England - London • Real estate
Duncan Lewis Solicitors
Duncan Lewis Solicitors offers representation across the full range of social housing matters, and the team is co-led by Bernadette Chikwe, who specialises in housing litigation and landlord and tenant housing matters, alongside Manjinder Kaur Atwal and Dianne Cowie. The social housing team handles cases related to possession and homelessness, disrepair, succession, unlawful evictions, and neighbourhood disputes. Associate Zuhal Saglam Bas is taking a lead role on neighbourhood disputes and litigation cases. The practice has developed an expertise in handling Equality Act defence cases, and a public law specialism representing both landlords and tenants in disputes, appeals, and judicial reviews. Chikwe regularly appears at the Central London County Court, along with Cowie, who also has experience at the High Court and the Supreme Court. Daljit Singh also handles a range of both contentious and non-contentious matters, from homelessness appeals in the County Court to claims for judicial review. The team has experience working with vulnerable clients, such as those with mental health conditions, terminal illnesses, or learning difficulties, and receives referrals from community organisations, domestic violence units, prisons, and detention centres.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Duncan Lewis has a dynamic social housing team with members from diverse backgrounds. It often represents migrants and other people whose first language is not English and go the extra mile for them.'
'The structure allows good client care and casework using intelligent, committed paralegals in conjunction with expert solicitors. The firm is also willing to take on difficult cases and pursue new legal arguments to advance their client's interests.’
‘I work regularly with several different solicitors and paralegals across Duncan Lewis' social housing team and see a generally high standard.'
'Instructions to counsel are clear and considered and they take a collaborative approach when instructing counsel to build a case and decide on the next steps.'
'They stand out for commitment to client outcomes, seeking to find alternative solutions when difficulties arise with a case or clients present complex problems.’
‘Good knowledge and experience.’
‘Bernadette Chikwe is a personable and switched on instructing solicitor.’
‘The team has an excellent capacity, which is important given the constraints on legal aid. There also appears to be relatively good internal communication between paralegals, solicitors, and partners, which means cases can be handed over fairly seamlessly.’
Work highlights
- Acted for a client in a widely reported Court of Appeal case regarding damages for repairing covenant breaches subject to the Simmons v Castle [2012] 10% uplift.
- Acted for the claimant in Sharaky v Clearspring Ready Homes, an unlawful eviction matter transferred to the High Court.
- Acted for the defendant in a possession claim sought on Ground 17 of the Housing Act 1998.
Lawyers
Rising stars
Next Generation Partners
Housing director Manjinder Kaur Atwal has over 13 years’ experience in housing and property litigation law. She handles a wide variety of housing and property law dispute cases including possession claims and eviction matters, landlord and tenant disputes, homelessness, housing disrepair, bringing judicial review matters, reviews and appeals relating to local authority housing decisions, bringing and defending injunctions, boundary disputes, property nuisance/negligence claims, consumer and contractual matters, debt recovery, and enforcement. She also has considerable experience dealing with small claims cases and multi-track cases, and undertakes her own advocacy at court and tribunals on behalf of her clients. Manjinder is dedicated to achieving the best possible outcome for her clients and has earned a reputation for taking on difficult cases deemed without merit, going on to obtain excellent results for clients. Her most notable recent undertaking is her work assisting victims of the Grenfell Tower fire. As well as assisting victims with their immediate housing needs, she is heavily involved in negotiations and raising awareness for those who have been impacted. Manjinder and her team were amongst the first lawyers to assist the victims and was part of a team that set up two drop-in pro bono clinics at Al Manaar Mosque and Westway Sports Centre. She has appeared in the media on multiple occasions, discussing the needs of Grenfell victims and how the cuts to legal aid for housing disrepair have impacted vulnerable tenants. Manjinder regularly features in the media, speaking to TalkRadio Live and RT UK News discussing her work. She recently discussed the government's low levels of spending on social housing and the impact on landlords and tenants during the Covid-19 outbreak. She has also written numerous articles for media platforms on the current social housing issues.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Manjinder Kaur Atwal, Dianne Cowie, Bernadette Chikwe, David Head