Georgie Rea

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 as sole counsel and led junior. Her specialist knowledge enables her to deploy the overarching principles of public law effectively in a variety of statutory contexts, including immigration, extradition, education and community care.

Current and recent cases include:

• 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 Housing Act 1996.
• 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.
• Instructed by Lawstop Solicitors, Georgie was granted permission for judicial review in a claim against Local Authorities’ failure to secure provision under the Claimant child’s EHCP.
• As sole counsel in an application for interim relief, Georgie secured a finding of a strong prima facie case that an unaccompanied asylum-seeking child reverts to being a putative minor when a local authority conducts a further age assessment upon new evidence coming to light.

Georgie has successfully represented lay clients in statutory appeals before the Immigration and Asylum Tribunals and drafted Grounds of Appeal in complex cases. 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.

Current and recent cases include:

• On instruction from Turpin Miller, Georgie secured asylum in the FFT for a Chinese national appellant found to have a well-founded fear of persecution for a Convention reason, namely membership of a particular social group (female victims of sexual violence and victims of trafficking/modern slavery).
• On instruction from MH Solicitors, Georgie secured asylum in the FFT for an Iraqi national, found to be a risk of persecution based on imputed political opinion.
• On instruction from Wilsons LLP, Georgie secured asylum in the FFT for an Ethiopian national, who was found to be at risk both due to his credible account of his activities before fleeing Ethiopia and his political activities in the UK.
• On instruction from Kamberley Solicitors, Georgie secured article 8 leave for an Algerian national living with breast cancer.
• 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.

Georgie has a detailed knowledge of possession proceedings, having previously worked as a self-employed County Court Advocate. She regularly conducts work across all areas of housing law, including 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. 

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.

• 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 an ongoing permanent exclusion case, Georgie successfully represented the client before an Independent Review Panel, who directed the School’s Governing Body 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.

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 three cases.
• 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 to Wilsons LLP and online.

Georgie is developing a practice in employment and discrimination law.

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.