Duncan Lewis Solicitors

Immigration

Immigration consultant solicitor Vanessa has over 13 years of experience in immigration and asylum law. She is highly experienced in dealing with all aspects of immigration, nationality, asylum, and human rights law. She conducts advocacy in both the First-tier and Upper Tribunal of the Immigration Asylum Chamber and is regularly instructed in Court of Appeal matters.

Vanessa has had successful conduct of complex cases involving; asylum matters, EEA regulations, victims of trafficking and cases under the Points Based System. She frequently identifies arguments in cases that have been deemed to be without merit by other legal representatives, going on to achieve successful outcomes for clients. Furthermore, she has succeeded in seeking permission to appeal First-tier Tribunal decisions to the Upper Tribunal and represents clients at error of law hearings.

She had key involvement in a reported case on the risks on return for Iranian asylum seekers who had been critical of the regime through social media activities, as well as in a trafficking case which led to a change in policy regarding the amount of leave given to those who were granted residence permits.

Vanessa joined Duncan Lewis in 2013.

Vanessa is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish and she can also understand French.

Vanessa is an accredited Supervisory and Level 2 Caseworker under the Law Society’s Immigration and Asylum Accreditation Scheme (IAAS), she is also a member of ILPA and the International Crisis Group. In 2019 Vanessa was appointed to the Legal Aid Agency’s Review Panel.

Vanessa obtained a BA in Law and Sociology at Warwick University before completing her LPC at Cardiff University.