In a nutshell

Human Rights lawyers protest injustice enshrined in law and fight for principle at the point of intersection between a state’s powers and individuals’ rights. Cases usually relate in some way to the UK’s ratification of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) through the Human Rights Act and crop up in criminal and civil contexts, often through the medium of judicial review, a key tool in questioning the decisions of public bodies. Civil contexts include claims regarding the right to education or community care under the Mental Health Act, cases of discrimination at work and even family issues. Criminal contexts could relate to complaints against the police, prisoners’ issues, public order convictions following demonstrations, or perhaps extradition on terror charges.

Immigration lawyers deal with both business and personal immigration matters – the former has been embraced by the government in its quest to manage economic migration. In this more lucrative area, lawyers assist highly skilled migrants to obtain residency or leave to remain in the UK, and help non-nationals to secure visas for travel abroad. They also work with companies that need to bring in employees from overseas. Personal immigration lawyers represent individuals who have fled persecution in their country of origin. They also take on cases for people whose right to stay in the UK is under threat or indeed entirely absent.

Human rights lawyers  

• Advise clients on how to appeal a decision made or action taken by a public body, such as the police, a local authority, a court, or a branch of government.
• Collect evidence, take witness statements, prepare cases and instruct barristers.
• Pursue cases through the procedural stages necessary to achieve the desired result. The final port of call for some cases is the European Court of Justice (ECJ), so lawyers need to be fully conversant with UK and European laws.

Business immigration lawyers  

• Advise and assist businesses or their employees in relation to work permits and visas. They need to be up to speed on all current schemes, such as those for highly skilled migrants and investors.
• Prepare for, attend and advocate at tribunals or court hearings, where necessary instructing a barrister to do so.

Personal immigration lawyers  

• Advise clients on their status and rights within the UK.
• Secure evidence of a client’s identity, medical reports and witness statements and prepare cases for court hearings or appeals. Represent clients or instruct a barrister to do so.
• Undertake an immense amount of unremunerated form filling and Legal Aid paperwork.

The realities of the job

• A commitment to and belief in the values you’re fighting for is essential in this relatively low-paid area. Work in the voluntary sector or taking on important cases pro bono can provide the greatest satisfaction.
• Sensitivity and empathy are absolutely essential because you’ll often be dealing with highly emotional people, those with mental health issues or those who simply don’t appreciate the full extent of their legal predicament.
• Strong analytical skills are required to pick out the legal issues you can change from the socio-economic ones beyond your control.
• In the battle against red tape, bureaucracy and institutional indifference, organisational skills and a vast store of patience are valuable assets.
• Opportunities for advocacy are abundant, which means that knowledge of court and tribunal procedures is a fundamental requirement. Often cases must pass through every possible stage of appeal before referral to judicial review or the ECJ.
• The competition for training contracts is huge. Voluntary work at a law centre or specialist voluntary organisation, or membership of Liberty or Justice, is essential.
• Because much of the work is publicly funded, firms do not usually offer attractive trainee salaries or sponsorship through law school.
• If working within a commercial firm, the clients will be businesses and public sector organisations. As such there will be less of a campaigning element to the work and you will not necessarily feel you are ‘on the side of the angels’.

Current issues

• Issues of asylum (including detention and deportation) and people seeking permission to stay in the UK on human rights’ grounds never cease to arouse strong opinions. The government crackdown on all forms of immigration will likely cause an increase in immigration appeals.
• The advent of the Freedom of Information Act, and increased transparency in the public sector in line with Article 6 of the ECHR, mean law firms have seen a greater willingness from the public to challenge the decisions of authorities.
• Many recent human rights and civil liberties cases have related to issues arising out of Guantánamo Bay, Iraq, terrorism, control orders, stop-and-search powers and national security. These cases have taken the form of judicial reviews and public inquiries. The much publicised Binyam Mohamed judicial review and Baha Mousa and Al-Sweady inquiries are examples of such investigations.
• April 2011 saw the Supreme Court rule yet another control order unlawful in BM v Home Secretary. It was quashed for being based on 'vague and speculative' evidence. Increasing legal controversy over control orders means they are to be reformed by the current government.
• Other recent big social justice cases have related to equality rights, privacy rights and asylum seeker rights.
• The Points Based System (PBS) of immigration means every employer now needs to obtain an immigration licence under the PBS before being able to issue a Certificate of Sponsorship for each employee it wishes to employ. Some argue that the scheme is now so technical that employers are constantly at risk of unlawful employment. Others believe that restricting highly skilled migrants from working in the UK is farcical.
• In early 2011 the government introduced a cap on non-EU immigration of of 21,700 - all immigrations must be graduates with job offers or 'exceptional talent' like scientists and academics. All other non-EEA economic immigration has been halted. This is likely to mean more claims by individuals under the Human Rights Act.
• The past decade has seen an enormous growth in human rights litigation, in UK and European courts – like the General Court (formerly the Court of First Instance), European Court of Justice, European Court of Human Rights – as well as international tribunals. This case-driven development of human rights law is based on fundamental rights standards common to legal systems throughout Europe.
• The July 2010 case of HJ (Iran) and HT (Cameroon) v Secretary of State for the Home Department saw the Supreme Court effectively recognise gay asylum seekers' right to have or seek out sexual relationships. Previously, gay asylum seekers could be deported if it was 'reasonably tolerable' for them to conceal their sexuality to avoid persecution in their home county.

Read our True Pictures on:

- These firms for civil liberties and human rights

- These firms for immigration