President of the Queen's Bench Division warns lawyers over a number of problems seen by the High Court in asylum deportation cases
We reported last year (see here and here) on warnings issued to immigration solicitors by Sir John Thomas, president of the Queen's Bench Division, and news media report that the judge has now issued a fresh warning.
The Telegraph and Press Association both reported yesterday that Sir John warned lawyers against "hopeless" applications to halt the deportation of failed asylum seekers.
According to the Telegraph, Sir John called for explanations from several law firms over last-ditch applications to the High Court, said to have been made without disclosing the full facts, and with no genuine legal grounds to support the case.
The firms in question cannot be named.
The judge said that one application made out of hours had been "a terrible, terrible case with no prospect of success."
Other problems identified by Sir John in such cases coming before the court included sole practitioners unable to properly handle applications, improperly supervised staff in other firms, and applications made by a second solicitor after a first had advised a case was hopeless.
The Telegraph quoted Sir John as saying: "We need to be sure the strictest professional advice is given. Otherwise we will have a situation where people will not accept what was obviously correct advice from one firm in cases that are completely and utterly hopeless – or there is a risk that a second firm is exploiting the position of the immigrant."
It was not immediately clear if the media reports were based on a publicly available judgment, but we'll update if the judgment becomes available.