Connor primarily practises in housing, homelessness, community care, asylum support and public law. He is committed to legal aid work and to representing the interests of vulnerable clients and those who are homeless or at risk of losing their home.
Connor is currently on Sabbatical leading up the Law Commission’s review of Disabled Children’s Social Care law.
Connor is a member of the Equality & Human Rights Commission’s panel of preferred counsel.
Housing Law
Overview
Connor has a busy practice, which includes advising and representing tenants, occupiers and homeless persons in relation to:
- the allocation of social housing under Part VI Housing Act 1996
- homelessness appeals under Part VII Housing Act 1996
- homelessness related judicial review
- possession proceedings and related appeals
- disrepair and fitness for habitation
- unlawful eviction
- tenancy deposits
- anti-social behaviour injunctions and committal proceedings
Connor is regularly instructed in homelessness appeals and homelessness-related judicial review proceedings. As the co-author of Housing Allocation and Homelessness: Law and Practice (Lexis, 6th edition 2022) he is regarded as a specialist in this area. He was instructed on behalf of the interveners, Shelter and the Child Poverty Action Group, in the Supreme Court case of Samuels v Birmingham City Council [2019] UKSC 28, the leading case on affordability and intentional homelessness. He also acted for Shelter in the case of Al-Ahmed v Tower Hamlets LBC [2020] EWCA Civ 51, the leading case on late homelessness appeals.
Connor has a keen interest in the crossover between housing and public law and is frequently instructed to act in possession proceedings raising public law, human rights and discrimination issues. He is regularly instructed, on behalf of the Official Solicitor, to represent clients who lack capacity, particularly in cases which have a community care element. He was appointed to the EHRC panel of preferred counsel in 2019.
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Community Care Law
Overview
Connor advises and acts in judicial review proceedings relating to:
- the provision of accommodation and support to children and care leavers under the Children Act 1989;
- the provision of accommodation and support to vulnerable adults under the Care Act 2014.
- the provision of asylum support under Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 and support for those on immigration bail under Immigration Act 2016.
Connor often works on behalf of migrant families who have no recourse to public funds, as well as unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and other children and care leavers who require local authority accommodation or support. He has represented trafficking victims and understands the particular challenges survivors face when trying to obtain accommodation and support.
Many of his Care Act cases involve concurrent possession proceedings and often relate to clients who lack capacity where the Official Solicitor is involved.
Connor has been a volunteer advocate at the First-Tier Tribunal (Asylum Support) with the Asylum Support Appeals Project since 2017, representing applicants who have been refused support under s4 or s95 Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. He brings this experience to bear in his judicial review practice which encompasses challenges to delay, dispersal and adequacy of accommodation, among other things.
Connor has a particular interest in cases that involve the interplay between community care, housing, homelessness and asylum support. He is currently co-authoring the forthcoming Migrant Support Handbook for LAG, together with Shu Shin Luh and a number of contributors from Garden Court and Garden Court North. Publication is expected in 2023.
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Administrative and Public Law
Overview
Connor's public law practice underpins and complements his other practice areas. As well as judicial review proceedings relating to homelessness, the allocation of social housing, asylum support and community care, he has a keen interest in any public law challenge on behalf of persons who find themselves without adequate accommodation or support. He acted on behalf of the intervener, Shelter, in the Supreme Court challenge to the legality of the benefit cap, in R (DA and other) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2019] UKSC 21 and in the High Court case of R (Ncube) v Brighton and Hove [2021] EWHC 578 (Admin) relating to the provision of accommodation for rough sleepers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
