Immigration lawyers have been subjected to physical attacks over the government and media’s “climate of hostility” towards practitioners, a legal charity has claimed.
The Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA) said the violent assaults have been in direct response to the “vilification” of migrant and asylum legal representatives by government figures and the press.
Terms such as “lefty lawyers” and “activist blob of leftwing lawyers” are also “politicising” the profession on a “concerning scale” and putting lawyers into the “political firing line,” the body said.
The ILPA has now called on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman to take action to end the “dangerous rhetoric.”
Last month, the newspaper reported how multiple solicitors agreed to help an undercover reporter, posing as an economic migrant, submit a phoney application in exchange for thousands of pounds.
One lawyer, who was secretly recorded, asked for £10,000 to invent a horrific backstory to use in the asylum application.
Demonisation
Sharing the article on X, formerly known as Twitter, Mr. Sunak wrote, “The Labour Party, a subset of lawyers, criminal gangs - they’re all on the same side, propping up a system of exploitation that profits from getting people to the UK illegally.”The ILPA said his comments followed on from the home secretary’s October 2022 speech at the Conservative Party Conference in which she stated: “As for the lawyers. Don’t get me started on the lawyers.”
Slamming the comments, the ILPA said: “Such unwarranted and inappropriate demonisation of and targeted attacks against lawyers practising immigration law by senior Government figures and their party have sanctioned and encouraged reporting by the media that is both irresponsible and dangerous.
“Echoing the language used by the Government, journalists have accused lawyers representing people seeking asylum of, at best, unprofessional and, at worst, criminal behaviour.”
The ILPA also hit out at newspaper reports that “activist” lawyers were “stringing out” asylum claims to pocket millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money.
It said: “We reject the entire proposition that legal aid, which is loss-making for immigration and asylum law practitioners, is a ‘gravy train’.
“Fees paid to legal aid lawyers have not risen since 1996, despite the 91% inflation since then, and were in fact cut in 2011.”
Dangerous and Detrimental
The ILPA said that owing to these “media attacks,” lawyers have been subjected to not only verbal abuse but also physical violence.“We are aware of lawyers who have been the target of violent attacks following similar inflammatory reporting by journalists,” the ILPA said.
“This is not to mention the emotional and psychological harm that lawyers—and others seeking to defend the human rights of migrants and people seeking asylum—face as a result of anonymous threats and abuse on social media.”
It added, “We are concerned that the Government’s narrative, which may be dangerous and detrimental to the safety and well-being of immigration lawyers, poses a serious threat to our justice system.”
The legal charity said that without change in the government rhetoric, as well as other policies including reform of the legal aid system, “access to justice may be compromised.”
The report concluded: “The answer is simple. The government must defend and respect human rights defenders, including legal practitioners, and actively foster an environment in which rights can be protected.”
The Epoch Times contacted both Downing Street and the Home Office for comment on the ILPA remarks.
The letter comes less than a month after the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) shut down three law firms exposed by the Daily Mail for offering fake asylum claims for cash.
The practising certificates of each of the firms’ principal solicitors were also suspended, the SRA confirmed at the time.
The closed firms were named as: Rashid & Rashid in southwest London, Kingswright Solicitors in Birmingham, and Lincoln Lawrence in west London.
The regulatory body also confirmed that it had issued an order under section 43 of the Solicitors Act 1974 against VP Lingajothy, a CILEX member formerly of south London firm Duncan Ellis, meaning he cannot work for a law firm without the SRA’s permission.
The SRA said Mr. Lingajothy worked as a manager and caseworker, handling immigration cases together with criminal and civil matters.
He “deliberately provided advice” to a Daily Mail reporter posing as a client “which would mislead the Home Office when seeking to determine his prospective client’s claim for asylum due to the basis on which it would be put.”
The statement added: “Mr Lingajothy knew this to be the position as he explicitly outlined the backstory which would need to be told to firstly remove the prospective client from the small boats group and then to provide the strongest likelihood of this bogus claim for asylum being accepted. Mr Lingajothy’s conduct was dishonest.”
SRA Chair Anna Bradley said the organisation was in discussions with “other enforcement agencies” over the issues raised.
