - Supervising Senior Caseworker
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