Paul Turner

Paul is a qualified lawyer, a chartered member of the Institute of Legal Executives and accredited by the Law Society to Advanced level 3 of the Immigration and Asylum Accreditation Scheme. This accreditation has been awarded to a very small proportion of specialist immigration and asylum lawyers.

Paul joined Barnes Harrild & Dyer in 2002 and established the immigration asylum and human rights department. In 2003 Paul secured a Legal Aid contract to provide free immigration legal services to the community and has successfully supervised the firms legal aid contract work and its private client operations since. In 2009 Paul was achieved partner status and in September 2015 was promoted to senior partner. Paul is well known by his peers in the profession as being a leading practitioner and his hard work was acknowledged by legal 500. The 2017 edition quotes;

‘Barnes Harrild & Dyer is ‘a firm of dedicated and reliable solicitors, whose determination and confidence is exemplary’. The team regularly represents asylum applicants and victims of trafficking, and has a strong track record in handling cases before the Immigration Tribunal, through to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. Other areas of expertise include unlawful detention claims, Children’s Act and care proceedings and business immigration matters. The ‘friendly and trustworthy’ Paul Turner is the key practitioner, and is praised by clients for his ‘honest advice, proactive encouragement and drive to succeed’.

Paul is widely recommended to clients from all over the UK and abroad. Paul has worked on a substantial number of complex cases and his knowledge of the law and experience enables him to advise clearly and accurately achieving successful results in the most demanding of cases. Paul specialises in all areas of immigration asylum and human rights law and is experienced in performing work at all court levels up to the Supreme Court, but takes a particular interest in protecting those who have established family life in the UK, best interests of children, deportation of foreign criminals, European law, human rights and all matters of public law.

Paul is overall responsible for the successful development of the immigration law team. He is very active running a varied caseload of complex immigration cases. He is highly valued by the team for his supervisory skills and depth of legal knowledge. He is often called upon by his peers, such as counsel for his opinion. Mr Turner has also been instructed to provide expert opinions to the Family proceedings court concerning the impact of immigration matters in family and Children’s Act and Care proceeding matters and in criminal trials.

Some of Pauls notable reported cases are;

Success in the Supreme Court

• A significant case that will be taught to law students. The case of R (on the application of Johnson) (Appellant) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Respondent) [2016] UKSC 56 was a matter that concluded in the Supreme Court. It is a rare event for a firm to succeed on appeal to the Supreme Court and this examples Paul’s specialism. The SSHD made a decision to deport Johnson from the UK on the basis of his serious criminal offending in the UK. Paul successfully challenged the deportation by Judicial Review in the High Court and the Secretary of State won in the Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court allowed our clients appeal, declaring the law challenged in the British Nationality Act 1981 as being incompatible with the Human Rights Act. This case establishes important principles of law in respect of the concept of continuing discrimination and present day standards, and the consequences of unjustified differential treatment in the context of nationality law, and ultimately the discriminatory features of the Act to illegitimate children.

Most Recent Reported Cases

• In HB (Kurds) Iran CG [2018] UKUT 430 (IAC), Paul assisted in-house counsel Iain Palmer and presented a substantial wealth or objective evidence and expert evidence in this country guidance case that is binding upon all Tribunal Judges concerning the identification of entitlement to refugee status of Iranian nationals fearing discrimination on account of Kurdish ethnicity
• In SSHD v Robinson (Jamaica) 2018 EWCA Civ 85, the Court of Appeal gave judgement on the rights of British Children whose primary caring parent was subject to deportation from the UK as a result of criminal offending, and the non-absolute nature of Zambrano EEA law rights. It should be noted that this matter has now progressed to the Supreme Court due to being in an important point of law to be clarified.
• In KV Sri Lanka v SSHD [2018] EWCA Civ 2483, a key case in respect of examining the treatment of evidence of international instruments, the Court of Appeal allowed our appeal against a decision of the Upper Tribunal that rejected KV’s appeal against deprivation of British Nationality on statelessness grounds.
• In R (Teh) v Secretary for the Home Department [2018] EWHC 1586 (Admin) on British Overseas Citizens who renounced their Malaysian citizenship in the mistaken belief that this would make them eligible for full British Citizenship and settlement in the United Kingdom, and admissibility of such individuals to Malaysia for the purpose of Paragraph 403 of Immigration Rules
• In Tabarkhil v SSHD (2018) IAUT, although not a reported judgement the background and overall outcome for our client was significant. This client was from Afghanistan and feared violence at the hands of the Taliban. His asylum claim has been refused and appeal dismissed. Paul Turner was then instructed and he was not satisfied that the Tribunal had made safe findings of fact in respect of the clients credibility. He therefore contacted a local Malik in Afghanistan to obtain information about the clients family. He used the evidence of the clients family being murdered by the Taliban as evidence to present a fresh claim to the Home Office. That fresh claim was refused with no right of appeal and Paul successfully challenged that decision by Judicial Review and secured the client a new asylum appeal hearing where the First Tier Judge allowed the appeal finding that the our client had been telling the truth and was at risk of persecution if retuned to Afghanistan. The Secretary of States appeal to the Upper Tribunal was then unsuccessful and the client granted international protection.

Other notable cases

• MO (illegal exit – risk on return) Eritrea CG [2011] UKUT 00190 (IAC): Country guidance case on risk of persecution to asylum seekers from Eritrea
• CR (Jamaica) v SSHD [2018] EWCA Civ 85: Court of Appeal considered the effect of Zambrano rights under EU law of British children whose parents are foreign criminal offenders.
• THE QUEEN on the application of GODWIN CHAPARADZA [2017] EWHC 1209 (Admin): A judicial review claim concerning legal effect of decision service, fresh asylum claims, and damages for unlawful detention.
• R (on the application of Ali Ahmad Rashid) v The Secretary of State for the Home Department IJR [2015] UKUT 430 (IAC): Judicial Review of a fresh claim for asylum decision for Iranian asylum claim of Kurdish ethnicity and the weight of expert evidence
• THE QUEEN (on the application of AR (Iran)) v SSHD [2013] EWCA Civ 778: Court of Appeal considers statutory interpretation of the Dublin Convention and responsibility of member states to determine asylum claims
• R(Eric Erron Johnson) v SSHD [2014] EWHC 2386 (Admin): High Court review decision to deport foreign criminal and discrimination under Article 8 concerning ineligibility and British Nationality
• The Queen on the Application of Johnson v SSHD [2016] EWCA Civ 22: Secretary of States appeal to the Court of Appeal against the High Court Judgement
• Hewa Hama Hussein v SSHD [2016] UKUT (JR): Upper Tribunal judicial review Iran asylum fresh claim and guidance on postal applications
• MM Jamaica v SSHD [2015] EWCA Civ 1239: Court of Appeal consider the effect of a First Tier Judges decision to allow an appeal against deportation of a foreign criminal from Jamaica under Article 8 ECHR
• AN and NN (s.83 – asylum grounds only) Albania [2007] UKAIT 00097: A case reported by the Upper Tribunal giving guidance as to Judicial Process in asylum up-grade appeals
• DA (IRAQ) v SSHD [2015] EWCA Civ 1523: Court of Appeal consider safety of adverse credibility findings concerning an Iraq asylum decision
• DA (ERITREA) v SSHD [2008] EWCA Civ 1465: Court of Appeal considered the safety of an asylum decision in respect of an Eritrean asylum seeker.
• BA ( Eritrea ) v SSHD [2009] EWCA Civ 1412: Court of Appeal considered safety of Eritrea Asylum decision
• THE QUEEN ON THE APPLICATION OF DENZIL TAVONA SMITH v SSHD [2010] EWHC 2774 (Admin): Effect if inability to remove Claimant from the UK upon the legality of continuing detention, unlawful detention and damages
• RAJAN NAVARATNAM v SSHD [2013] EWHC 2383 (QB): High Court Judgement that Strasbourg Court decisions confer no rights in UK jurisdiction beyond recording that Court’s decision that a person’s removal would violate Article 3 rights: they do not indicate the legal basis upon which leave to remain should be given.
• RN (Sri Lanka) v SSHD [2014] EWCA Civ 938: Court of Appeal upheld the High Court Judgement in Navaratnam
• TK (Immigration Rules –policy-Article 8) Jamaica [2007] UKAIT 00025: Reported for policy guidance, spirit of the immigration rules and weight under Article 8 ECHR