Sophie Caseley

Year of Call: 2013

"Sophie drafts clear and concise pleadings, has an excellent knowledge of the relevant caselaw and is able to convey clearly complex public law points via her pleadings. She is also a good negotiator."

Serdar Celebi, Cambridge House Law Centre

"Sophie was very professional and approachable. She also provided very well-reasoned advice and was exceptional at dealing with a difficult client."

Tom Bradley, TA Law

"I would also like to pass on that the client said you were very good in court and made him feel confident."

Housing Solicitor

"I've been impressed by Sophie's breadth of knowledge across the broad spectrum of housing and community care law. She has always shown a willingness to step in and advise at short notice, often on difficult cases. Sophie is a dedicated barrister, committed to helping and advising vulnerable clients"

Alex McMahon, Osbornes Solicitors

"She has an extremely high success rate with bail applications we have instructed her on and we have often been pleasantly surprised when weaker cases have been granted bail (where refusals were anticipated) due to Sophie's excellent advocacy work"

Tom Nunn, BID

Contact

To get in touch:​ Or you can contact the relevant​ Practice Team Clerks directly and they will be happy to assist with your enquiry.

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Sophie specialises in housing and community care law. She is also developing a practice in the Court of Protection.

Sophie is able to provide tailored and practical advice to her clients owing to the breadth of her practice.

Court of Protection

Overview

Sophie is accepting instructions in all areas of Court of Protection work including in deprivation of liberty and health and personal welfare cases, utilising her housing and community care expertise to give holistic advice.

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Community Care Law

Overview

Sophie is continuing to develop her practice in community care law. She has advised in cases involving asylum seekers with care needs, asylum support, homeless families, care leavers and age assessments. She volunteers as a duty advocate for the Asylum Support Appeals Project. 

Sophie's experience of immigration law is useful where advising particular client groups including migrant families.

Sophie has previous experience of working as a paralegal in a legally aided firm challenging decisions relating to provision of accommodation and support under the Children Act 1989 and Care Act 2014. Sophie is a contributor to the forthcoming ‘Housing Law Handbook’.

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IMMIGRATION: ASYLUM AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Overview

Sophie represents clients in asylum, human rights, deportation and EEA appeals, bail applications and judicial review claims. She has experience in representing victims of trafficking, those with complex mental health conditions (including those lacking capacity to litigate) and children.

Sophie advises on the merits of challenging a range of public law decisions including fresh claim refusals, refusals of EEA family permits and revocations of British citizenship. She has experience in undertaking emergency work, including out of hours applications for stays on removal.

Sophie advises clients from Francophone countries and welcomes instructions from French-speaking clients.

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Housing Law

Overview

Sophie provides advice and representation in all areas of housing law, including possession proceedings, injunctions and disrepair. She has experience in advancing all public law defences.

Sophie represents clients in appeals against negative homelessness decisions in the County Court including issues relating to suitability of accommodation and vulnerability. Sophie is able to use her experience of representing asylum seekers and migrants to advise on eligibility and vulnerability in the context of priority need.

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Pro Bono Work

Overview

Sophie represents clients through the Bar Pro Bono Unit, Bail for Immigration Detainees and the AIRE centre amongst others.

Sophie is a volunteer lawyer for RLS Athens. She spent 2 weeks advising asylum seekers and refugees in Athens in January 2018.

Sophie advises members of the public on housing law issues at the South Westminster Legal Advice Centre.

She has previously volunteered for the Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile, where she assisted child victims of trafficking, and Vocalise, where she helped train prisoners to develop debating skills.

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Sophie Caseley

Notable Cases & News

Garden Court Chambers celebrates 50th Anniversary

This year marks 50 years of Garden Court Chambers winning ground-breaking cases of constitutional importance.

Friday 31 May 2024

Which local authority must provide s117 duty after-care services after someone has been detained and discharged from hospital under the Mental Health Act 1983?

Blog post by Sophie Caseley of the Garden Court Chambers Mental Health Law and Community Care Teams. R (on the application of) Worcestershire County Council v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care [2023] UKSC 31 (10 August 2023)

Monday 21 Aug 2023

Successful policy challenge: homeless women fleeing domestic violence

Stephanie Harrison QC and Nick Bano represented the Claimant. Sophie Caseley was instructed by Bhatt Murphy for Women’s Aid, who intervened in the case.

Thursday 4 Mar 2021

No “temporal leeway” in considering out of borough placement

Blog by Connor Johnston. Ed Fitzpatrick and Sophie Caseley of the Garden Court Housing Team acted for the Respondent Ms Broderick.

Tuesday 15 Dec 2020

Housing Law Handbook: A Practical Guide (Law Society, 2nd edition)

Edited by Stephen Cottle. Contributors: Tim Baldwin, Adrian Berry, Tessa Buchanan, Sophie Caseley, Justine Compton, Sebastian Elgueta, Ed Fitzpatrick, Kevin Gannon, Adrian Marshall Williams, David Renton, Desmond Rutledge and Marina Sergides.

Thursday 27 Aug 2020

Garden Court Housing Team responds to Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government consultation on ‘A new deal for renters’

The Garden Court Housing Team welcomes the government’s proposal to abolish no fault evictions (based on s.21 Housing Act 1988).

Tuesday 15 Oct 2019

Background

Sophie has an LLM in Public International Law from King's College London, in which she received a Distinction for her dissertation on the human rights of child victims of trafficking.

Sophie received funding to work at the European Commission where she helped to develop policies relating to the rule of law. She then worked as a paralegal at Hansen Palomares Solicitors in legally aided housing and community care, securing accommodation for vulnerable clients from a range of public bodies.

Sophie contributed to the Bar Human Rights Committee report on police violence and access to justice in Calais migrant camps in 2016 using her French language skills to obtain relevant evidence.

Sophie joined Garden Court Chambers in October 2017 following completion of her pupillage in October 2016 under the supervision of Rebecca Chapman and Di Middleton QC.

Publications

Sophie is a contributor to the Free Movement blog: https://www.freemovement.org.uk.

She assisted in drafting the chapter relating to Immigration Enforcement in the forthcoming edition of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants: Immigration, Nationality & Refugee Law Handbook.

Education

  • LLB (Hons) English Law and French Law, University of Manchester (Upper 2:1)
  • LLM Public International Law, King's College London (Distinction)
  • Bar Professional Training Course, Kaplan Law School (Very Competent)

Professional Memberships

  • Administrative Law Bar Association (ALBA)
  • Immigration Law Practitioners' Association (ILPA)
  • Housing Law Practitioners' Association (HLPA)
  • Liberty
  • Young Legal Aid Lawyers

Languages

  • French (fluent)
  • Portuguese (basic working knowledge)

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