Payne Hicks Beach LLP

Citizenship & Immigration

Matt advises high-net worth clients in relation to political asylum, judicial review, appeals, complex human rights and removals cases. Matt's breadth of experience allows him to adopt an inter-disciplinary approach: he is well-placed to develop creative, strategic solutions to assist and protect clients, and works alongside the firm's reputation protection and civil litigation teams.

Matt has acted for high profile individuals and has been at the forefront of significant cases in the asylum field. He has extensive experience of making asylum claims in the context of an extradition request being made for the persecuted individual. He is well versed in working with leading extradition teams in this regard, and understands the interplay between asylum and extradition proceedings. He is also able to deploy different legal tools to assist the client such as making and defending civil proceedings based on allegations of fraud and defamation linked to the underlying corporate raiding attempt.

In addition, Matt has a breadth of experience of human right-based judicial review, admin review and bail applications with broad advisory and court experience in complex proceedings of this nature.

He works closely with the non-contentious Immigration team with regard to UK visas, including applications for (1) Adult Dependent Relatives, (2) UK Entry Clearance in the context of current or historic international criminal proceedings, and (3) leave to remain in the UK on the basis of ECHR Article 8 Private Life. He also works with the non-contentious Immigration team with regard to applications for British citizenship and Indefinite Leave to Remain, often with a discretionary element.