Duncan Lewis Solicitors

Public Law

Public law director, James Packer, litigates across a broad range of areas and regularly conducts test cases concerning issues that involve; access to the courts, unlawful detention, enforced removals from the UK, challenges to decisions to refuse legal aid and associated litigation. He also has a specialist practice in complex immigration cases, especially for high net worth and high profile individuals and is frequently involved in appealing costs decisions, often to the Court of Appeal.

James has extensive experience in cases which have been decided in the Administrative Court, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. He has also brought successful challenges to the European Court of Human Rights. He also handles tribunal advocacy work and has a significant practice in Upper Tribunal and Court of Appeal cases.

In a judicial review against the Lord Chancellor, James was part of the team at Duncan Lewis that successfully challenged the blanket refusal to provide legal aid funding for judicial reviews where permission was refused on the papers. The result will assist legal aid providers representing some of the most vulnerable in society and should in turn enhance access to justice.

James has experience in a wide variety of judicial review litigation including; a challenge to a decision to impose a planning levy on a development; challenges to decisions by the Secretary of State for Justice to recall prisoners released on licence; challenges to the continuation of police bail, and a successful challenge to a decision by the SRA to simply send a ‘letter of advice’ to his client’s former solicitor. James also handled a challenge to the removal of a parking place for a disabled self-employed person, a challenge to a refusal to amend a Statement of Special Educational Needs, and challenges to local authority assessments such as housing and social security entitlements of various types.

James provides accredited training for ILPA, HJT and AMT.

James initially trained as a barrister and was called to the Bar 1999. He joined Duncan Lewis Solicitors in 2002 and cross-qualified as a solicitor 2006. In 2008 he was made a partner-level director.

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James is accredited as a Supervisor and Level 3 (Advanced) Senior Caseworker under the Law Society's Immigration and Asylum Scheme one of only a small number of practitioners across England and Wales to hold this quality mark. He is also a member of ILPA and the Administrative Court Users' Group.

James obtained his LPC in 1998 and has a BA (Hons) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE).