Janet Farrell

Practice Areas

Janet Farrell is a partner at Bhatt Murphy, specialising in public and private law actions for those detained under immigration powers, with a particular focus on the rights of vulnerable groups including children, pregnant women and victims of torture.

Career

Janet qualified as a solicitor in 2010 after completing her training at Bhatt Murphy. Prior to that, she practiced for a number of years as a caseworker and manager at Refugee and Migrant Justice, representing asylum seekers subjected to the fast track procedure and in the public law department.

She is an accredited senior caseworker and supervisor under the Law Society’s Immigration and Asylum scheme. She writes case law updates on immigration detention for the Legal Action Group (LAG) magazine. She is also a member of the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association and Police Actions Lawyers Group.

Janet has represented numerous families, who were detained by the Home Office or who were separated through immigration detention, in public law and private law claims which have resulted in settlements ranging between £25,000 - £125,000. Janet acts in a number of cases involving the treatment of migrants by the state more generally, ranging from the imposition of curfews to failures to provide free NHS care. She also acted in a significant number of cases for unaccompanied children within Europe and beyond who are seeking to reunite with family members in the UK.

Janet also represented Humanists UK in a number of interventions challenging the abortion regime in Northern Ireland. Janet was one of a group of lawyers and campaigners to be named Humanist of the Year 2018 by Humanists UK.