Shalini Patel

I am passionate about giving those most vulnerable in our society a voice. Through my work, I hope to be able to bring change and recognition for those who need someone to listen and understand.

I am a Solicitor and Supervisor within the Public Law and Human Rights department at Duncan Lewis Solicitors. I have conduct of numerous high profile judicial review claims and have been involved in high level litigation for over 9 years. My role allows me to play a big part in ensuring the rule of law is upheld by representing Claimants in challenges against the policies of the Home Secretary.

In 2022 the Home Secretary conceded a judicial review challenge to her policy of making significantly lower payments to support victims of trafficking who are pregnant or have children, who had not claimed asylum in the UK. The Home Secretary agreed to increase the support offered to non-asylum seeking victims of trafficking to allow parity with those who had claimed asylum. I have a passion for working with victims of trafficking and this was one of many challenges I have brought for my clients. This was a welcome move given the government has on many occasions claimed to be a world leader on modern slavery but the policies so often fall short. I also represented a client in a challenge to the policy which meant Home Office caseworkers had no discretion when setting reporting conditions for victims of trafficking who had criminal convictions only as a result of their trafficking. There was a clear failure within the policy to recognise the vulnerability of victims of trafficking and the fact that they are forced into criminality. The Home Secretary conceded in this case too and amended her policy.

I was also involved in the widely-reported Rwanda removal litigation, a case where Duncan Lewis successfully challenged the lawfulness of the Secretary of State for the Home Department’s policy to remove asylum-seekers to Rwanda and where I represented one Claimant to appeal the lower courts decision to the Court of Appeal.

I represent both individual Claimants and Non-Government Organisations. In 2022 I represented Women for Refugee Women in a challenge against the opening of Derwentside IRC in Kent. The basis of the challenge is that there is a real issue with access to justice for the vulnerable women detained there as the detention centre has been opened in a legal aid desert. Although we lost in the Administrative Court we have been successful on appeal to the Court of Appeal. The judge found that it is arguable, with a real prospect of success, that there is a ‘real risk’ that detainees cannot properly engage with their legal representatives.

Aside from my work I also regularly speak at external events on trafficking and the law.

I supervise a team of caseworkers and trainee solicitors all dedicated to representing the most vulnerable in society.

I am fluent in Hindi and Gujarati.

• Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice (LPC)
• LLB Honours - University of Hertfordshire

• Solicitor in Public Law Department at Duncan Lewis (2014 - Present)
• Trainee Solicitor at Duncan Lewis (2012 – 2014)
• Executive Officer at Treasury Solicitor’s Department (2008 - 2011)

• "I just want to say thank you for all your help and support you have been the best solicitors I have ever dealt with. Excellent communication, great advice and friendly." - Client, February 2018


• "Shalini is one of the best solicitors working in immigration-related public law today. Enormously hard working and smart, she gives 100% to her cases. She is hugely experienced in high profile strategic litigation but remains client-centred and compassionate throughout. I can’t recommend her enough." - Miranda Butler, Barrister at Landmark Chambers


• "Shalini’s extensive experience and skill in running complex judicial reviews with highly vulnerable clients challenging abuse within the immigration system is clear from her ability to identify unlawful practice, thorough preparation, her compassion for her clients and steely determination to secure the best possible outcome for the person she represents aswell as to improve legal protections overall. Shalini is a real team player who leaves no stone unturned in her pursuit of a just outcome for her clients." - Stephanie Harrison KC, Barrister at Garden Court Chambers


• "Shalini is an exceptional solicitor. Over the years we have referred many women in immigration detention to her – and with each case she has taken such care, and fought so hard to ensure justice for the woman concerned. I always feel very relieved when Shalini is able to take on a case, because I know she will do everything possible to ensure a good outcome."


• "Shalini also led our legal challenge against the Home Office’s decision to open a new detention centre for women, Derwentside, without ensuring access to in-person legal advice for women detained there. This was the first strategic legal challenge Women for Refugee Women has ever undertaken, so it was quite daunting for us. But Shalini always took the time to ensure we understood what was happening in the challenge and what the next steps were, and answered our many questions with great patience. We feel very lucky to have been represented by Shalini and her team in this challenge, and learned a huge amount from watching them work." - Gemma Lousley, Women for Refugee Women

Court of Appeal

• SPM -v- The Secretary of the State for the Home Department: The Court of Appeal has granted permission to appeal in a legal challenge to the lack of face-to-face legal representation at Derwentside IRC. The judge considers that it is arguable, with a real prospect of success, that there is a ‘real risk’ that detainees cannot properly engage with their legal representatives. The decision is in relation to a judicial review against the Secretary of State for the Home Department (SSHD) and her failure to provide access to in-person legal advice to women refugees in Derwentside immigration removal centre in Durham. The challenge was initially brought by the charity Women for Refugee Women (WFRW) with an individual Claimant who had previously been detained at Derwentside IRC. Our challenge contended that this failure amounted to an abrogation of the right to justice which encompasses in-person attendance and advice by a legal representative.


• HTN -v- The Secretary of State for the Home Department - I represent one Claimant in the Rwanda test litigation against the off-shoring of asylum seekers to Rwanda.


• Wasif –v- The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2016] EWCA Civ 82: I had the conduct of this matter which concerned the manner in which the Tribunals and Courts certify claims for Judicial Review as “totally without merit”. The Court of Appeal, of its own motion, heard this matter as the test case in relation to “totally without merit” orders and gave further guidance.


• HK (Sudan) –v- SSHD [2014] EWCA Civ 1481: I had conduct of the test case in the Court of Appeal in relation to removals to Hungary under the Dublin Convention. I undertook a fact finding mission to Hungary in October 2014 to assist in preparation of the oral permission hearing. A vast amount of information was gathered following meetings with various Non-Government organisations including the UNHCR and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee. Despite the acceptance of degrading treatment by the Court of Appeal, permission was refused. I felt very strongly about the case and decided to pursue the matter further. I applied to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Unfortunately, this application was also refused.


• Kigen and Another –v- Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWCA Civ 1286: This case concerned an appeal against an order of the Upper Tribunal dismissing the appellants’ application for an extension of time in which to renew their applications for permission to apply for judicial review. The appellants are seeking to establish that they are entitled to leave to remain in the United Kingdom by reason of descent from a maternal grandfather. In light of this judgment, it is likely that extensions of time on the basis of delays in securing legal aid funding will no longer be granted unless there are exceptional grounds to such a request. In the last resort, claimants will be expected to lodge the necessary notices without legal assistance, and apply for fee remission if they are unable to pay Court fees. The Court did suggest that applications to extend time made before the expiry of the relevant deadline may be treated differently (applying Roberts v Momentum Services).

High Court

• Alvi and Others: I had conduct of three of the seven linked cases which, further to the Detention Action challenges, established the process to set aside asylum appeals decided under the unlawful 2014 procedures.


• Pour and others –v- SSHD [2015]: I have conduct of the test Cyprus removals case in which a Final Hearing took place in the Administrative Court in June 2015 and the matter was refused.

• Immigration Law Practitioners' Association (ILPA)
• Level 2 Immigration and Asylum Scheme Accredited Caseworker
• Level 2 Immigration and Asylum Scheme Supervisor

• In my spare time I like to spend time with my family and friends. I enjoy strength training and keeping fit

• The Wethersfield Asylum Centre Site is like a “detention centre”, Shalini Patel tells ITV (7 June 2024)
• Duncan Lewis Solicitors Celebrates Three Prestigious Wins at the Modern Law Awards 2024 (8 March 2024)
• Duncan Lewis Client Granted Final Hearing Permission, Challenging Asylum-Seeker Accommodation at RAF Wethersfield (29 February 2024)
• Duncan Lewis Shortlisted in Three Categories at the Modern Law Awards (26 January 2024)
• Duncan Lewis Solicitors to challenge the segregation of asylum seekers at Wethersfield Airbase (26 October 2023)
• Duncan Lewis’ Shalini Patel wins Reducing Vulnerabilities Award at the 2023 Anti-Slavery Day Awards (23 October 2023)
• SSHD withdraws new evidential test for ‘Reasonable Grounds’ decisions in Modern Slavery Statutory Guidance (28 June 2023)
• Interim relief granted in Duncan Lewis legal challenge over new statutory guidance on Modern Slavery. (17 May 2023)
• Appeal granted in challenge to lack of face-to-face legal representation at Derwentside (27 January 2023)
• UK immigration policy isn’t working, Duncan Lewis solicitor tells public asylum debate (9 December 2022)
• Government must help trafficking survivors not lock them up and compound trauma, says public law solicitor (11 October 2022)
• Home Office faces legal action over claims women at risk of deportation being refused in-person legal advice (The Justice Gap) (25 February 2022)
• Women for Refugee Women: Celebrating Great Women’s Charities for International Women’s Day 2022 (8 March 2022)
• ‘Home Office Policy Discriminates Against Women Refugees’ (25 February 2022)
• Traumatised and alone – why are we still sending survivors of abuse to detention centres? (The Metro) (8 November 2021)
• High Court quashes Home Office’s decision unlawfully rejecting a trafficking survivor’s claim (11 November 2021)
• HYL v SSHD (CO/2347/2020) – challenging the SSHD’s refusal to consider eligibility for ECAT leave for victim of modern slavery (14 October 2020)
• TVN v SSHD (CO/387/2020): High Court grants permission on all grounds, to the challenge to the SSHD’s policy on release of detainees from IRCs (15 July 2020)
• Home Office increases support for trafficking victims after lawyers argue rates are 'discriminatory' (The Independent) (2 July 2020)
• Duncan Lewis Solicitors’ legal challenge leads to changes to the financial support rates provided by the modern slavery Victim Care Contract (1 July 2020)
• ‘Traumatised’ Vietnamese man detained in UK for two years despite evidence he was a trafficking victim (The Independent) (5 November 2019)
• Essex truck deaths: why are so many Chinese and Vietnamese being trafficked to the UK? (South China Morning Post) (30 October 2019)
• Shalini Patel appears on BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire and ITV News to discuss the deaths of 39 people in a lorry (Multiple Sources) (25 October 2019)
• Chinese women being trafficked to UK suffer further harm as detention numbers nearly double (Multiple Sources) (9 July 2019)
• Shalini Patel to appear on BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour (8 July 2019)
• Incompetence: Theresa May's Government fails to Deal with Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery (RT TV) (26 June 2019)
• Home Office sending modern slavery victims back to addresses where they were abused (Independent) (13 June 2019)
• Chinese victim of trafficking released from detention: where were the safeguards when our client needed them? (28 February 2019)
• Home Office admits it unlawfully detained trafficking victim for six months (Independent) (14 February 2019)
• Chinese women trafficked to UK 'being failed by Home Office' (Guardian) (10 January 2019)
• Pour & Ors v SSHD [2016] EWHC 401 - Judgement Handed Down (4 March 2016)
• What is Meant by Totally without Merit - Samia Wasif v SSHD 2016 EWCA Civ 82 (18 February 2016)
• Duncan Lewis Public Law Immigration Department fact finding trip to Hungary (30 October 2014)