The Immigration team deals with an incredibly wide range of cases – assisting people across SW England and South Wales. Thanks to a grant from Children in Need we have recruited one of the very few specialist Children’s Immigration Solicitors outside of London. This funding allows us to complete investigative work that is outside of the scope of Legal Aid and is essential when working with vulnerable children and young people. The team also provides high quality legal advice and representation for adults – including working with those who have been granted Exceptional Case Funding by the Legal Aid Agency, or making those applications ‘in house’.
 
There’s no such thing as an ‘average day’ in Immigration practice – or an average client. Our refugee clients come from a range of countries – Albania, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Iran and China to name a few. They come fleeing war, and from persecution due to gender, sexuality, religious or political beliefs. We work with children and adults who are survivors of modern slavery or domestic violence and refugee families who want to be reunited with children and other loved ones. At the heart of every application is a recognition that our client is an individual and every success means as much to us as it does our clients.

Demand far outweighs our capacity which means every day we turn desperate clients away. Earlier this year we successfully applied for funding from A B Charitable Trust to expand our Immigration & Asylum team. This funding has supported our newly qualified solicitor to specialise in this area of law and has enabled us to develop a paralegal into a caseworker. Our aim is to offer a drop in clinic from this Autumn (more details next time). If anyone would like to speak to us about our service please contact Team Supervisor Sian Pearce sianp@ablc.org.uk.