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Emma Rutherford appears in case on parental responsibility

Emma Rutherford appears in Upper Tribunal case on parental responsibility.

Representation :

For the Applicant: Ms E Rutherford instructed by Cartwright King Solicitors

For the Respondent: Mr V Mandalia, instructed by the Government Legal Department

  • It is not necessary for an individual to have "parental responsibility" in law for there to exist a parental relationship.
  • Whether a person who is not a biological parent is in a "parental relationship" with a child for the purposes of s.117B(6) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 depends on the individual circumstances and whether the role that individual plays establishes he or she has "stepped into the shoes" of a parent.
  • Applying that approach, apart from the situation of split families where relationships between parents have broken down and an actual or de facto step-parent exists, it will be unusual, but not impossible, for more than 2 individuals to have a "parental relationship" with a child. However, the relationships between a child and professional or voluntary carers or family friends are not "parental relationships".
Read full judgment here

Rob Cowley prosecutes in drug dealing breast enhancement case.

No.8 Chambers barrister Rob Cowley has prosecuted in a trial of a garage mechanic from Birmingham who paid for his wife to have breast enhancement surgery and tummy tuck through drug deal cash.

Ashley Wilkin, who was sent to prison for three years and nine months led a “lavish lifestyle”, a court was told. Rob Cowley, prosecuting, said when police stopped Wilkin on June 4 this year in Erdington their suspicions were raised when the defendant opened a man bag to show officers his licence and they saw £1,400 inside.

Click here to read the report in the Birmingham Mail.

An introduction to Civil Penalties for Employers

The system of civil penalties is designed to encourage employers to comply with their obligations; it places a positive burden on them to checking their employees and monitoring them before and throughout their employment. It is of course in line with the forthcoming changes to duties of landlords, in checking the ID of their tenants, perhaps demonstrating a similar line in Government policy, shifting responsibility and imposing duties and penalties for those who fail.

This paper provides a short introduction to the scheme and looks at how we can react to it for our clients (i.e. objecting to and/or appealing penalties, either quashing them or at least reducing them).

View the paper here

On what grounds can government lawyers' rates be challenged?

12/10/2015

Dispute Resolution analysis: Adam Pipe, barrister at No.8 Chambers, considers the decision in R v Bakhtiyar and says it will now be more difficult to challenge government lawyers' chargeable rates by comparison.

Original news

R (on the application of Bakhtiyar) v Secretary of State for the Home Department IJR [2015] UKUT 519 (IAC), [2015] All ER (D) 97 (Sep) The claimant challenged the order that he pay the defendant Secretary of State her costs of £400 for acknowledgement of service (AoS) and summary grounds. The Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) (UT), in dismissing the application, gave guidance on the application of the indemnity principle to the Secretary of State and the Government Legal Department (GLD). It then held that there was 'not the remotest scope' for the argument that £200 per hour was an unreasonably high rate.

View pdf here

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