Giving you a voice
We will fearlessly pursue justice on your behalf, ensuring that your voice is heard.
Challenge a public authority
Public bodies should act reasonably, fairly, and lawfully. If they act otherwise, they need to be challenged.
Gain a sense of Justice
We passionately believe that everyone has a right of access to justice, whatever their circumstances.
Public Law News
Dubs Amendment: High Court finds Home Office unlawfully failed to publish policy and breached its duty of candour (22 January 2019)
The High Court has today handed down judgment in the case of R (ZS) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] EWHC 75 (Admin). This claim challenged the Home Office’s failure to implement the so-called ‘Dubs Amendment’, s. 67 of the Immigration Act 2016, which required the Secretary of State to make arrangements to transfer asylum-seeking children from Europe. This power was used to transfer a number of children from the Calais ‘Jungle’ camp in late 2016. ZS was one of the children considered for transfer at that time but he was refused for failing to meet the criteria set by the Home Office, despite significant vulnerabilities. Read more...
Public Law’s Jeremy Bloom speaks at the Young Legal Aid Lawyers meeting discussing Duncan Lewis’ LAA Challenges (15 January 2019)
On 9th January 2019, Jeremy Bloom was invited to speak at 39 Essex Chambers at the Young Legal Aid Lawyers (YLAL) meeting, 'Litigating for Justice: Challenging the Legal Aid Agency'. Read more...
Recovering costs in a hostile environment post-AL (Albania) (7 January 2019)
On 22 June 2018, we published an article regarding the Court of Appeal’s judgment in AL (Albania) v SSHD [2018] EWCA Civ 1183 which confirmed that public funding was being sought to challenge the Court of Appeal’s decision in the Supreme Court. The purpose of the following article is to provide an update, especially in view of the fact that this case has profound implications for the future of publicly funded cases, in particular those involving vulnerable asylum-seeking children. Read more...
Duncan Lewis succeeds in challenge over blanket Legal Aid refusals for Judicial Reviews where permission was refused on paper (20 December 2018)
In a judicial review against the Lord Chancellor, Duncan Lewis has successfully challenged the blanket refusal to provide legal aid funding for judicial reviews where permission was refused on the papers. The result will assist legal aid providers representing some of the most vulnerable in society and should in turn enhance access to justice. Read more...
Upper Tribunal rules Home Office’s removal of disputed minor to Germany unlawful and orders his return to UK (4 December 2018)
Following a hearing that took place on 11 October 2018, Mr Justice William Davis, a High Court Judge sitting in the Upper Tribunal, ruled that the Home Office unlawfully removed ‘QH’, an exceptionally vulnerable young Afghan male, to Germany. As a result, the Court has today ordered the Home Office to take steps to return QH to the UK so that his asylum claim can be decided here. Read more...
Public Law Director Toufique Hossain gives evidence in connection to the Joint Committee on Human Rights’ inquiry into immigration detention (28 November 2018)
Duncan Lewis’ public law director Toufique Hossain gave oral evidence in connection to the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) inquiry into immigration detention on Wednesday 21st November at the Palace of Westminster. Read more...
Duncan Lewis’ Public Law Solicitor Jamie Bell attended the ‘People of Afghanistan Look to the Future’ conference as part of Parliament Week (26 November 2018)
The Afghanistan and Central Asian Association (ACAA) and the Campaign for Human Rights for the People of Afghanistan (CHRA) hosted the People of Afghanistan Look to the Future conference as part of Parliament Week, bringing together speakers from different sectors to discuss key issues affecting Afghan people in the UK today. Read more...
UPDATE: Challenge to Legality of Removals Policy – Home Office further amends policy in response to Judgment (13 November 2018)
The judgment in R (FB and NR) v SSHD (JR/9948/2017 and JR/9949/2017), was handed down on 31st October 2018. The Upper Tribunal (UT) found the Home Office removals policy (‘Judicial reviews and injunctions’, Version v15.0) to be unlawful in several respects, as detailed below. Read more...
Ahmed Aydeed speaks at Islington North, Black and Ethnic Minority Forum, Black History Month Event (5 November 2018)
On Wednesday 31st October, Ahmed Aydeed, a solicitor and director of public law based at Duncan Lewis Solicitors’ Birmingham branch, spoke at the Islington North Black and Minority Ethnic Forum, Black History Month event. Read more...
Duncan Lewis wins unlawful detention claim on behalf of client with mental health problems in R (oao) Chernor Dede Bah –v- The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWHC 2942 (Admin) (5 November 2018)
Mr. Bah was referred to Duncan Lewis by Medical Justice, with preliminary medical evidence suggesting that he may have been unable to adequately ventilate his protection claim in the United Kingdom due to severe mental illness. Throughout January 2018, Duncan Lewis challenged the lawfulness of Mr. Bah’s continued detention. In the judgment handed down on 2 November 2018, it was conceded that the failure to conduct an initial medical examination pursuant to Rule 34 of the Detention Centre Rules 2001 was unlawful. The Court held that Mr. Bah’s detention for the following four weeks was unlawful. Read more...
Duncan Lewis Solicitors Challenge the Lack of Immigration Advice in the Prison Estate (5 November 2018)
As a firm, Duncan Lewis currently represents a number of individuals who are subject to immigration control, but are detained within the prison estate as opposed to within immigration removal centres. We have commenced judicial review proceedings on their behalf, primarily arguing that the Lord Chancellor, the Director of Legal Aid Casework and/or the Secretary of State for the Home Department are squarely discriminating against those held under immigration powers who are detained within prisons when compared to detainees in immigration removal centres. Read more...
Our Public Law Director Ahmed Aydeed Speaks at Immigration and Public Law Seminar at Matrix Chambers (5 November 2018)
Ahmed Aydeed, a solicitor and director at Duncan Lewis Solicitors, spoke as a panel member on Medical Expert Evidence in Immigration and Public Law at a seminar held at Matrix Chambers on 30 October 2018. Read more...
Public Law Director Toufique Hossain has been ranked in The Legal 500 2019 (31 October 2018)
We are pleased to announce that director of public law and immigration, Toufique Hossain, has received outstanding recognition in The Legal 500 2018-2019 edition, receiving recommendations in four practice areas, including being ranked as a ‘Next Generation Lawyer’ for Administrative and Public Law in London. Read more...
Duncan Lewis provided advice at the Waging Peace legal clinic hosted by Garden Court Chambers (23 October 2018)
On Tuesday 16th October, a number of our specialist legal practitioners attended the Waging Peace legal clinic at Garden Court Chambers to provide advice for individuals who needed to know the best steps to take in their legal matter. Read more...
Duncan Lewis attended Legal Week at King’s College London (19 October 2018)
As we see this year’s Legal Week come to a close, we look back on what went on at King’s College London. Legal practitioners from Duncan Lewis were invited to discuss their experiences as professionals in the legal sector at the largest legal aid firm in the UK. Read more...
Duncan Lewis Solicitors welcomes new solicitor Stefan Vnuk to its Public Law Team (18 October 2018)
Duncan Lewis is very pleased to announce that solicitor Stefan Vnuk has joined its Public Law department. Stefan has joined Duncan Lewis from Lupins Solicitors, where he was Head of Department, and brings with him over 20 years’ worth of legal experience. Read more...
Duncan Lewis Attends First Immigration Detention Conference at ILPA (12 October 2018)
On Tuesday 9th October, Toufique Hossain, a director of immigration public law at Duncan Lewis, was invited to speak at the first Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA) conference on immigration detention. Toufique Hossain, who heads a team of almost 50 immigration and public law lawyers at Duncan Lewis’ head office in Harrow, was asked to attend to speak on a number of key challenges he is bringing to raise awareness of the issues which face immigration detainees in the UK today. Read more...
Permission granted for Duncan Lewis to challenge the Legal Aid Regulations that prevents payment where permission was refused on paper (12 October 2018)
Further to the success brought by Duncan Lewis which resulted in the Government agreeing to amend the Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) Regulations 2012 to allow for legal aid certificates to be backdated, this judicial review continues the fight for access to justice, in a challenge to a different Legal Aid Regulation that stands in the way of providers continuing to assist those who are most in need. Read more...
Home Office in major U-turn agrees to Article 3-compliant investigation by PPO into abuse at Brook House IRC (11 October 2018)
Following legal proceedings the Home Office have backed down and agreed to the appointment of the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) to undertake a bespoke and independent Article 3 ECHR-compliant investigation into abuse of detainees at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) that was exposed by a BBC Panorama documentary in September 2017. Read more...
Government to amend regulations in response to Duncan Lewis access to justice challenge against Legal Aid Agency and Lord Chancellor (5 October 2018)
Duncan Lewis Solicitors are the claimant in a claim for judicial review of the Legal Aid Agency’s refusal to backdate legal aid certificates, even where solicitors have made a legal aid application as promptly as possible and it is necessary to begin work in order to secure access to justice for a client before the Legal Aid Agency has granted a certificate. Our contention in the litigation is that the Legal Aid Agency and Lord Chancellor have failed to recognise that the legal aid regulations must contain an implied power to backdate certificates, or are ultra vires. Read more...
JA Iraq et al v SSHD approved judgment - Duncan Lewis Solicitors involved in landmark judgment involving the detention of individuals under Dublin III Regulation (5 October 2018)
Yesterday, 4th October, the Court of Appeal has handed down a landmark judgment pertaining to the detention of individuals under Dublin III Regulation. The conjoined hearing of appeals related to three judgments that covered the cases of five individuals who were placed in detention for periods pending possible removal to other EU Member States pursuant to the asylum claim arrangements under the so-called Dublin III Regulation. Read more...
Duncan Lewis Solicitors challenge the detention centre pay regime (5 September 2018)
Our Public Law team have issued Judicial Review proceedings challenging £1 per hour wages within immigration detention centres. The case is a landmark challenge to the detention centre pay regime, first introduced in 2008. In 2016/2017, over 880,000 hours of paid work was carried out by immigration detainees. The vast majority of this work was rewarded with £1 per hour pay (as the ‘specified project’ rate of £1.25 is rarely used). Read more...
Duncan Lewis Client has Interim Relief Granted by European Court of Human Rights (10 August 2018)
In Chowdhury v United Kingdom, under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has decided to indicate to the Government of the United Kingdom that the Applicant should not be removed for the duration of the proceedings before the Court. Read more...
Duncan Lewis successfully challenges the SSHD’s unlawful detention of victim of re-trafficking (6 August 2018)
In CP (Vietnam) v Secretary of State for the Home Department the High Court ruled in favour of the Claimant, concluding that the Secretary of State for the Home Department (SSHD) had breached the Claimant’s protective obligations under Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights and detained him unlawfully. Read more...
Ahmed Aydeed Shortlisted for Human Rights Lawyer of the Year at Law Society Excellence Awards (3 August 2018)
We are thrilled to announce that Duncan Lewis’ Ahmed Aydeed has been shortlisted for the coveted Human Rights Lawyer of the Year award at the 2018 Law Society Excellence Awards. Read more...
Reducing the Statutory Charge – the lessons of Hana Zewdu v. The Director of Legal Aid Casework [CO/81/2018] (27 July 2018)
Following the filing of judicial review proceedings in the Administrative Court of Justice on 19 December 2017, the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) agreed to pay the Claimant, the full costs of challenging the LAA’s original decision to revoke the Claimant’s public funding certificate, during the course of the Claimant’s prior successful judicial review proceedings against the Secretary of State for the Home Department (SSHD). Read more...
R (on the application of Muhammad Rehman) v (1) Secretary of State for Justice and (2) Secretary of State for the Home Department (24 July 2018)
The Public Law team at Duncan Lewis have issued Judicial Review proceedings on behalf of the Claimant who was held under immigration powers in prison. Read more...
Public Law Solicitor Lewis Kett Wins Legal Aid Newcomer at the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards 2018 (18 July 2018)
Duncan Lewis is pleased to congratulate Lewis Kett, a solicitor in the Public Law department, on his award for Legal Aid Newcomer at the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year (LALY) Awards. The Legal Aid Newcomer Award exists to recognise the young legal aid lawyers aspiring to be the future leaders in this practice. Read more...
Duncan Lewis appoints Alex Peebles as Director in Public Law and Court of Protection (6 July 2018)
Duncan Lewis are very pleased to announce that Solicitor Alex Peebles has recently been appointed as a Director of Public Law and Court of Protection. Since Alex joined Duncan Lewis in April 2017, he has become a prominent presence in the legal fields of Court of Protection, Regulatory law and in Civil Liberties & Human Rights, whilst supporting the growth and development of the respective departments overall. With 10 years’ PQE in a wide range of Public Law matters, Alex is experienced in handling matters in the tax tribunal, High Court, Court of Appeal, European Court of Human Rights and Court of Protection. Read more...
Duncan Lewis Public Law & Immigration Director Bahar Ata is a finalist for the Legal Expert Award at the CILEx National Awards 2018 (5 July 2018)
Duncan Lewis Solicitors is proud to announce that Public Law and Immigration Director, Bahar Ata, has been selected as a finalist for the Legal Expert Award at the CILEx National Awards 2018. The awards ceremony will be presented on the 6th September 2018 at the stunning Underglobe, Shakespeare Globe Theatre, London. The CILEx National Awards Ceremony will showcase and celebrate the excellent work, and achievements, of CILEx members and stakeholder partners. Read more...
Duncan Lewis Solicitors challenges the Legal Aid Agency’s rules on backdating of funding (5 July 2018)
Duncan Lewis Solicitors have been granted permission in a claim for judicial review to challenge the lawfulness of the Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) Regulations 2012, (the Procedure Regulations), and the Legal Aid Agency’s (LAA) interpretation of these regulations.The LAA’s position is that the Procedure Regulations do not allow it to make legal aid payments for work undertaken before it grants funding. The effect of this contention is that legal aid providers are not reimbursed for work properly undertaken on an emergency basis before the LAA is able to consider an application and grant funding. Another potential effect is that legal aid providers simply will not carry out this work, as they cannot be reimbursed for it by the LAA. Read more...
Senior caseworker Patrick Page speaks at Parliament following screening of ‘Calais Children: A Case to Answer’ (2 July 2018)
On 27 June, Patrick Page, a senior caseworker in the public law department at Duncan Lewis spoke at Parliament about his experience advising and assisting children in the Calais ‘Jungle’ on their applications to come to the UK under the ‘Dubs Amendment’. After the screening of ‘Calais Children: A Case to Answer’, Patrick remembered how, when he and his colleagues spent time in the Jungle, the children they spoke to were ‘trying’ every night to board lorries, risking their lives to enter the UK; some had been trying for over a year and had bruises and cuts to show for it. Conversely, when Patrick and his team returned to the UK, they were required only to show their passports to the border guards, and half an hour later they were in Dover. He concluded that until countries like the UK opened their borders, tens of thousands of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children would continue to remain in limbo, vulnerable to exploitation. Read more...
Permission to Appeal granted by Court of Appeal in TM (Kenya) (28 June 2018)
The Court of Appeal has granted permission to appeal in the case of TM (Kenya) v SSHD (C4/2017/3270), which challenges the High Court judgment in Muasa v SSHD [2017] EWHC 2267 insofar as it found against the Claimant. Read more...
Patrick Page, senior caseworker in public law at Duncan Lewis, speaks at conferences at SOAS and at the Open University (26 June 2018)
On 19th June, Patrick Page, a Senior Caseworker in the Public Law team in Harrow spoke on the keynote panel at a SOAS conference on ‘Empathy in Practice’. He shared the panel with Juliet Mabey, the founder of Oneworld Publications, and David Francis, a PhD student at the British Museum. Patrick spoke about his work exposing the indignity of immigration detention, and criticised the lack of empathy shown by detention officers, Home Office caseworkers and national leaders towards those who are detained. Read more...
Duncan Lewis Solicitors attend tribunal verdict on Turkey and the Kurds (11 June 2018)
Members of the public law team at Duncan Lewis recently attended the reading of a verdict of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) on Turkey and the Kurds. Delivered on 24 May in the European Parliament, the PPT found Erdogan and the Turkish state guilty of war crimes, and crimes against humanity against the Kurdish people. Read more...
Duncan Lewis Public Law Team talk at Oxford University (30 May 2018)
On 17 May, Patrick Page and Nicholas Hughes of the Harrow Public Law Team, spoke to students at Oxford University about challenging unlawful policies and practices in immigration detention. Read more...
Duncan Lewis Solicitors challenge R (Rahimi & Bahadori) v SSHD prompts new Chapter 60 removals policy (24 May 2018)
Yesterday (23rd May 2018) the Secretary of State for the Home Department (SSHD) published amendments to his removals policy (at Chapter 60 of his Enforcement Guidance and Instructions, titled ‘Judicial Review and injunctions’) in direct response to proceedings issued by Duncan Lewis Solicitors on 28th November 2017. The changes reflect concessions made in April this year by the SSHD in the course of these proceedings. Read more...
Home Office Issues New Guidance Stating That Asylum Seekers And Care Leavers Must Be Permitted To Study (10 May 2018)
Duncan Lewis Solicitors and Garden Court Chambers represent a number of young asylum-seekers who were told by the Home Office that they cannot study. In some cases, we have obtained last minute court orders allowing individual clients to study and sit exams. Read more...
Duncan Lewis Represent Child Slavery Victim in Claim Against Home Office After Sexual Assault at Morton Hall IRC (10 May 2018)
H was trafficked to the UK from Vietnam as a child. He was taken captive in Ho Chi Minh City by his traffickers aged 15. He was tortured, raped and forced into debt bondage. He was beaten with electrified sticks and burned with heated rods. He was then trafficked to the U.K, deliberately starved, deprived of his liberty, and forced to tend cannabis plants in Derbyshire. Read more...
Ahmed Aydeed of Duncan Lewis speaks at Victims of Modern Slavery and Trafficking event at Matrix Chambers (9 May 2018)
Ahmed Aydeed, a solicitor and director at Duncan Lewis Solicitors, was invited to appear on the panel at Matrix Chambers on the 25 April 2018 to discuss modern slavery and trafficking in the UK. Read more...
Public Law Solicitor Lewis Kett is shortlisted for Legal Aid Newcomer at the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards 2018 (3 May 2018)
Duncan Lewis is pleased to announce that Public Law Solicitor Lewis Kett has been shortlisted for Legal Aid Newcomer at the forthcoming Legal Aid Practitioners Group Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year (LALY) Awards. Read more...
Duncan Lewis Solicitors Public Law Department launches ‘No Walls’ blog (2 May 2018)
The Duncan Lewis Solicitors Public Law Department has launched ‘No Walls’, an open forum dedicated to discussions on public law, human rights, immigration, and asylum. Read more...
Asylum Seekers Prohibited From Studying By New Home Office Bail Restrictions (1 May 2018)
In January, the Home Office made changes to temporary admission and immigration bail. As a result, individuals have been issued new Bail 201 forms setting out immigration bail conditions. Read more...
Duncan Lewis Solicitors client promised life-saving cancer treatment in high-profile case (25 April 2018)
On 24 April 2018, the Royal Marsden Hospital finally committed to giving Duncan Lewis’ client Albert Thompson the radiotherapy treatment that he requires to treat his prostate cancer; however the NHS Charging Regulations remain unlawful. Read more...
Lawyers from Duncan Lewis Public Law Department attend tribunal on Turkey and the Kurds (12 April 2018)
A group of lawyers specialising in Public Law from Duncan Lewis Solicitors were invited to attend a session of the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal on 15 and 16 March. The tribunal looked into accusations that the Turkish state is guilty of war crimes and has engaged in state terrorism against the Kurdish people. Read more...
Duncan Lewis Solicitors launches a High Court challenge into the inadequacy of initial health screenings in Immigration Removal Centres (13 March 2018)
Duncan Lewis Solicitors have launched a High Court challenge, on behalf of our client, into the inadequacy of initial health screenings in Immigration Removal Centres, and failures in the Rule 34 and 35 processes. Read more...
Afghan Child Represented by Duncan Lewis Solicitors Challenges Home Office on ‘Dubs Amendment’: High Court hearing 28 February and 1 March 2018 (7 February 2018)
The Public Law team at Duncan Lewis Solicitors are representing an Afghan minor, who lived in the Calais ‘Jungle’, in bringing a challenge against the Secretary of State for the Home Department for failing in her duties under the ‘Dubs Amendment’. The case is due to be heard in the High Court on 28 February and 1 March. Read more...
Duncan Lewis Solicitors’ Public Law Director Ahmed Aydeed shortlisted for Partner of the Year in the Birmingham Law Society Legal Awards 2018 (5 February 2018)
Duncan Lewis Solicitors are pleased to congratulate Public Law Director, Ahmed Aydeed as he is named a finalist in the Birmingham Law Society Awards 2018 for Partner of the Year. Since becoming a Director in Duncan Lewis’ Birmingham branch in 2017, Ahmed has proven to be a dedicated and integral leader in the department of Public Law, as recognised in this nomination. Read more...
High Court rules in favour of Duncan Lewis Solicitors challenge to the Home Office’s “lock-in” regime in Brook House IRC (5 February 2018)
Duncan Lewis Solicitors’ Public Law team led a challenge against the Home Office on behalf of two former-detainees, which on 1 February 2018 the High Court ruled in favour of, forcing the Home Office to take responsibility for the unlawful conditions within detention centre Brook House. Read more...
Home Secretary May Be Found to Have Breached Smoking Ban and Discriminated against Muslim detainees in High Court ruling on Conditions at Brook House IRC (31 January 2018)
The High Court judgment, on conditions in immigration detention, is due to be handed down tomorrow, 1 February 2018, at the Royal Court of Justice (court 49). The ruling will discuss whether the Home Office has illegally allowed the smoking ban to be contravened in detention centres. The court will also make a finding on whether the lock-in regime at Brook House IRC, which forces detainees to be locked into their cells for up to 13 hours a day, discriminates against Muslim detainees who are forced to pray next to an open toilet in potentially unsanitary conditions. The challenge was brought by the public law team of Duncan Lewis Solicitors, on behalf of clients detained at Brook House IRC. The cases were heard in the High Court on 23 - 24 January 2018. Read more...
Duncan Lewis launches challenge to Home Secretary’s failure to instigate public inquiry into G4S abuse of detainees at Brook House IRC (29 January 2018)
This month Duncan Lewis Solicitors have launched a High Court challenge, on behalf of our client, into the Home Secretary’s failure to instigate a public inquiry into serious and systemic abuse of detainees by G4S staff at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre. Read more...