Georgie Rea

Overview

Georgie’s multi-disciplinary practice enables her to accept judicial review instructions in a range of areas. She acts in urgent and complex claims for judicial review, both as sole counsel and as led junior. Her specialist knowledge enables her to deploy the overarching principles of public law effectively in a variety of statutory contexts, including immigration, accommodation, community care and education.

Current and recent cases include:

• On instruction from Duncan Lewis, and led by Chris Buttler KC, Georgie appeared in the High Court in a complex case concerning the removal of a newly recognised refugee from the Bibiby Stockholm barge, without adequate move-on accommodation.
• Georgie has secured interim relief, both within hours and in urgent out-of-hours cases, in judicial reviews of local authority decisions not to provide interim accommodation under Section 188 of the Housing Act 1996.
• Georgie regularly appears unled in the High Court in Age Assessment disputes and has a track record of securing permission and transfer to the Upper Tribunal, as well as gaining interim relief in the form of section 20 accommodation.
• Led by Stephanie Harrison KC and Oliver Persey, Georgie acted as junior counsel in a successful High Court challenge to the Home Secretary’s policy of accommodating Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children in hotels.
• Georgie was led by Jamie Burton KC in a successful application for interim relief in the High Court against a local authority’s irrational refusal to relocate a child out of borough, despite his wishes and feelings.
• In the education context, Georgie has been granted permission for judicial review in several claims against local authorities for failing to secure provision under the Claimant child’s EHCP.
• Through a case she initially accepted on a pro bono basis, Georgie was able to secure a concession from the Home Office regarding their (arguably) unlawful fees for reconsideration of a refusal to register a child as a British Citizen when the child originally had the benefit of a fee waiver.

Overview

Georgie has successfully represented lay clients in statutory appeals before the Immigration and Asylum Tribunal and, where necessary, drafted Grounds of Appeal, leading to successful appeals in the Upper Tribunal. She has experience in a wide range of immigration law matters, including complex asylum, deportation, human rights appeals, public law challenges to fresh claim decisions, and more novel challenges to the passport office.

• As a busy immigration practitioner, Georgie has secured asylum for clients from Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Kurdistan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Egypt, Namibia, Vietnam, and China.
• In her own words, nothing is more satisfying in immigration than being granted permission in family reunion claims. Among Georgie’s most rewarding achievements have been the grant of reunion in cases where minors are stranded abroad, often in areas of conflict, and are able to be reunited with their parent or non-parent relatives in the UK upon appeal.
• Georgie regularly provides representation at immigration bail hearings, both online and in person, and is glad to be working with Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID) as part of her commitment to pro bono work.
• Due to her expertise in community care and accommodation-related matters, Georgie often represents clients in both their statutory immigration appeal and their accommodation-related judicial reviews.
• Georgie is particularly interested in working with French-speaking, North and West African clients due to her professional familiarity with the area and fluency in French.

Overview

Georgie has a detailed knowledge of possession proceedings, having previously worked as a self-employed County Court Advocate prior to taking Tenancy. She regularly conducts work across all areas of housing law, including succession, homelessness, possession, and disrepair, in addition to accommodation-related aspects of community care law. She provides practical advice relating to directions, evidence, and creative settlement solutions in complex cases.

Georgie has successfully defended possession claims brought by both private and public landlords, on statutory and public law grounds.

Over the last year, Georgie has represented clients through to trial in unlawful eviction claims, with a 100% success rate to date. In these matters, she has secured significant damages for the affected tenants.

In statutory section 204 appeals, Georgie has obtained judgment against several London Borough Councils. In one of her recent cases, following Georgie’s submissions, the Court gave helpful guidance on the requirement for both local authorities to conduct a review under section 202(4) of the Housing Act 1996, where the authorities have decided that conditions for referral were met, and the client was successful in their appeal on this point.

Overview

Georgie acts for children, young people, and families in all forums where education law issues arise, including the First-tier Tribunal and the Administrative Court. Due to her experience in accommodation-related matters, Georgie is able to provide holistic support to families, particularly migrant families, where re-housing has disrupted the education of children with SEN.

• Georgie has secured specialist placements and extensive amendments to EHCPs at final hearings before the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal.
• Georgie has successfully raised issues of direct and indirect discrimination on the grounds of race and disability before Independent Review Panels and the SEND Tribunal. In permanent exclusion cases, Georgie has successfully represented clients before Independent Review Panels and obtained directions for Schools’ Governing Bodies to reconsider their decision to exclude.
• On instruction from Simpson Miller, Georgie secured permission for judicial review, resulting in a settlement of a comprehensive EOTAS package.

Overview

Georgie’s community care practice spans asylum support, welfare benefits, and health and social care. Current and recent cases include:

• Several successful challenges brought under section 20 of the Children Act 1989, with interim relief in the form of accommodation granted in four cases to date.
• Georgie has been instructed in several age assessments and provided clients with representation at hearings in both the High Court and FTT.
• Georgie has provided detailed training and updates on age assessments, both in person and online.
• Please also refer to Georgie’s ‘Public Law’ section for further updates on her accommodation and benefits-related judicial review work.

Overview

ECPAT UK, R (On the Application Of) v Kent County Council & Anor [2023] EWHC 1953 (Admin)
Georgie was instructed by Bhatt Murphy as junior counsel to Stephanie Harrison KC and Oliver Persey in a successful High Court challenge to the Home Secretary’s policy of accommodating Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children in hotels. A full summary of the case can be found here.

Smith v Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing, & Communities and others [2022] EWCA Civ 1391
Georgie provided valuable assistance to Marc Willers KC and Tessa Buchanan (instructed by Deighton Pierce Glynn) in their successful challenge to the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal has held that the Government’s planning definition of “gypsies and travellers” in Planning policy for traveller sites (“PPTS 2015”) was unlawfully discriminatory with the result that a refusal to grant planning permission for a permanent site which applied that definition was quashed. A full summary of the case can be found here.