Wilson Solicitors LLP

Wilson Solicitors became an LLP in April 2010. Prior to then, the firm was called Wilson and Co and was founded in 1989 by the late Andrew Wilson and current senior partner Michael Hanley.

The firm: The firm has grown from a small legal aid firm into a substantial 13-partner practice employing 90 people with a national reputation for excellence. The firm receives the vast majority of its work through personal recommendation from satisfied clients, or specific referral from other professionals.

The firm has four key practice objectives: to provide effective legal advice at a competitive cost; deliver a quality professional service; sustain and grow the firm’s reputation; and use law to promote and defend human rights.

Types of work undertaken: The firm provides advice and representation in three broad areas of law:

Immigration: the firm has one of the largest immigration law departments in the UK with 25 specialist solicitors. The firm’s clients come from a wide range of backgrounds. With thorough preparation, many applications are successfully resolved on initial submission to the Home Office. The firm has a “get it right first time” approach. As the immigration rules steadily grow in complexity careful preparation of applications is essential. Where cases run into difficulties the firm is highly experienced in conducting appeals and judicial review. Wilson Solicitors LLP has acted in many high-profile cases in the Supreme Court. The firm appears regularly before the Special Immigration Appeals Commission in cases involving national security. All the firm’s lawyers are accredited by the Law Society Asylum and Immigration Law Accreditation Scheme. Two of its partners were appointed as part-time judges in 2006 and sit in the FTT (Immigration and Asylum Chamber).

Family and children law: the firm has ten solicitors specialising in this work. The firm has three members of the Law Society Children Panel who are appointed to represent the best interests of children in care proceedings. The firm also has members of the Law Society Advanced Family Law Panel and of Resolution. It advises on all aspects of marriage and civil partnerships, from pre nuptials to divorce and dissolution, including domestic violence and ancillary relief. The firm receives referrals from a wide range of statutory and voluntary agencies working with children. The practice has considerable experience in high-value financial disputes. The firm provides a highly professional service to private clients.

Public law: the firm has a dynamic department of eight specialist solicitors advising on all aspects of decisions taken by public authorities. The firm specialises in challenging unlawful detention, abuse of state power, especially in immigration removal centres, and securing financial compensation. There is also a particular commitment to community care cases. The firm has brought cases against local authorities, the police, the Home Office and the General Medical Council. The firm has legal aid contracts in public law, civil actions against the police and community care.