A week of international events for our Public Law solicitors

Our Katy Robinson has just returned from an international workshop on Gender, Insecurities and Silences During Conflict and Peace Building, hosted by Aalborg University, Denmark on 27 September 2017.  Katy was invited to the workshop to add a practitioner’s perspective to the discussions and co-led a panel with Hannah Bryce of Chatham House. Drawing on her experiences in our immigration and public law departments, Katy gave an overview of the asylum process and of immigration detention in the UK context and reflected with workshop participants on the role of the lawyer – and of the researcher – in working with clients or interviewees who have chosen, consciously or otherwise, to remain silent about their experiences. The afternoon focused on key themes arising from the morning’s panel presentations and included fruitful discussions on the importance of strengthening supportive networks between likeminded academics, practitioners and policy makers committed to social justice. Continuing this theme Katy, together with Jennine Walker will run a workshop at the University of Manchester’s international conference World on the Move: Migration, Societies and Change on 1 November 2017, with the aim of bringing academics, lawyers and activists together to take collaborative action to challenge the ‘hostile environment’ for migrants. It’s not too late to join them! Nina Rathbone Pullen was also invited this week to speak at the “International Weekend” Conference organised by the Law Society. Nina spoke about her work representing victims of human trafficking; ensuring the UK government upholds its obligations to protect the human rights of trafficking victims. The International Weekend is a 2 day event attended by junior lawyers from other legal jurisdictions, mainly Europe. It has been running in excess of 50 years. The aim of the conference is to provide an informative conference which offers relevant educational and practical training to junior lawyers. Wilsons has contracts with the legal aid agency to bring compensation claims for victims of trafficking and modern slavery.

If you require legal advice in connection with any issues covered by these workshops or wish to speak to a lawyer in our Public Law Department please contact Penny on 0208 885 7924