Category: News

In line with our commitment to access to justice and to representing all sectors of the community, and in particular disadvantaged groups, 1MCB’s immigration team has issued a joint statement with 19 other chambers in response to legal aid changes.

Procedural changes in the First-Tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) introduced in the wake of Covid-19 have altered the way appeals are run. This means that appellants are now required to submit an Appellant’s Skeleton Argument ahead of a Case Management Hearing. The new fixed fee proposed in the Amendment to the Civil Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, however, does not provide adequate funding for legal aid barristers or solicitors to carry out the work required under the new regime.

Over the years, remuneration for legal aid work has  been subjected to deep cuts and working within this area is all too often a balancing act. Failure to provide a fair payment scheme for the new procedural requirements will impact access to justice.

In response to these changes, the members of 1MCB’s immigration team have made the difficult decision to adopt the following policy in relation to legal aid fixed fee cases:

Other than in exceptional circumstances, each member of the immigration team of the chambers listed below will not accept instructions under the ‘Reform Procedure’ to prepare an ‘Appeal Skeleton Argument’, unless specific provision is made for that work to be adequately remunerated.

The same policy has been adopted by members of immigration teams across the UK, including:

4 King’s Bench Walk Immigration Team

10 King’s Bench Walk Immigration Team

36 Public and Human Rights, The 36 Group

Broadway House Immigration Team

Doughty Street Chambers Immigration Team

Garden Court Chambers Immigration Team

Garden Court North Chambers Immigration Team

Goldsmith Chambers Immigration Team

Hirst Chambers

Justitia Chambers

KBW Chambers Leeds

Kenworthy’s Chambers

Lamb Building Immigration Practice Group

Landmark Chambers Immigration Group

Matrix Chambers Immigration Team

No. 5 Immigration Group

No. 8 Immigration Team

One Pump Court Immigration Team

Trinity Chambers

The Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association has prepared a detailed breakdown of the Regulations and their impact. ILPA have consistently recommended that practitioners are paid hourly rates for their work.

The Bar Council has issued a statement and fully supports ILPA’s position. The Law Society has also expressed serious concerns, including the difficulties in reaching the new “escape fee” limit.

Should you wish to discuss an appeal and how this policy will affect our work, please contact our Senior Civil and Family Clerk, Tim Markham.

In the third instalment in a series of blogs examining workers’ rights during the Covid-19 pandemic, employment barristers Michael Sprack and Amrit Bachu analyse employers’ obligations to ensure the safety of workers and consider the practical steps available to workers who are concerned about returning to work following the government’s latest announcement.

To read the post, click here.

1MCB’s crime team is pleased to present a series of webinars to enable you to continue to meet your CPD requirements during lockdown.

14th May

Coronavirus, lockdown and sunbathing restrictions: law or advice?

Michael Chambers

28th May

Modern slavery and human trafficking: current developments

John Benson QC

9th July

Police officers and gang evidence: independent experts or prosecution witnesses?

Ishan Dave

Each of the webinars will be held via Zoom, and will start at 6pm.

To register your interest in any or all of these sessions, please email Adam Brosnan.

Ishan Dave acted as sole counsel for LG who was charged with attempted murder together with 13 other defendants.

The attack was on an alleged rival gang member, the allegation being that the victim had been spotted in a London Probation office by two co-defendants, who were then seen on CCTV to use their mobile phones to alert others of the victim’s presence.  The majority of the incident was captured on CCTV from inside the Probation office and from cameras in the nearby streets.  Within minutes of the mobile phone usage, a large group of males gathered outside the Probation office in question, including LG who arrived at the scene in a car, along with a passenger.  Seconds later, the victim emerged from the Probation office and was chased and attacked by the waiting group.  LG followed the chasing group in his car whilst the passenger filmed part of the attack on his mobile phone.  The victim suffered multiple stab wounds.  The defendant’s car was recovered shortly afterwards and  a number of knives and machetes were recovered from the boot.

At trial, Ishan established, through careful analysis of the CCTV evidence and the video recording taken by the passenger,  that his client had arrived in the vicinity by chance and had reversed his car away from the scene of the attack before it had really begun.  In addition, there had been little interaction with any of the waiting group and no evidence of recent telephone communication.  The officer in charge of the case, when cross examined, had to accept that on the evidence, LG did not even get out of his car or make any attempt to assist the attackers.

The case involved detailed and lengthy legal argument, not only in relation to joint enterprise, but also as to the admissibility of evidence of alleged gang affiliation.  The Crown sought to call expert evidence from a member of the Met Police Gangs Unit to establish that this was a revenge attack on a rival gang member: the defence successfully challenged his status as an expert witness as well the admissibility of the evidence itself.

LG was unanimously acquitted following a lengthy trial.

In the second of a series of blog posts looking at the implications of the current lockdown on workers’ rights, employment and discrimination barristers Michael Sprack and Amrit Bachu consider the protections available to disabled workers who are shielding.

Read their analysis here.

The unprecedented times brought on by the global pandemic of Covid-19 have resulted in the country being on lockdown since 23rd March. Reports have reflected an expediential rise in those seeking help with domestic abuse. In collaboration with US organisation, Positive Links, Christina Warner will explore the reasons for the rise in complaints and discuss whether the figures are an accurate depiction of vulnerable households during quarantine.

To join the webinar on 6th May, register here.

Before Covid-19, equality of arms was often lacking between unrepresented appellants and the Home Office. However, following the sweeping changes to procedure in the First-tier Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber, there is a real risk that those without representation are denied access to justice and a fair hearing.

Immigration barristers Bernadette Smith and Geeta Koska have developed a practical guide to assist organisations and representatives who have contact with unrepresented appellants, as well as unrepresented appellants themselves. The guide was developed with input from Michael Tarnoky at Jesuit Refugee Service UK and includes an overview of the key changes to the tribunal procedure, submissions for an application to adjourn and a “questions and answers” handout for unrepresented appellants about adjournments, the CMH, decisions taken on paper and remote hearings.

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, cuts to legal aid and pressures on asylum and immigration legal aid providers led to a rise in unrepresented appellants who, without assistance, already faced unique challenges in navigating the legal system.  We hope that the guide will provide practical assistance to counteract the negative effects of the new procedural rules which are likely to further disadvantage unrepresented appellants at this time.  

If any organisation or unrepresented appellant would like a copy of the guide please email Tim Markham.

1MCB Chambers has also produced a comprehensive guide to the procedural changes in the First-tier and Upper Tribunals for representatives that can be accessed here.

Following the unprecedented changes being made to the procedures in immigration tribunals, 1MCB Chambers has prepared a guide to assist representatives. These changes impact every aspect of proceedings, from whether there will be a hearing at all, to the format of proceedings, to funding – particularly in cases that are publicly funded. 

The guide provides an overview of some of the key challenges, as well as practical advice for making applications and submissions within the new procedural framework. Summaries of applicable case law and links to guidance and additional resources are also included.

Whilst access to justice remains crucial during the Covid-19 pandemic, it must be practical and effective rather than theoretical or illusionary. We hope this guide provides a useful starting point and shortcut to ensure that the rights of appellants are enforced and protected. 

The Covid-19 pandemic continues to evolve and in turn affects the response of the HMCTS and the judiciary, and we hope to update this guide as the situation develops. 

The most up to date version of the guide can be accessed here.

The Covid-19 lockdown has caused a great deal of uncertainty, but one thing that is clear is that there will be a profound and lasting impact on the circumstances of almost all workers.  In this new and changing context, it is important for workers to bear in mind their relevant established rights, in particular regarding wage protection, dismissal and redundancy.

In the first of a series of blog posts, employment and discrimination barristers Michael Sprack and Amrit Bachu outline the legal protections available to workers.  To read their analysis, view here.

We would like to reassure all our solicitors and lay clients that we remain open for business and that we have in place a robust business continuity plan to enable us to continue to serve you at this difficult time.

In keeping with our commitment to the welfare of our employees and in accordance with government guidance, our staff are working from home, but continue to have full access to our diary and billing software, as well as a dedicated online file sharing system which allows you to securely transfer papers.  Chambers’ contact number remains as set out on the ‘Contact us’ page.

Our barristers are set up with video conferencing facilities, allowing them to continue to hold conferences with clients as well as attend hearings remotely.

We are unable to accept physical deliveries at chambers’ address at the moment.  If you need to have hard copies of bundles delivered to us, please discuss alternative arrangements with the relevant clerk, who will be happy to assist you.  We are also unable to accept payment by cheque for the time being and would be grateful if you could arrange to make payments by BACS.

We understand that this is a challenging time for all those who instruct us.  If there are other ways in which we can work in order to better support you, please let us know.  In the meantime, stay healthy and safe.

Salma Lalani successfully defended a case that involved substantial quantities of high purity cocaine blocks imported from The Netherlands and concealed in frozen meat.  A joint Metropolitan Police and National Crime Agency taskforce estimated importation by the Organised Crime Group of 990kg of cocaine, with a street value in excess of £100 million.

It was alleged that cocaine, concealed in imports, was brought into the UK on numerous separate shipments. From its arrival, it was transported to a cold storage facility where it was held until collection by a lorry to be taken to an industrial unit where the consignments were broken down. During this operation the blocks of high purity cocaine were removed from their concealment, and then distributed to a network of dealers.

The defendant was arrested with a co-defendant following covert surveillance at an industrial unit where 55kg of cocaine blocks were present and being separated from a consignment. The defendant accepted that he was present on a number of such occasions but asserted that he was unaware of the consignment’s illicit contents.

The operation involved seizure of large sums of cash, multiple mobile telephones and other devices, as well as numerous encrypted mobile phones. The prosecution compiled hundreds of pages of cell site maps and schedules from multiple phones across a five month period, which was central to their case, as it enabled them to co-locate the co-defendants on various key dates.

The joint Met and NCA investigation deployed considerable resources, involving cell site, ANPR, satnav downloads, covert surveillance, forensic investigations (fingerprints/DNA) and expert witnesses.  The weight of evidence gathered resulted in the co-defendants pleading guilty on the first day of trial.

The defendant was acquitted by a jury following a three-week trial and two days of deliberations.

1MCB Chambers (including members from our days at 8KBW) would like to pay tribute to the life of Len Woodley QC, who passed away on Sunday 19th January 2020.

Chambers owes much of its present character to the leadership of Len Woodley QC, who was head of chambers for the twelve years from 1988 to 2000. Len’s genius was to be radical without being showy. His achievement was to be one of the first black barristers to be Queen’s Counsel, Recorder and Bencher of the Inner Temple, while retaining complete integrity and devotion to the service of his clients and fellow members of chambers.

Throughout his long career at the Bar, specialising in crime, he appeared in trials with a political or civil liberties element, including the Brixton riots trials and the Mangrove Nine trial. He was instructed in the Scarman inquiry (into the 1981 Brixton riots), chaired the Laudat inquiry into mental health, and sat on the Royal Commission on long term care for the elderly. He was also a member of the Bar of Trinidad and Tobago.

Len was very much aware of others’ struggles. In 1988, he invited Nelson Mandela, who was then serving a life sentence, to be an honorary door tenant of Chambers, as a mark of solidarity with the South African freedom struggle. He endowed the Leonard Woodley Scholarship at the Inner Temple, to be given to black or Asian pupils with a view to promoting greater diversity at the Bar. He was also a patron of the children’s rights charity, Plan International UK.

Len always had a tennis racket (or several) close at hand and closely followed both tennis and cricket. He was a quiet man who enjoyed opera.  He had an eye for the interesting without being showy – perhaps displayed by his owning a green convertible Audi (the first in the UK) which he cared for for twenty years (with maybe 15,000 miles on the clock).

As a Recorder sitting in the Crown Court, Len was always loathe to send anyone to prison, and would always opt for a non custodial option if he possibly could – so much so that he eventually upset the Establishment so much that he was written to by the Lord Chancellor’s department and reminded of his public duty, and asked if he really wanted to do this job. Needless to say, Len ignored what he interpreted as a veiled threat and carried on showing compassion  whenever he sat.