Michelle is a specialist practitioner in immigration, asylum, human rights and public law.
Michelle is regularly instructed in judicial reviews, First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal asylum and human rights appeals. She has a particular interest in representing clients with mental health problems, disabilities, children and victims of trafficking. She has specialist expertise in family reunification claims for children and vulnerable adults. She also advises in private law actions for false imprisonment and human rights act damages claims.
Year of Call: 2008
After working at the Legal Aid Department in Lilongwe in 2006, Michelle established the Malawi Public Interest Case Support Project with the Bar Human Rights Committee and lawyers in Malawi in 2009. She has advised in Malawian cases concerning women's property rights, police brutality, lengthy remands in homicide cases, and the closure of radio stations for “national security” reasons during the July 2011 protests.
Michelle is a trustee of Room to Heal a charity providing community-based therapeutic support for refugees and asylum seekers who have suffered human rights violations.
Prior to training as a lawyer, Michelle worked for several international development NGOs. In 2003 she founded a UK registered trust called Nyumba Ya Thanzi which supports community designed and implemented projects in Malawi. Nyumba Ya Thanzi currently supports a centre for children with HIV located in Salima, Malawi.
Immigration Law Practitioners' Association HIG Constitutional & Administrative Bar Association Bar Human Rights Committee
BA Political Science, Brown University, USA LLM International Human Rights Law, University of Essex GDL, BVC Giulia Mereu scholar, University of Essex Hardwicke, Lord Denning and Eastham scholar, Lincoln’s Inn