Seema Kansal

Work Department

Immigration, civil, family.

About

• Introduction
• Family Finance & Property
• Family
• Notable Cases
• Memberships
• Qualifications
• Languages
• Awards & Prizes
• Direct Access
• GDPR Notice
• Privacy Notice

Position

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

• Adoption
• Care & Supervision
• Child Abduction
• Child Arrangement
• Divorce
• Family
• Family Finance & Property
• Financial Provision
• Forced Marriage
• Molestation & Occupation
• Public
• Relocation Internal and Abroad

Expertise: immigration and asylum law: judicial reviews; EEA Regulations; Ankara Agreement; ECHR; deportation. Public law: licensing; community care; age assessments; care proceedings; wardship and cross border disputes (particularly Indian Sub Continent); child abduction. Housing and landlord and tenant. Family law: forced marriages; Children Act proceedings; financial remedy. Seema is a seasoned human rights and public law practitioner with a particular focus on all aspects of immigration, judicial review, nationality and asylum issues. She regularly challenges the decisions of the Secretary of State at all levels., including appeals. Her client’s include private individuals, colleges, sponsors, businesses and OISC organisations who instruct her either on an individual or consultancy basis. Seema has a solid reputation as a tenacious advocate who leaves no stone unturned in working towards achieving the best result for each and every client. She is regularly in the Upper Tribunal instructed on errror of law and JR hearings. She is known for her eye in spotting the telling point of law and regularly provides updating seminars and training as part of her commitment to her specialist areas of expertise. Her commitment to public law issues embraces the areas of social housing, community care, wardship and care proceedings. Due to her strong multi-disciplinary practice she is able to provide a complete advice to her clients. Once instructed she is often retained by her clients who are always impressed by not just her commitment but also her success. Recent Notable Case: Re: K [2013] Court of Appeal, Lady Justice Black granted permission to appeal against the making of a care and placement order. In the years preceding full time practice at the Bar Seema worked for various charities and NGOs namely the Centre for Social Research, based in Delhi which is solely aimed at female empowerment and tackles a range of human rights abuses within India. She trained the trainers of the police personnel based in Delhi on issues surrounding domestic violence and helped them to recognise the importance of issues relating to enforcement of the Protection Against Domestic Violence Bill, which made domestic violence a crime in 2002; Permission for judicial review granted on 18 March 2015 by HHJ Worster in the case of R (on the application of) Okwara v Secretary of State for the Home Department.

Direct Access

Seema is accredited to accept work under direct access, also known as public access, in suitable cases. She is a hot favourite for direct access work as she is able to build a rapport and a relationship of trust and confidence very quickly. She also, very often, obtains excellent results. 

In order to instruct Seema on a direct access basis, contact the clerks on +44 (0) 20 7242 6476 or at clerks@33bedfordrow.co.uk. 

Career

Call 2007.

Notable Cases

IA332842014 & Ors. [2015] UKAITUR IA332842014 (14 September 2015)
LN (A Child) (Without Notice Application for Summary Return) [2016] EWHC 1033 (Fam)
AM v DF [2017] EWHC 2034 (Fam) (01 August 2017); [2017] 4 WLR 149
C v P & Ors [2017] EWFC 23 (11 April 2017)
Re K (Forced Marriage: Passport Order) [2020] EWCA Civ 190 

Family Finance & Property

Seema specialises in matrimonial finance matters and has successfully represented clients in the County Court and the High Court. She has experience of all aspects of financial remedy proceedings, along with contested TOLATA cases, high profile Schedule 1 claims, private FDR’s and arbitration work.

Her work undertaken includes financial remedies ancillary to divorce/dissolution of civil partnership, including cases involving:

• Trusts (both on–shore and off–shore)
• Jurisdictional disputes
• Company/business assets
• Non–matrimonial property
• Foreign property
• Disputes over property owned by third parties
• Non-Disclosure
• Enforcement
• Clients without mental capacity
• Conduct
• Freezing Injunctions
• Property disputes relating to cohabitees
• Schedule 1 Claims

Family

Seema regularly appears on behalf of local authorities as well as parents and intervenors. She has worked on many high-profile cases involving serious sexual assault, serious non-accidental injury and radicalisation issues. Seema advises on   forced marriage, radicalisation cases, domestic abuse, child abduction, sexual abuse, in the course of her work dealing with public law care proceedings. She is instructed in complex child arrangement cases including parental alienation.  

She represents clients who are:  

• looking to relocate with their children abroad and where the other parent is resisting
• wanting to enforce their contact orders where the other parents is being wholly unreasonable
• requiring non-molestation orders and other injunctions
• asking for residence and contact orders
• in dispute over relocation whether internal or abroad 

Seema was recently  in the Court of Appeal on a leading case on forced marriage where she acted for a capacitous adult who was subject to a FMPO when she opposed this: Re K (Forced Marriage: Passport Order) [2020] EWCA Civ 190. 

She accepts instructions on a direct access basis in private family law cases. 

Languages

Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu.

Memberships

Family Law Bar Association (FLBA)

Education

University of York (BA Hons); BPP Law School (BVC/GDL); Middle Temple Scholarship [2006].