Expertise

Sasha is very experienced in migrant support law, and therefore in bringing judicial review applications against local authorities and the Home Office. She co-authors the Migrant Support updates for the Legal Action journal with Sue Willman and provides training in this area through the Immigration Law Practitioners Association, jointly with Adrian Berry. She regularly receives referrals from the Red Cross Refugee Unit, the Refugee Council and the Helen Bamber Foundation. Her current or recent cases include the following judicial review challenges: of the amount of financial support Social Services provide for children of asylum seekers; of Social Services’ decisions not to accommodate vulnerable asylum seekers who have mental and/or physical health problems; of Social Services’ decisions to withdraw accommodation from former unaccompanied minors; of age assessments; of the Home Office’s delay in providing immigration status documents; and of the Home Office’s delay in providing accommodation, policy and practice on s. 95, s.98 and s.4 support, s.55 challenges and dispersal decisions.

Sasha is also experienced in housing law, particularly in challenging decisions refusing EU nationals housing assistance. She also represents clients in homelessness, possession, disrepair and allocation challenges, using EU law, human rights law and anti-discrimination law.

Sasha has been successful in getting public bodies to agree to carry out equality impact assessments where proposed cuts to services would greatly affect vulnerable groups. This has included getting Lambeth council to agree to reinstate the full benefits of the Taxicard scheme to their residents, and carry out a consultation and equality impact assessment the proposed changes would have on people with severe disabilities, as well as getting NHS Haringey to carry out an equality impact assessment in relation to the interpreting services it provides to patients at GP surgeries, following a number of clients reporting that they were being denied access to proper care from their GPs.

Sasha is currently assisting Sue Willman with unlawful detention judicial review cases and substantial damages-only claims for people who had previously been unlawfully detained, as well as with an application to the European Court of Human Rights.