Duncan Lewis Solicitors

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Ifrah Ahmed

Ifrah is a solicitor within the personal injury and clinical negligence department and has significant experience in personal injury law having worked in the industry since 2012. Ifrah provides legal representation in relation to claims for personal injuries on behalf of individuals who have sustained serious injuries arising from road traffic collisions, accidents at work and accidents in public places. Her expertise includes, but is not limited to, cases involving traumatic brain injury and serious orthopaedic injuries. Ifrah also legal represents clients in relation to clinical negligence matters including, claims for delay in diagnosing, surgical injuries and orthopaedic injuries resulting from delay, misdiagnosis and negligence.

Bahar Ata

Bahar is a Director in the Public Law & Immigration departments at Duncan Lewis Solicitors. She specialises in all areas of public law with a niche practice in immigration and human rights judicial review matters. She is a fearless and dedicated advocate for human rights, which is demonstrated through her leadership in high-profile cases and extensive experience in representing clients before the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), Administrative Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. Many of the resulting judgements from Baha’s work have far reaching implications beyond the immediate individual clients, and are frequently cited in both UK and European courts. Bahar has significant experience in bringing cases before the SIAC, where she represents clients against deprivation and exclusion decisions, where individuals are deprived of their status in the UK and are excluded from the UK on either national security grounds or serious organised crime grounds. The Lord Chancellor appointed Bahar as an Independent Funding Adjudicator and Cost Assessor to the Legal Aid Review Panel in 2021. She is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives and holds the Level 3 (Advanced) Immigration and Asylum Scheme accreditation.

Tamana Aziz

Tamana is a Director in the Private & Business immigration department at Duncan Lewis Solicitors. She deals with a variety of immigration cases, including business immigration under the Points Based System, advising high-net-worth and skilled individuals on extending Tier 2 (General) visas, spousal applications and applications for British citizenship. Having practiced in this area of law since 2001, she has developed an expertise in dealing with complex appeals in the Immigration Tribunals, High Court, Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court. She assists both individuals and businesses, with a particular expertise in assisting clients with immigration applications under EU law. Tamana advises employers and provides bespoke training on various subjects including compliance with the Home Office’s Prevention of Illegal Working regime and how to use the online sponsorship management system. Many of Tamana’s cases involve complex legal proceeding and have gone to the Supreme Court and have received significant press and media attention. She was quoted as “an admirable solicitor and advocate” by the Court of Appeal in the case of HS Afghanistan where she represented her client before the Immigration Tribunal.

Linda Barker

Linda is a consultant solicitor in the crime department at Duncan Lewis Solicitors. Handling a broad range of criminal matters from shoplifting and fraud, to murder and assault, she was previously involved in a multi-handed drug importation matter involving substantial amounts of monies, as well as a high-profile murder and a case involving a football coach charged with sexually assaulting a boy. Linda manages her own criminal defence team, they have dealt with an advance fee scam fraud, valued at half a million pounds, involving property developments in the Cayman Islands and Ireland. She was also involved in challenging the law on “Joint Enterprise" and Article 7 in the Supreme Court, by taking a case in which the defendant had been convicted of murder on the basis of Joint Enterprise to the Court of Appeal. Linda is both a court and police station duty solicitor, enabling her to attend police stations to advise and assist people who would otherwise have no legal representation.

Jamie Bell

Jamie Bell is a solicitor in the public law and immigration department at Duncan Lewis Solicitors. He has significant experience in a wide variety of complex and high profile matters. He has a particular specialism in preventing the unlawful removal of asylum seekers and undertakes a substantial number of judicial review cases. Jamie has demonstrated particular commitment to representing Afghan claimants, beginning when he played an integral part of the legal team that embarked upon a series of judicial review claims challenging returns to Afghanistan because of the deterioration in the country’s situation. As part of the challenge, Jamie assisted with the preparation of over forty judicial review applications prior to charter flights on 10 March 2015 and 21 April 2015. Jamie and the team obtained unprecedented orders granted ‘generic relief’, preventing the mass removals of Afghan nationals. These orders have prevented the detention and removal of hundreds of Afghans. He has significant experience dealing with vulnerable clients, including those in detention, those suffering from complex psychological issues and victims of torture and trafficking. Jamie also has a specialism in challenging the detention of vulnerable clients and has achieved success securing their release and awards of damages for the client. In October 2016, Jamie visited the Calais refugee camp on two occasions, to give advice and support to unaccompanied refugee children in their applications to come to the UK under the ‘Dubs Amendment’, playing a leading role in the second visit in organising the taking of instructions and liaising with social workers.

Amy Bennett

Amy Bennett is a Clinical (Medical) Negligence Solicitor at Duncan Lewis Solicitors, based at the firms' City of London office. Amy has worked exclusively in the field of medical negligence since qualifying as a solicitor over ten years ago. She has special expertise in stillbirth and neonatal death claims and has a genuine and passionate desire to assist parents through the litigation process after the loss of their child. In addition to her in-depth knowledge and expertise in stillbirth and neonatal death claims, Amy handles a number of additional medical negligence matters including childbirth injury claims; gynaecological related claims; and misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis claims. She assists clients who have suffered negligence as a result of surgical errors and errors involving prescriptions, and also assists those who have suffered from pressure sores. Amy's work extends to representing families in negligence claims involving children, and in claims where a wrongful death has occurred.

Bernadette Chikwe

Bernadette is a Director of Housing, with over 22 years of post-qualification experience in housing law. Since joining the firm in 2013, she has supervised a dedicated team of solicitors, trainees, and caseworkers who specialise in a wide range of housing litigation and tenant-landlord disputes. With substantial experience as a duty solicitor at both Bow County Court and Central London County Court, Bernadette has developed expertise in handling rent arrears, possession proceedings, and other landlord-tenant disputes across private, local authority, and social housing sectors. She is also adept at managing mortgage possession and charging order proceedings, as well as assisting clients in suspending warrants of eviction. Her role as a duty solicitor includes providing crucial face-to-face advice and representation for clients before and after hearings, while also liaising with third parties and making necessary referrals. Bernadette has further demonstrated her versatility by supervising a remote advice service through the Legal Aid Agency’s Civil Legal Advice program. This innovative approach has allowed her to represent clients across the UK through remote communications, such as Skype, telephone, and email, offering vital legal support to those unable to access in-person services. Recognised as a "Recommended Individual" in The Legal 500 for her successful representation in possession proceedings, Bernadette brings a wealth of experience and a client-focused approach to her practice. In addition to her legal expertise, she speaks multiple languages, including Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, German and French, enhancing her ability to communicate effectively with a diverse range clients.

Dianne Cowie

Dianne Cowie is a Director of Housing at Duncan Lewis Solicitors, with over 20 years of experience in social housing law. She leads a dedicated team of solicitors, trainee solicitors, and paralegals, handling a wide range of housing matters, including disrepair, possession proceedings, homelessness appeals, and judicial reviews. Dianne's team also provides invaluable support through pro bono clinics for vulnerable individuals. Dianne specialises in housing disrepair cases, ensuring tenants receive necessary repairs to their homes and, where appropriate, securing compensation for those affected. She has extensive experience in possession matters, particularly in cases involving allegations of anti-social behavior, often representing vulnerable clients in complex cases that raise public law and human rights defenses. Her expertise extends to high-profile cases that have been decided in the Administrative Court, Court of Appeal, and even the Supreme Court. Dianne is known for her client-focused approach, often advocating for settlement and negotiation to achieve the best outcomes for her clients. Recognised as a "Recommended Lawyer" in The UK Legal 500, Dianne is also ranked in Chambers and Partners for her exceptional work in social housing. With a career spanning over two decades, she has earned a reputation for delivering outstanding results and demonstrating a deep commitment to supporting her clients' needs.

Renu Daly

Renu Daly is a Director in the Clinical Negligence department at Duncan Lewis Solicitors. Renu has worked on behalf of individuals and also as the Head of Legal Services for a multi-site acute NHS Hospital Trust. As lead for all legal matters, Renu developed a robust practical knowledge of healthcare policies and procedures, together with a strong understanding of the investigative process, having witness hospital errors and failings first hand. Renu’s cases have involved misdiagnosis, misprescription of drugs, failure to treat in a timely manner, failure to obtain consent, surgical errors and fatalities. She assists clients who have suffered injuries including brain injuries, birth injuries, obstetrics, sepsis, meningitis, gastrointestinal and hepatic injury, amputation, oncology, adverse drug reaction, cardiac injury, and pharmaceutical cases. Prior to joining Duncan Lewis Solicitors, Renu managed the creation and implementation of an abuse department. Through a media campaign, she called for a public inquiry into the practices of Addenbrookes Hospital after Doctor Myles Bradbury, a paedophile, was convicted of abusing patients. Renu hosted numerous press conferences and interviews on ITV, BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5 for many of her clients to expose medical failings, provide public awareness, and support the prevention of these errors reoccurring. Renu regularly attends court to support, represent and advocate for her clients at inquests, many of which have resulted in nationwide media coverage.

Vilash Gami

Vilash Gami is a Director in the Public Law & Immigration department at Duncan Lewis Solicitors. She specialises in asylum, human rights and public law work, with significant experience of litigation in the Administrative Court and Court of Appeal as well as in the First-Tier and Upper Tribunals of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber. Vilash represents vulnerable clients including minors, victims of torture, trafficking and domestic abuse, and those with mental health conditions. She represents clients in judicial review cases including: unlawful detention; false imprisonment; unlawful delay in processing immigration applications; third country removals; challenges to decisions to deny access to public funds; and challenging removals by way of urgent interim relief applications. Vilash is an accredited Senior Caseworker under the Law Society’s Immigration and Asylum Accreditation Scheme, enabling her to represent and advise both publicly funded (legal aid) and private clients.

Toufique Hossain

Toufique Hossain is a Director in the Public Law and Immigration departments at Duncan Lewis Solicitors. He works predominantly under legal aid in order to represent those most in need. His practice is dominated by leading strategic litigation representing individual claimants and organisations who seek to challenge executive decisions, policies and practices. With great experience in high-profile litigation, Toufique continues to build a team passionate about human rights, developing wider judicial review practices, investigating novel points of law, and fighting injustices on behalf of those affected by unlawful government practices. Toufique has extensive experience in the Administrative Court, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, litigating across a range of areas and regularly conducting high-profile challenges to unlawful policies and practices, including unlawful detention and unlawful removals from the UK. Toufique and his team have achieved many notable successes, most recently as the lead solicitors in the Supreme Court in relation to the government’s Rwanda policy. Throughout his life and career, Toufique’s driving motivation has been to advocate for the disenfranchised. Whilst he remains involved in high profile litigation, his more recent focus has been on building a team of talented lawyers with a clear passion for human rights. In 2024, Toufique was presented with the Outstanding Achievement Award at the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards, the highest honour that the judges can give, for his invaluable contributions to the legal aid field. Toufique is an accredited Supervisor and Level 3 Senior Caseworker under the Law Society’s Immigration and Asylum Accreditation Scheme.

Manjinder Kaur Atwal

Manjinder Kaur Atwal is a highly experienced Director of Housing at Duncan Lewis Solicitors, with over 15 years' experience in housing and property law. Her practice spans a broad range of complex disputes, including possession claims, landlord-tenant disputes, homelessness, housing disrepair, unlawful evictions, judicial reviews, and injunctions. She regularly represents clients in both small claims and multi-track cases and conducts her own advocacy in court and tribunals. Renowned for her success in handling challenging cases, Manjinder is known for achieving exceptional results in matters that others deem unlikely to succeed. She has built strong relationships with external agencies and is recognised as a trusted expert in housing law, frequently providing guidance on urgent and complex issues. In August 2025, Duncan Lewis Solicitors commissioned a major study which exposed the shocking extent of exploitation and poor living conditions faced by renters in the UK. The ‘Rogue Landlord Report’, authored by Manjinder Kaur Atwal, revealed that millions of tenants are living in fear of eviction, enduring unsafe housing conditions, and in some cases, being asked for sexual favours or unpaid labour in exchange for rent. Manjinder appeared live on Good Morning Britain to discuss the report’s findings. Manjinder has discussed key issues like the Grenfell disaster, the housing crisis, and the impact of legal aid cuts on vulnerable tenants on prominent media platforms such as TalkRadio Live, The Guardian, and RoundTable. Her thought leadership extends to publications, where she has been listed as one of the Top 10 Solicitors Transforming the Social Housing Landscape by Business Today. Manjinder is ranked as a 'Leading Individual' and 'Next Generation Partner' by The Legal 500 and is also ranked in Chambers and Partners for her social housing work nationwide.

Lewis Kett

Lewis Roch-Kett is Solicitor in the Public Law Immigration Department at Duncan Lewis. He has extensive experience in a wide range of Judicial Review challenges, with a particular speciality in challenges to both the lawfulness and conditions of immigration detention. His most recent work has included: \tActing as the Lead Solicitor for the Duncan Lewis cohort of clients for the Brook House Public Inquiry. The Public Inquiry investigated mistreatment and abuse of detained persons at Brook House in 2017, following undercover reporting by BBC Panorama. \tThe lead challenge to the Home Office’s policy of removing asylum seekers to Rwanda. Lewis has been ranked as an ‘Associate to Watch’ in Chambers and Partners UK in the ‘Immigration: Human Rights, Asylum and Deportation, UK wide’ category. He won the Legal Aid Newcomer Award at the 2018 LALY Awards and has twice been a finalist at the Law Society Excellence Awards (2017 - Junior Lawyer of the Year, Highly Commended, and 2019 – Human Rights Law, Shortlisted). In April 2016, he became the first trainee solicitor to be awarded the Times Lawyer of the Week. Lewis is an accredited Level 2 Supervisor under the Law Society’s Immigration and Asylum Accreditation Scheme, leading his own small team within the firm’s Public Law department.

Nazia Khan

Nazia is a solicitor in the immigration department, also specialising in civil litigation. She frequently represents clients at the High Court in their judicial review matters and takes on a wide range of immigration related cases, including the following; \tUnlawful detention \tFalse imprisonment \tUnlawful delay in processing immigration and asylum applications \tFresh claim challenges/unlawful denial of appeal rights \tChallenges to refusals of Article 8 ECHR family and private life applications \tThird Country removals \tChallenges to decisions to deny access to public funds \tChallenging removals by way of urgent interim relief applications Nazia has represented clients in all aspects of human rights claims from initial applications through to appeals in the First-tier and Upper Tribunal of the Immigration Asylum Chamber and the Higher Courts. She has also assisted clients with entry clearance applications, settlement applications and nationality matters. She has significant experience in dealing with vulnerable clients including minors, those in detention and those suffering from complex psychological issues, as well as victims of torture, trafficking and victims of domestic violence.

Alia Lewis

Alia Lewis is a director within the family and child care department at Duncan Lewis Solicitors. Alia’s expertise extends to all aspects of family law and she has a particular specialism in public law care cases and secure accommodation. Alia has extensive experience representing children through their guardian and through separate representation. She also represents parents, extended family members and interveners, and has conducted cases on behalf of the official solicitor. Her cases involve a range of issues including; physical, sexual and emotional abuse; neglect; factitious illness; non-accidental injury; drug and alcohol addiction; domestic abuse; learning difficulties; mental illness; psychological disorders, and physical disability. She conducts numerous cases that have an international element and undertakes the majority of her own advocacy in order to provide a continuity of representation to her clients. She is also experienced in chairing experts meetings.

Gemma Lynch

Gemma Lynch is a Director in the Immigration department at Duncan Lewis Solicitors. She supervises a team of solicitors, trainees and caseworkers who represent clients in a broad range of immigration, asylum and human rights matters. Gemma is dedicated to representing the most vulnerable in society. She has extensive experience in representing unaccompanied asylum seeking children throughout the asylum process. Gemma also assists with judicial review matters including challenges to delays in making decisions on asylum applications and challenges to the Local Authority’s age assessments. She prides herself on representing children with care and sensitivity whilst providing them with the best possible legal representation. Gemma also has significant experience in representing asylum seekers from Afghanistan, including unaccompanied children and high ranking Afghan officials. She frequently assists clients from Eritrea, Iran and Syria with complex asylum cases. Gemma undertakes her own advocacy and represents her clients personally in the First and Upper Tier Tribunals across London and the South East. She has secured successful appeals particularly for victims of human trafficking from Albania and unaccompanied children from Afghanistan. She frequently acts for detained clients, challenging their detention through immigration bail applications and unlawful detention claims.

Nazir Mirza

Nazir was admitted as a solicitor in September 2015 and joined Duncan Lewis Solicitors in November 2021 as a Clinical Negligence Solicitor within the firm’s Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence department. She has extensive experience acting for claimants in serious and complex matters, including cases involving catastrophic brain injuries, fatalities, and complex orthopaedic trauma. Nazir regularly represents clients who have sustained injuries as a result of accidents at work, road traffic collisions, and slips or trips, and is adept at navigating the evidential and procedural challenges these claims present. Her clinical negligence practice encompasses a wide range of claims, including those arising from delayed diagnoses, surgical errors, and orthopaedic injuries caused by misdiagnosis or negligent treatment. She works closely with medical experts and counsel to secure the best possible outcomes for her clients. Nazir is passionate about advocating for individuals who have suffered life‑changing injuries through no fault of their own. She is committed to ensuring that her clients not only obtain the compensation they deserve but also access the rehabilitation and long‑term support necessary to rebuild their lives. Fluent in Punjabi and Urdu, Nazir is able to provide legal advice to clients from a wide range of backgrounds.

Adeeba Naseem

Adeeba is a Director in the Family & Child Care department at Duncan Lewis Solicitors. Adeeba’s areas of expertise include handling international and domestic family law proceedings in the High Court, with a niche specialism in child abduction, surrogacy, and international adoption cases. She also regularly assists client with divorce, separation, domestic and international financial proceedings, including pre and post-nuptial agreements. In child abduction matters, Adeeba regularly issues family proceedings both domestically and in different jurisdictions outside the UK. She liaises with organisation and authorities in other jurisdictions to ensure vulnerable children are successfully returned to their home country. She has handled a significant number of cases worldwide including the return of children adducted to Pakistan and Jamaica, two highly complex cases as neither country’s accession to the Hague Convention is ratified. Adeeba also has expertise in surrogacy cases where couple have a surrogate mother in England or another country to carry their child and looks to secure parental orders to ensure the couple are legally recognised as the child’s parents. Adeeba handles both privately and publicly funded matter and undertakes her own advocacy where possible. Her broad client base includes vulnerable victims of domestic abuse, international high-profile clients, and cases with a public interest due to concerns of extremist links or children’s medical conditions. She works closely with a number of non-profit organisations that support and advise vulnerable members of their communities. Adeeba also gives talks and pro bono advice at domestic violence organisations, helping victims of abuse to secure protection through emergency injunctions.

Karolina Natkaniec

Karolina is a solicitor in the commercial and civil litigation department at Duncan Lewis Solicitors. She has significant experience in a wide variety of commercial and civil litigation claims, particularly those involving commercial disputes, disputes arising under a contract, misrepresentation cases, insolvency, and professional negligence matters. She is also experienced in dealing with property related disputes especially those involving disputes over the ownership of a property (under the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996). She has represented parties in disputes arising from repairing obligations, service charges, deposits, and other contractual terms in tenancy agreement and leases. Karolina has acted for both claimants and defendants under various funding arrangements. She is commercially aware of the need to resolve disputes for clients swiftly and efficiently.

Anthony Okumah

Anthony is a director in the civil litigation department at Duncan Lewis Solicitors. He has extensive experience in civil and commercial litigation and specialises in acting for claimants in negligence actions against solicitors, barristers and accountants. He has a strong practice in multi-jurisdiction matters. Anthony also specialises in dispute resolution and uses a wide range of tools such as arbitration, mediation and litigation. He frequently handles insolvency matters that include bankruptcy, winding up proceedings, and applications to set aside transactions at undervalue. He has a particular interest in property litigation; and trust claims involving determination of beneficial ownership, contested probate claims and boundary disputes.

Krina Parmar

Krina Parmar is a Director in the Family & Child Care department at Duncan Lewis Solicitors. Krina specialises in public and private law children matters, with significant expertise in: forced marriage applications; female genital mutilation (FGM) applications; emergency matters including removal of children and domestic abuse, and forced marriage applications. Many of Krina’s case are culturally complex with international aspects. Krina represents parents, family member and children as parties to applications for child arrangements orders, special guardianship orders, child abduction matters, adoption proceedings, and care proceedings including serious non-accidental injuries where a baby has died. Krina is regularly instructed in high profile non-accidental injury cases and has been led by Kings Counsel in these matters. Krina undertakes all her own advocacy where possible to ensure clients receive a continuous and consistent service. Krina also frequently trains professional in the areas of domestic abuse, forced marriages and FGM. She has considerable experience representing victims of domestic abuse and vulnerable clients, including those with learning disabilities. Additionally, Krina attends pro bono surgeries for Women’s Aid and has a strong relationship with victim support and the police. She is also a police station accredited representative.

Sunil Patel

Sunil is a Director in the Litigation department at Duncan Lewis Solicitors. His areas of expertise include commercial and civil dispute resolution. Sunil's main practice areas include: \tCorporate insolvency such as representing former directors of insolvent companies facing allegations of unlawful trading and breaches of duties. \tPersonal insolvency which may involve high value petitions some of which relate to complex financial arrangements. \tMulti-Track litigation such as contractual disputes between commercial entities, partnership disputes, contentious probate such as challenging capacity, disputes over the beneficial ownership of property and high value and complex debt recovery. \tConstruction disputes.

Vicash Ramkissoon

Vicash Ramkissoon is a director in the business and private immigration department at Duncan Lewis Solicitors. His practice encompasses a wide area including advising high net worth individuals under the Tier 1 category to conducting complex appeals in the Administrative Court on British Nationality matters. Vicash has a strong practice advising international businesses and high net worth individuals in complex Tier 1, 2 and 4 applications under the Points Based System (PBS). He regularly advises high net worth individuals from Asia, the Middle East and Russia in relation to obtaining visas under the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) & Tier 1 (Investor) categories. He also specialises in Tier 2 sponsorship licence matters and advising businesses on their immigration strategy and compliance issues. He conducts immigration business claimant judicial review matters; in particular, challenges on behalf of Points Based System applicants. He also has extensive experience in advising businesses on Tier 2 and 5 sponsorship, immigration strategy and conducting compliance audits. He is often requested to assist companies facing criminal or civil penalties in relation to working illegally.

Caroline Roche

Director Caroline deals with all aspects of wills and probate including; drafting wills to include a wide range of complicated situations; advising in relation to any inheritance tax which may be due from the estate; dealing with the tax situation in both taxable and non-taxable estates; and handling the affairs of a loved one who has died without making a will. She also specialises in handling Powers of Attorney matters relating to both health and welfare and finance and property. She has a proven track record in successfully dealing with a variety of contentious probate claims; this includes claims made under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, claims for equitable relief under proprietary estoppel, constructive trusts, and resulting trusts, and TOLATA claims. In addition, Caroline also has extensive experience in dealing with both non-litigated and litigated Clinical Negligence claims as well as considerable experience in representing clients who have been accused of committing motoring offences. Caroline carries out work for the employment department at Duncan Lewis Solicitors with a particular focus on settlement (compromise) agreements.

Daljit Singh

Daljit Singh Shina is a Supervising Solicitor in the Housing department based in Duncan Lewis' City of London office. He is also a host on the firm's 'This is Housing' podcast. Daljit is instructed on a variety of publicly and privately funded housing matters including claims for possession, landlord and tenant disputes, applications for eviction, suspension of warrants for possession, housing disrepair, unlawful evictions, harassment, homelessness reviews, homelessness appeals in the County Court, and applications for judicial review. Daljit has considerable experience dealing with cases ranging from small claims matters to complex multi-track cases, and matters which haven been determined by the Court of Appeal. He regularly assists as a Court Duty Adviser and advocate on behalf of clients at the County Court. Daljit volunteers and supports Help for Southall Street Homeless (HSSH) which is a homeless charity set up to assist rough sleepers who suffer with various medical needs and/or substance abuse issues in Southall (West London) and the neighbouring arears. He also volunteers with CRISIS at Christmas and assist homeless people in London over the Christmas period. Daljit's volunteering work has developed his ability to work with and assist some of the most vulnerable and high-risk people in society. Daljit is ranked as a Leading Associate in The Legal 500 UK for his outstanding social housing work across London and the South East.

Pardeep Somel

Pardeep Somel is a Director in the Immigration department at Duncan Lewis Solicitors. She supervises a team of solicitors, trainees and caseworkers that specialise in asylum work, representing victims of torture, human trafficking, gender-based persecution, and detention and removal challenges. Pardeep has extensive litigation experiences in all courts, from the First-tier Tribunal through to the Administrative Court and the Court of Appeal. She specialises in working with vulnerable individuals including minors, victims of domestic abuse, torture and trafficking with complex cases. Her broad range of experience includes settlement and entry clearance applications. Pardeep regularly represents detainees held in prison or immigration detention centres as well as those who have been released on immigration bail, by challenging both the Secretary of State’s powers to detain and the removal decision. Pardeep litigates in a wide range of immigration, asylum and detention related judicial reviews including: the failure to provide suitable accommodation within a reasonable time period; the failure to apply detention rules correctly; unlawful decisions to detain to those accepted as victims of torture or trafficking; third country removals; false imprisonment; and delays in processing asylum applications.

Rebecca Thomas

Rebecca Thomas is a Director in the Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence departments at Duncan Lewis Solicitors. She supervises a team of solicitors, trainees and paralegals who are all dedicated to obtaining the best possible outcome for their clients. Rebecca is also responsible for risk assessing all of the clinical negligence and personal injury claims handled by Duncan Lewis. Rebecca has significant experience in dealing with severe and complex clinical negligence and personal injury cases, including claims involving birth injuries, brain injuries, surgical injuries, orthopaedic injuries, delays in diagnosis, and misdiagnosis. She also has extensive experience in representing clients in ophthalmic cases including retinal detachment and laser surgery claims. One of Rebecca’s most recent cases involved obtaining a six figure award of compensation on behalf of a client against two NHS Trusts in a complex case following an appendectomy. She also obtained substantial damages against a national firm of opticians on behalf of a client who permanently lost all sight in one eye as a result of the optician’s failure to recognise that the client was suffering from retinal detachment.

Sunjay Versani

Sunjay Versani is a Director of Crime and Prison Law at Duncan Lewis Solicitors. He is responsible for these practice groups, as well as Motoring and Regulatory Law, at the firm’s City of London and Harrow offices. Sunjay is a highly-regarded criminal defence specialist and has been part of Duncan Lewis since 2009. He manages a formidable team of lawyers whose high calibre work is perennially recognised with industry quality hallmarks and by the independent legal directories. Sunjay was Called to the Bar in 2007 and Admitted to the Roll in 2008. As such, he is counted amongst the small cadre of English lawyers able to both appear before and conduct litigation in all courts and tribunals throughout the jurisdiction. Beyond which he is also licensed to practice in the British Indian Ocean Territory. This vertical integration of skills has allowed him to act in many thousands of contested cases across the gamut of English and international criminal law. Sunjay is well-versed in the cut-and-thrust of adversarial proceedings and in the conduct of work of public importance. He has stood before the highest courts in the land and has been instructed in sensitive, complex and voluminous litigation on behalf of a multitude of individuals and entities, across borders and languages. During his career, Sunjay acted in the well-known Waya litigation, which led to a landmark Supreme Court judgement casting a much-needed sea-change in proceeds of crime jurisprudence. As sole instructed counsel, he defended a multi-million-pound insider fraud upon the NatWest bank at the Old Bailey and successfully managed to reduce a lengthy sentence in one of the very first cases to be televised live in the 100-year history of the Court of Appeal. Sunjay secured a favourable outcome in a case involving the stalking of musician Rita Ora, and negotiated a discontinuance for a member of Elton John’s staff falsely accused of misuse of computers. He also led the defence of a high-profile client wrongly implicated in the 'Putney Bridge Pusher' investigation – an internationally-publicised incident of a jogger pushing a female pedestrian into the path of an oncoming London bus. Sunjay has an enviable track record in defending cases involving alleged sexual wrongdoing, white-collar and social security fraud, as well as sundry violence, dishonesty, narcotics, and road traffic prosecutions. Sunjay also undertakes specialist extradition work (routinely dealing with international requests under both parts of the Act). He advises those with discrete legal needs which often arise in parallel to criminal proceedings. He has assisted professional clients in navigating workplace investigations and disciplinary/regulatory issues with their overseeing bodies.

Kathy Walker

Family and child care director, Kathy Walker, has extensive knowledge of all family and child care matters. Kathy has been involved in many complex care proceedings, which have included non-accidental injury, high profile ‘honour killing’, somatic symptom disorder, fictitious illness, rare genetic conditions, death of a child mid-proceedings, parents with a mental health condition lacking litigation capacity who have then had to be appointed an official solicitor to represent them within care proceedings, along with all the other factors that normally cause the local authority to issue proceedings such as sexual abuse, neglect, drug and alcohol misuse, emotional and physical harm. Kathy represents children of all ages, she believes it is important that the court knows what the child has to say and often arranges for the child or children to see the judge themselves so that they can tell them exactly how they feel. Kathy has significant experience and knowledge of domestic violence cases and is passionate about helping the most vulnerable to escape their perpetrators. She has represented victims of domestic violence throughout her career and now ensures that all her team members are trained to be able to recognise the signs of domestic abuse. Kathy undertakes the majority of her own advocacy and often appears before District, Circuit, High Court judges and magistrates.

Rohena Wallace

Rohena is a Director in the Public Law & Immigration department at Duncan Lewis Solicitors, specialising in immigration, asylum, human rights, and public law. She supervises a team of solicitors, trainees and caseworkers who are all committed to delivering a high standard of representation to clients facing complex legal issues which fundamentally affect their lives. Her expertise covers all areas of immigration and asylum law, as well as prison law and terrorism challenges involving the unlawful deprivation of citizenship. She has a particular interest in representing vulnerable clients with mental health conditions, unaccompanied asylum seeking children, victims of torture and those being held under immigration powers. She has extensive experience of challenging decisions through judicial review, removals from the UK, pursing unlawful detention claims, fresh asylum claims, fresh claim refusals, and other related public law challenges. Rohena is an accredited Supervisor and Level 3 (Advanced) Senior Caseworker under the Law Society’s Immigration and Asylum Accreditation Scheme which means she has a high level of specialist knowledge and experience in the area of immigration law and enables her to advise and assist both private paying and publicly funded (legal aid) clients.