David is an accomplished Immigration and human rights practitioner with more than 20 years experience. He is passionate about the work he does, appreciating that in his area of practice – whether it be a claim for asylum or an application for leave as an investor – outcomes change lives.

Over more than two decades David has developed an extraordinary level of expertise as a practitioner in all areas of immigration, human rights, EU Free Movement, and nationality law. David also enjoys an expanding practice in managed and business migration.

David has also developed an expertise in civil litigation in relation to false imprisonment and unlawful detention cases, and has been at the vanguard of proceedings seeking to attain equality of treatment for Foreign National prisoners, particularly with regard to access to early release programs. He is a founder and Director of HJT Training established to deliver courses on the law to both the legal and private sector.

David has significant legal training experience. He has delivered legal training to numerous agencies at all levels from international, governmental, NGO’s and local levels to private entities. Recipients of training have included the UNHCR, the Irish Judiciary, the Legal Services Commission, the OISC, Treasury Solicitors and the UKBA.

David is a contributor to a variety of academic texts including Macdonalds Immigration Law and Practice; Your Rights (Liberty); Atkins Court Forms (Butterworths); Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents (Butterworths), and; the HJT Immigration Manual which has now evolved to Mastering Immigration Law. He is also the co-founder of HJT Research which provides on-line country information on human rights conditions in over 80 counties.

He has in the past worked and volunteered for the Immigration Advisory Service, the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants and the Immigration Law Practitioners Association, and is currently a member of the Haldane Society and ILPA.

In November 2022, David appeared at the Joint Committee on Human Rights in Parliament as a witness to submit evidence in the first session of its new inquiry into the human rights of asylum seekers. It examined the legal framework governing the length of detention and the conditions in which asylum seekers are held. Watch the session here.

Notable Cases

Barrister Mark Symes provides advice and representation in all areas of immigration, asylum, and human rights law, including European Union free movement law. He has represented clients in every court from the Tribunal to the Supreme Court, and the European Court of Human Rights.

Mark deals with work ranging from business immigration and entry clearance representations and appeals, to refugee and criminal deportation cases. He is one of the elite top-ranked barristers for immigration in Chambers UK (Band 1) and the Legal 500.

Mark practises at Garden Court Chambers, and has advised or represented some 200 public access clients in recent years. He has a litigation licence and so has systems in place to offer the fullest possible service to clients. The Chambers has several paralegals who administer public access work; Mark is the barrister who takes the lead on their legal supervision and training.

Mark sits as a judge of both the Upper and First-tier Tribunals which gives him very strong insight into the way a case should be presented. He is author of HJT Training’s comprehensive updated resource Mastering Immigration Law, is a chapter-writer for MacDonalds Immigration Law and Practice, is recognised as the leading textbook writer on refugee law as co-author of Asylum Law and Practice and leading textbook writer on immigration appeals and judicial review as co-author of the Immigration Appeals and Remedies handbook.

He set up and delivered the original immigration module at Inns of Court School of Law/City University, and has taught thousands of hours of CPD courses for HJT Training, JCWI, and the professional association for immigration lawyers, ILPA. He is one of the examiners for the Office for the Immigration Services Commissioner and has significant responsibility for the OISC’s standard-setting syllabus.

Notable Cases

Shareen assists with the Business Development of the organisation by looking after the Marketing and Communications, supporting the organisation’s overall vision to help our existing and new clients overcome the challenges of ever evolving world of Immigration law in the UK through our training courses.

Shareen has served in the Immigration and Human Rights sector of the legal industry in the UK for the past 13 years and has maintained an excellent track record of successful cases. During her role as a Senior Immigration Paralegal, Shareen has hands on experience of marketing and promotions for her former employers’ legal practice by way of representing them at networking events, designing marketing material for potential clientele, representing her former firms at legal talks and addressing community based press conferences.

Due to her passion for teaching, she has been entrusted with mentoring interns and designing placement and learning material to enable them to adapt to the fast paced environment of an immigration practice smoothly. She has also designed in-house training material for her colleagues on updates to the immigration rules for corporate sector.

Shareen also serves as a legal advisor and a Trustee to Lensational, an international charity organization that aims to financially empower women in developing countries through photography courses. Shareen brings both experience and vision to ensure that our current and future clients have the maximum gain from our training courses that allows their legal practices to thrive.

Sandra has a busy practice in immigration and asylum, human rights, criminal defence, extradition and family law. Sandra appears at all stages, from first instance through to appeals before the Court of Appeal, dealing with all aspects of public and private immigration work. She regularly appears in asylum and deportation appeals and advises on all aspects connected with those proceedings. Sandra’s judicial review work includes fresh claim refusals, claims for unlawful detention, and injunctive relief for removals.

She successfully represented a female Sierra Leonean asylum applicant contesting removal proceedings on the basis of a fear of FGM, and has ongoing proceedings involving Iraqi soldiers. Sandra appears on behalf of defendants at all levels, from Magistrates Court trials through to challenges before the Court of Appeal. Hearings have involved defending individuals involved in lawful peaceful protests, confiscation proceedings, and importation of Class A drugs. Sandra has experience of representing and advising individuals facing extradition to all parts of the world, with a particular speciality in human rights.

Prior to being called to the bar, Sandra worked predominantly in human rights research. She was part of the United Nations secretariat for the World Conference Against Racism, a position that took her to Durban for the Conference in 2001. She worked for various NGOs, including Interights and Alliance for Africa. She has also worked as a caseworker in a solicitors’ firm specialising in immigration and asylum law. Sandra regularly gives lectures and seminars both internally within chambers and on behalf of HJT Training. Sandra is involved in the constant development of the Immigration course delivered to MP Researchers.

Sandra has been our top performing trainer for the last 5 years consistently achieving over 90% in her delegate feedback for training delivery. Her personable style and ability to dissect each area of law, for even the least confident of practitioners, has made her a favourite for our accreditation training, particularly at OISC Levels 2 and 3. Sandra is also a trainer for the MP Researchers training to the Authority. Sandra has been a trainer with HJT since 2006.

Maha is a barrister at Garden Court chambers specialising in immigration, asylum and human rights. She provides advice and representation in a wide variety of matters ranging from asylum, deportation, deprivation of nationality, EU law and private business immigration.

Throughout the years she has worked with various human rights charities such as Refugee and Migrant Justice, Reprieve, Liberty and the UNHCR in Istanbul. She has an unwavering commitment to human rights and social justice issues, often representing very vulnerable clients.

Maha spent a few years in-house at PricewaterhouseCoopers in their private client team, where she assisted high net-worth clients with their personal and business immigration matters.

She is a contributing author to the leading immigration practitioner text, Macdonald’s Immigration Law and Practice and Lexis Nexis Practice Notes.

Maha provides regular training on a number of topics including the Points Based System and categories within Appendix W of the Immigration Rules.

Khadija was called to the Bar in 2000. Khadija has worked on cases from different sets of chambers in a broad range of areas of law, including immigration, asylum and related human rights law. Khadija is currently practising as a sole practitioner (IUS Barrister).

Khadija has in-house legal experience. She was an Immigration Counsellor at the Immigration Advisory Service and has worked as a Legal Manager for an OISC-regulated immigration law firm and at Wainwright and Cummins Solicitors.

Khadija also has experience in teaching and academia. She is an Associate Lecturer in International, Asylum and Refugee Law and UK Immigration Law at Birkbeck College, University of London, and has also been a Freelance tutor on the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) at BPP Law School.

Antonia has worked in Immigration law for 11 years, establishing a wide practise area. After being called to the bar in 2010 she worked for the Home Office as a complex caseworker and presenting officer, specialising in asylum. In 2017 she established an OISC regulated firm, RB Immigration, which provides advice in all areas of Immigration. She is accredited at OISC level 3 and as an IAAS senior caseworker.

Prior to specialising in Immigration law Antonia worked in a criminal law. More recently she worked in house at Harrison Clark Rickerbys Solicitors as an immigration adviser, focusing on private client and points-based work.

Antonia has provided one to one tuition for law students since 2011 and has developed a training manual for level 1 and 2 OISC training courses. She is a skilled trainer with a passionate and fluid style. She currently delivers training for HJT and provides updates for the MIL and weekly blog.

Agnete has been practising immigration law at senior accreditation level for over ten years. She has worked at Law Centres, migrant charities and in private practice, as well as within the public access casework team at Garden Court Chambers. Her specialisms are EU- and general family migration, human rights- and nationality cases.

Alongside running her own OISC 3 practice, Gribkowski Migration, she supervises immigration casework at small law firms and migrant centres on a consultancy basis.

Agnete has been a legal content editor with HJT since 2017, and a professional trainer since 2020.

Brendan has specialised in UK Immigration Law since setting up Beder-Harrison & Co in 1992. This followed him studying Comparative Immigration Law for his Master of Laws Degree at University College London where he also undertook a specialist course in Law Lecturing. He lectured in Commercial Law whilst completing a B.A. and LL.B. Degree in South Africa also completing his Legal Training with a leading law firm and working for a Judge of the Supreme Court.

Brendan’s Practice has developed a niche in respect of Tier 1, Tier 2 and Sponsor License work as well as all other areas of Immigration Law leading to Settlement and Naturalisation. He provides Immigration services to Corporate and Private Clients of a number of firms of Solicitors.

Brendan is frequently called on by these firms to provide presentations updating their partners and key clients on all aspects of and changes to UK Immigration Law. Brendan qualified in Executive Coaching at Regents College in 2005 and provides Executive and Change Management Coaching to mainly Law and other Professionals.

Adam has been a barrister since 1999 and practices in all areas of immigration and asylum law. For many years Adam has been ranked by Chambers and Partners as one of the leading Immigration Law specialists in the Midlands. The 2015 edition stated, “He is a case law guru who is always very well prepared in front of the Tribunal”.

Adam regularly speaks at conferences and seminars around the country providing updates upon the latest developments in the law as well as sharing the latest legal developments on social media.

In 2016 Adam was part of the Bar Standards Board’s Public and Licensed Access Review – Task Completion Group.

Adam is a Contributing Editor to Butterworths Immigration Law Service and a Contributing Author to Lexis PSL. Adam was shortlisted for Barrister of the year at the Birmingham Law Society Legal Awards in both 2013, 2014 & 2019.

After obtaining his PhD at Manchester University and pursuing a career in academic research on asylum-related topics, Edward switched to legal practice in 2003, joining the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit. From 2006 to 2011 he worked at the Immigration Advisory Service in the north west of England, with joint responsibility for Upper Tribunal (IAC) matters and the delivery of training.

He is a member of the Law Society’s Immigration Law Advanced Accreditation Scheme and a member of the Consulting Editorial Board (Immigration) of Lexis PSL. Following a period in private practice at immigration specialists Latitude Law in Manchester, he is now practising as an OISC-regulated freelance advocate in the First tier and Upper Tribunals and regularly delivers training on all aspects of immigration law.

Edward has been a member of the Law Society’s Immigration Law Advanced Accreditation Scheme since 2010 and was a member of the Immigration and Asylum Accreditation Scheme from 2005-2010. His practice now concentrates on preparing and presenting appeals as an advocate in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First-tier and Upper Tribunals and delivering specialist training. Edward is also a member of the Immigration Law Practitioners Association (ILPA).

In 2012 he joined the Consulting Editorial Board of Lexis PSL Immigration and is a contributing author. Edward has designed and delivered training courses to practitioners and others since 2008, and has also worked as an assessor on the Immigration and Asylum Accreditation Scheme, marking Reaccreditation examination scripts.

Gabriella is a solicitor, accredited as Advanced Caseworker under the IAAS scheme, and as a Level 3 OISC advisor. 

She is the Director of MGBe Legal and is specialised in both business and personal immigration, as well as asylum law. She is the casenote co-editor of the ILPA Journal of Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Law and a member of the Tribunal Procedure Committee.

Gabriella regularly lectures and delivers training on immigration and writes articles and posts for various publications.