Manjit S Gill QC Public Law

Transcription

1 Manjit S Gill QC Public Law Direct mgq@no5.com Silk: 2000 Year of Call: 1982 Position: Head of International Human Rights Law Clerks Senior Practice Manager Abdul Hafeez Practice Director Tony McDaid Contact a Clerk Tel: +44 (0) Fax: +44 (0) public@no5.com Manjit is one of the foremost human rights silks at the Bar. He has argued some of the most highly publicized and ground-breaking constitutional, public law, international law and human rights cases of the last 10 years with regular appearances in the House of Lords and Supreme Court. He has also conducted ECJ and Eur Ct of Human Rights cases. His expertise in these over-arching areas means that he is briefed in a wide variety of fields where these over-arching skills are necessary, particularly at an appellate level and in cases with an international or a human rights dimension, for example where public and international law issues they affect commercial or family cases. Practice Areas: Public Law; Public and Private International Law; Human Rights; Terrorism; Immigration, Asylum and Nationality; EU law; Extradition & International Crime; Prison law; Privacy and Media; Local Government (Community Care, Education, Housing, Public Procurement, Social Services) and Court of Protection; Commercial, including Arbitration; Discrimination; Employment; Property; Regulatory. He has brought successful challenges to legislation on the right to marry, to detention of terrorists and to the interpretation of the Extradition Act 2003, amongst many others. He is particularly well known for having done of many of the landmark cases in immigration law, often involving detailed analysis of public and private international law. He has advised extensively on all aspects of immigration including business, family, and EU related immigration issues. He has advised corporations on the large scale movement of labour across different jurisdictions. Manjit s work for local authorities has involved a wide range, including: environmental law, advising on the closure and supervision of registered homes, social services issues (particularly health related), privacy issues, property, procurement and finance related matters: advising local authorities and social workers on their responsibilities in mental health issues as well as acted for claimants; advising on issues relating to RIPA. He has longstanding experience of public sector housing law as well as general landlord and tenant. He is engaged on issues which raise human rights considerations in property law cases.

2 He has also represented local authorities in international adoption cases; advised and represented various health care and other professionals including solicitors on regulatory/disciplinary matters and in discrimination proceedings; advised lawyers associations on issues of equality and public funding cuts. He is particularly committed to working for disadvantaged groups. However, his clients have also included major international corporations, non-governmental bodies and campaigning groups. At the moment he is particularly developing his international law work with an emphasis on the human rights aspects of environmental law. See also his International law & Human Rights CV. Languages: Punjabi, Urdu Speeches and seminars Manjit Gill QC has spoken regularly at national and international conferences. For example: 2011: Presentations to the International Council of Jurists conference on Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Rights and Responses in International Law to Terrorism. 2009: Speaker at the 2009 Bar Conference on the equality and diversity implications of public funding cuts in family work. 2008: Speaker at the 2008 Bar Conference on the growing impact of Sharia law. 2005: Speech to the Indian Supreme Court Bar Association. 2004: Speaker at Brussels conference organised by the European Policy Centre on the Common Basic Principles on Integration, as adopted by the EU Justice and Home Affairs Ministers 2001: he led a NGO delegation to the UN World Conference Against Racism in Durban which resulted in the successful introduction into the 2001 UN Durban Declaration of a clause to promote cultural diversity and protect groups whose identities are drawn from multiple factors. He has regularly given seminars and training in his related areas. In the mid 1990s he was heavily involved in setting up the Discrimination Law Association. He is a member of the Bar Council's Immigration Practitioners Accreditation Board and has previously assisted the Bar Council's Committee dealing with direct access to the Bar. In the 1980s he was very active in the Society of Black Lawyers and involved in a number of initiatives to counter race discrimination in the legal profession. He has given seminars and training sessions in his various areas of practice, appeared before UN human rights committees, carried out fact finding missions abroad (e.g. to the West Bank to assess the operation of alternative legal systems of communities under occupation) and attended many UN conferences and worked closely with other NGOs on diversity issues. He continues to be involved in various human rights organisations on a pro bono basis. - Founder and Editor of Immigration and Nationality Law Reports. - Contributor to Jackson & Warr s Immigration Law and Practice. - Various articles. QUALIFICATIONS Approved for direct public access Called to the Northern Ireland Bar to conduct designated cases

3 MEMBERSHIPS Administrative Law Bar Association European Bar Association Discrimination Law Association APPOINTMENTS 2012: appointed Honorary Professor at University of Birmingham 2000: appointed Queen s Counsel 1997: appointed by the Attorney-General under s.6 of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission Act 1997 as one of the very first Special Advocates authorised to represent the interests of appellants before the Commission (National Security cases). 1992: appointed by the Attorney-General as Junior Counsel to the Crown in Common Law matters. RECOMMENDATIONS Manjit Gill QC is a high-profile presence here, admired by sources for his "ability to inspire confidence and command respect". Chambers & Partners 2009 NOTABLE CASES General public law R (Cart, Eba and MR (Pakistan) v Upper Tribunal and others [2011] UKSC 28: whether judicial review of the unified tribunal system can be permitted following the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act ZH (Tanzania) v SSSHD [2011] UKSC 4: Art 3 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on the best interests of children. ME v an NHS Children s Hospital Trust [2010] acting for the parents of a baby in a case involving the termination of life-sustaining treatment, raising novel issues of religious rights. R (CMX and Others) v Legal Services Commission, Secretary Of State For Justice, The Lord Chancellor and Secretary Of State For The Home Department, Refugee And Migrant Justice (In Administration), The Children s Commissioner For England (intervener) - May 2010 on the protection of vulnerable migrants following closure of RMJ due to public funding cuts. Secretary of State v S [2007] Imm AR 781 (Court of Appeal): effect of delay and fettering of discretion on discretionary decision; conspicuous unfairness to applicant as a basis for relief in public law. E and R v. Secretary of State (2004) QB 1044 (CA): statutory appeal limited to errors of law - circumstances in which an error of fact gives rise to an error of law role of fresh evidence in identifying error. This case has had a profound effect on the rest of civil law and excited much academic comment. R (Anufrijeva) v. Secretary of State for Social Security [2002] EWCA Civ 399 (CA): whether an uncommunicated decision by a public body has binding effect on public law. R (Hashmi) v. Secretary of State [2002] INLR 377 (CA): circumstances in which a Member of Parliament may be said to have acted on behalf of the claimant when liasing with Govt departments

4 R(Zeqiri) v. Secretary of State [2002] Imm AR 296 WLR (House of Lords): legitimate expectation meaning of test case. Discrimination and equality O Donoghue v UK [14 Dec 2010] European Court of Human Rights successful challenge to the government s scheme to control the rights of foreigners to marry. R(Baiai and others) v SSHD [2008] 3 WLR 549, House of Lords - successful challenge to laws on sham marriages requiring foreigners to get the Home Secretary s permission before marrying in the UK; breach of art 12 and 14 of the ECHR. NH (India) [2007] EWCA civ 1330: Court of Appeal rules that art 8 ECHR protects rights of families of East Africans Asians excluded from UK under racially discriminatory legislation in An important case which finally found a way of providing some rectification for the historical wrong perpetrated on a class of British nationals of Asian origin. R (Carson and Reynolds) v. Secretary of State for Works and Pensions (2005) 2 WLR 1369 (HL): age discrimination in social security rates; right to property, art 1 of Protocol 1 of ECHR, arts 8 and 14. A,X,Y v. Secretary of State (2005) 2 AC 68: discriminatory denial to foreign nationals of the right to liberty. See also Employment CV. Local government D and H v. Secretary of State [2004] EWHC 1097 (Admin): effect of the accession of East European States to EU Treaty on housing rights. R v LB of Haringey ex p Kaya [2001] EWCA Civ 677, [2002] HLR 1: housing rights of nationals of signatory states to European Convention on Social and Medical Assistance. R v LB of Haringey and Secretary of State for Social Security ex p Ben-Abdelaziz [2001] WLR 1485 (CA): The first case under the Human Rights Act 1998 to consider whether there is right to damages against a local authority for failure to carry out housing duties before 2 October R v. Leicester City Council ex p Bhika; O v. London Borough of Wandsworth [2000] 1 WLR 2539 (CA): whether illegal conduct by a claimant is a bar to receipt of community care services. R v. LB of Lambeth ex p Sarhangi [1999] LGR 641: whether released prisoner who has no leave to remain in the UK is entitled to support under the National Assistance Act Social welfare law R (Reynolds) v. Secretary of State for Works and Pensions (2005) 2 WLR 1369 (HL) see above. R v Secretary of State for Social Security, ex parte Vijeikis, Okito and Zaheer [1998] COD 49, QBD and CA, vires of Social Security (Persons from Abroad) Misc Amendments Regns 1996.

5 Education law R (A) v IAP for Sutton LBC and Secretary of State for Children Schools and Families [2009] ELR 321 (drugs exclusion). R v Board of Governors of Sheffield Hallam University, ex parte R[1995] ELR 267: warnings; expulsion from university. R v London Borough of Lambeth, ex parte G [1994] ELR 207: challenge to vires of education grants policy. R v Board of Governors of Stoke Newington School, ex parte M [1994] ELR 131: bias in education school appeal committee R v Inner London Education Authority, ex parte Ali and Murshid [1990] 2 Admin LR 822: whether duty to provide education is a target duty or an absolute duty. R v Board of Governors of the London Oratory School, ex parte R[1989] Fam Law 97: first time that an English court rules that natural justice applies in school expulsions. Inquests Challender and Morris v. Legal Service Commission (2004) ACD 57: funding for inquests - whether state s procedural duty to investigate deaths under art 2 ECHR is limited to deaths by caused force or by state agents. Regulatory Sritharan v Law Society [2005] 4 All ER 1105 (CA) and [2004] EWHC 2932 Ch. He advanced novel arguments on the incompatibility with the ECHR of the Law Society s intervention procedure.