President McCloskey has blasted the “cavalier and unprofessional” lawyers for both claimants and the Home Office in his latest determination of Shabir Ahmed and others (sanctions for non – compliance) [2016] UKUT 00562 (IAC). The case is that of four men convicted in 2012 of child sex offences in Rotherham who were...
A High Court judge has awarded the family member of an EU national a total of £136,048 in damages. The award consists of £76,578 for false imprisonment and £59,470 for breach of EU law. The Home Office is also criticised for having made “inaccurate and misleading” submissions to previous judges...
In yet another example of a refugee who was not properly advised on his defence to a prosecution for illegal entry, Shabani, Re [2015] EWCA Crim 1924 (22 July 2015), the Lord Chief Justice has overturned the conviction but this time has also referred the solicitors responsible for investigation by...
In another Hamid judgment the Upper Tribunal has referred for investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority the conduct of another solicitors’ firm, this time Sandbrook Solicitors. The case is Re Sandbrook Solicitors [2015] EWHC 2473 (Admin). Sitting in the Upper Tribunal, Mr Justice Green makes clear that no findings of fact were...
The latest in the increasingly long line of cases in which the judiciary has administered public dressings down for immigration lawyers is R (On the Application Of Akram & Anor) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWHC 1359 (Admin). The cases are often referred to as Hamid cases,...
The Law Society Gazette reports that Benny Thomas of Consilium Solicitors, an immigration lawyer who lied to court, has been struck off following a Hamid hearing and referral to the SRA. The original judgment is unavailable on BAILII but was reported at the time on Free Movement. Referral to the...
In the case of R (on the application of SN) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (striking out – principles) IJR [2015] UKUT 227(IAC) the President of the Upper Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber not only strikes out the applicant’s judicial review claim but also goes on to make...
The Free Movement January sale ends this Friday, 16 January 2015. New content has just been added for members, so sign up now to get access to over 30 CPD hours of invaluable training materials. Use code JANSALE to get 25% off individual membership and 50% off ebooks. The new...
The podcast below is an interview and discussion between Colin Yeo and Jawaid Luqmani of Luqmani Thompson and Partners recorded on 7 January 2015. The podcast lasts 30 minutes and covers Jawaid’s experience of the Administrative Court User Group and discussion there of the Hamid cases, key perceived errors from...
The previously reported case of R (on the application of Bilal Mahmood) v Secretary of State for the home Department (candour/reassessment duties; ETS :alternative remedy) IJR [2014] UKUT 439 (IAC) has been re-titled and I think the headnote has been supplemented as well. The case is important on the ongoing...
In a series of cases beginning with Hamid, senior judges in the Administrative Court were highly critical of the professional conduct of solicitors and counsel involved in making urgent injunction applications to prevent removals. Since transfer of immigration judicial review applications to the Upper Tribunal, the tribunal has expanded...
Section 29 TCEA 2007 specifically refers to costs incurred as a result of acts or omissions that are improper, unreasonable or negligent. There must therefore be a causal link between the alleged acts or omissions and the incurring of the costs by the other side. For example, the costs of an...
The key case on wasted costs is still that of Ridehalgh v Horsefield & Anor [1994] EWCA Civ 40. Replete with reference to Bleak House, then Master of the Rolls Sir Thomas Bingham reviews the origins and development of the wasted costs jurisdiction and gives guidance on the meaning of the...
For the first time, it will now be possible for the immigration tribunal to make awards of costs in statutory appeals. The power is conferred by the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) Rules 2014 (SI 2014/2604), specifically by rule 9. The new rules come into effect on 20 October...
There are other ways in which a member state might become responsible for an asylum claim: under the humanitarian provisos. It is helpful to compare the humanitarian clause at Article 15 of Dublin 2 against the humanitarian clause at Article 16 of Dublin 3: There are some differences between them....
In a new case called NA (UT rule 45: Singh v Belgium) Iran [2014] UKUT 205 (IAC), heard by the President and Dr Storey, the Upper Tribunal has perhaps inadvertently posed a number of problems for practitioners. The issues are all quite distinct, making the case something of a legal chimera. One...
Every effort should be made to avoid the need for an out of hours application. The Hamid cases clearly indicate that the out of hours’ service is to be viewed as an absolute last resort. Some judges are suspicious that immigration lawyers deliberately and strategically use the out of hours...
When acting in an urgent interim relief application you are caught between a rock and a hard place. The rock is judicial disapproval of last minute injunction applications and the risk of public censure. The hard place is the extremely tight timescale of a removal (only 72 hours’ notice is...
There is no point in seeking an injunction to prevent removal if there is no underlying case for the client to remain in the UK. Several of the Hamid cases involve dishonest, reckless or incompetent applications where the solicitor knew, or should have known, that there was no underling case...
Page contentsThe Hamid line of casesDishonest or reckless conductIncompetenceHonest mistake“It wasn’t me, it was my staff”Enhanced duties The Hamid line of cases In a series of cases starting with Hamid [2012] EWHC 3070 (Admin) judges of the Queen’s Bench Division have publicly upbraided immigration lawyers for their conduct of applications for urgent...
The first blog post on Free Movement was on 7 March 2007. Yet again, I managed to miss the blog’s birthday! The spanking post was perhaps a suitable commemoration, though: a serious topic covered with a frivolous headline. Since 7 March 2007 there have been: 3,048,451 visits to Free Movement...
This determination was quietly released by the Judicial Office late last year. It is unusual for immigration cases to be publicised in this way. Presumably in this instance it was because of likely public interest in the final outcome rather than the procedural issues arising. It does seem to me,...
An important recent case slipped under my radar last year, mainly because it has not been publicly reported on one of the publicly accessible case law repositories like BAILII. The case is R (on the application of Jasbir Singh) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2013] EWHC 2873...
Following on from two recent posts on this subject (Judicial review in the Upper Tribunal; Do not lodge Upper Tribunal judicial reviews by post if urgent), there has been another warning about the transfer of judicial reviews into the Upper Tribunal. A claim that includes an element of unlawful detention must...
There has been a lot of media coverage of judicial review applications in the last few days, as most readers will no doubt have noticed. The Government has announced plans to (a) reduce the time limit for judicial review from three months, (b) increase the court fees for bringing a...
The President of the Queens Bench Division, Sir John Thomas, has issued a dire warning to solicitors applying for last minute judicial reviews and injunctions in immigration cases. The comments come in the case of R (on the application of Hamid) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2012]...
