Pat Saini > Penningtons Manches Cooper LLP > London, England > Lawyer Profile

The education team at Penningtons Manches Cooper LLP is well-regarded for advising a broad range of higher and further education clients. The department is co-led by Daff Richardson in Oxford and Hilary Aldred in Cambridge. Richardson’s practice covers employment issues, governance and student matters, while Aldred’s specialist employment practice emphasises contentious and non-contentious work. Pat Saini  heads the firm’s immigration team, advising on student visas, business restructuring and risk management. Anna Frankum leads the IP, IT and commercial team and assists on compliance with consumer and data protection and on contracts between institutions. Other key team members are managing associates Sophie Whitbread, who is adept in a range of employment matters, and Sam Rose who frequently assists charities and higher education institutions.

The immigration group at Penningtons Manches Cooper LLP is praised as ‘word-class in terms of professional skills, knowledge of the law and effectiveness‘, and has expertise in all aspects of business immigration with particular emphasis on the education, tech and private wealth sectors. The department has its own audit compliance and training arm, extensive experience handling private individual applications for businesses and assisting private clients wanting to set up businesses in the UK, and can additionally draw on the firm’s employment, corporate and dispute resolution teams. Pat Saini leads the immigration team as well as the India group and is particularly knowledgeable in the tech, education and life sciences sectors, and Hazar El-Chamaa acts for corporate clients in a broad range of sectors, and as well as heading the firm’s private wealth offering. The group also includes Meghan Vozila who is ‘a star‘ and advises on all aspects of UK immigration and nationality law, and Afeefah Shabbir assists corporate clients with comprehensive immigration advice and is ‘very knowledgeable, responsive and flexible in her approach‘.

Penningtons Manches Cooper LLP ‘offers state-of-the-art services in the legal domain‘ and advises on the full range of personal immigration issues. As part of a full-service law firm and with a group embedded in the private client offering, the practice offers advice to HNW and UHNW clients on all aspects of relocating to the UK. Practice head Pat Saini is ‘a leader in the field of UK immigration‘ and also spearheads the firm’s India group; her immigration practice spans both personal and corporate immigration in a variety of industries, and, leveraging her expertise in the education sector, she regularly handles applications for international students looking to apply to remain in the UK. Hazar El-Chamaa heads up the firm’s private wealth immigration offering, and regularly advises HNW and UHNW on immigration routes such as Innovator Founder, Global Talent and the EU Settlement Scheme. Recently promoted to partner, Meghan Vozila has expertise in all aspects of immigration law.

Praised for its ‘combination of skill, responsiveness and connection with the client‘, Penningtons Manches Cooper LLP advises on the full range of immigration matters, with significant experience in a wide range of human rights, asylum, overstay and citizenship applications. Pat Saini leads the firm’s immigration team and boasts a broad practice. Meghan Vozila advises on all aspects of UK immigration and nationality law for high-net-worth clients, with particular expertise in complex nationality matters. The ‘outstanding‘ Jen Parker is proficient in exceptional applications raising human rights grounds, including family applications and asylum claims. Parker has considerable experience working with children and vulnerable clients and acts in a variety of immigration appeals and Judicial Review claims. The ‘personable and skillful‘ Hazar El-Chamaa is also a key contact for private immigration clients.