Chambers Review
Provided by Chambers
Immigration - Northern/North Eastern (Bar)
What the Team is Known For
Kenworthy's Chambers is a leading immigration law set with a strong bench of experienced barristers. Members act for a range of claimants, including vulnerable individuals, in asylum, deportation and unlawful detention cases. Instructing solicitors of the set appreciate that the barristers have "a breadth of experience which enables them to take on all types of cases". Members of the set have been instructed on significant matters such as VS (Ukraine) v SSHD, navigating complex Refugee Convention issues in the process of asylum appeals. Other work from the set ranged from the representation of modern slavery victims in refugee claims, and resisting deportation.
The set is led by practice manager Maria Rushworth.
Strengths
Their clerking team is very approachable and efficient.
Courtney and Daniella are exceptional clerks, and have been for a very long time.
The clerks are by far the best I have worked with and this makes the process of instructing Kenworthy's very easy and reassuring.
Notable practitioners
George Brown is a high-calibre immigration barrister with an extensive immigration, asylum and nationality practice. He represents individuals in deportation and unlawful detention cases. His recent work includes acting in several judicial reviews.
He is really good with clients, especially with those more vulnerable. His advocacy is also really good.
George is very senior in experience and this shows when working with him. His ability to cut through the issues of a case is fantastic and his advocacy is always impressive.
Gita Patel acts exclusively for claimants and attracts praise for her sensitive representation of vulnerable clients, including victims of trafficking and seriously ill asylum seekers. Areas of expertise include human rights law, asylum and public law issues.
Gita has great success in the Court of Appeal and exceptional with vulnerable clients.
She is a top-notch barrister.
Jonathan Greer has established himself as a firm favourite with immigration solicitors. He has notable experience in matters relating to deprivation of citizenship and individuals resisting removal.
He is a brilliant advocate, getting right to the issue. He is so concise, but never to the detriment of his case.
Jonathan is an excellent advocate, good on technical issues, and is dedicated to the protection of human rights.
Mark Schwenk is capable of handling the full range of immigration and asylum matters in tribunals and the High Court. Schwenk is well versed in complex human rights and unlawful detention issues, and has a particular focus on EEA rights. He has experience representing colleges whose licence to sponsor international students has been withdrawn.
He is a technical genius and a master at written advocacy.
Mark is extremely knowledgeable. He can be turned to for sound advice on any legal matter and his advice is always very helpful and practical.
Shazia Khan enjoys a fine reputation in the immigration law space, handling asylum and nationality law matters and cases with a human rights component. She also has experience in handling country guidance-related work.
Shazia is an excellent immigration barrister who always goes the extra mile.
She is our 'go-to' barrister for complex immigration and asylum cases; a safe pair of hands for the most challenging cases.
Shazia is always very thorough and professional in her approach.
Craig Holmes is a promising immigration practitioner with experience acting in country guidance cases and judicial reviews. He has appeared before the Upper Tribunal and Court of Appeal.
He is very effective in an understated way, meaning he isn't abrasive.
He is honestly just brilliant. In his formulation of submissions, he is so succinct and clear. He gets right to the heart of the issue.
Craig works very hard for clients and provides great advice and support to solicitors.