Isaac Ricca-Richardson

Year of Call: 2020

"Isaac is an excellent barrister with talent and capability well beyond his call. His advice is consistently clear and comprehensive, with a sharp focus on the needs of vulnerable clients. He is calm under pressure, strategic and assured in his approach and highly responsive to fast-moving developments in the case."

Legal 500, 2024 (Court of Protection & Community Care)

"He is dedicated, detail-oriented and proactive. He has a particular attention to detail which means he identifies any potential issues at the outset and provides sound advice on how to move the case forward."

Legal 500, 2024 (Immigration)

"Isaac was exceptionally focused in his approach to an asylum appeal for a vulnerable client with cognitive difficulties. His dedication to getting the best outcome was evident even when he received instructions at short notice. His communication was excellent and I highly recommend instructing him."

Solicitor Client

"He is a very dangerous barrister. I always knew he was on my side."

Lay Client

"Isaac went above and beyond the brief, producing an exceptionally detailed and well-argued skeleton argument at short notice. It was a genuinely impressive and creative piece of work."

Solicitor Client

"Thank you so much for being part of our journey, and I hope you know how much your expertise and passion has been valued. The relief that I and the whole family feel now has been immediate and so welcomed, it has been such a long time coming and we are embracing it!"

Lay Client

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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Isaac practices in judicial review, immigration & asylum, human rights & civil liberties, education, and community care.

He is equally comfortable in first-instance tribunals fighting for individual clients and acting in complex interdisciplinary matters in the senior courts. He has already appeared in the Court of Appeal on multiple occasions and was instructed on the Rwanda litigation in the Supreme Court. 

Isaac is also aware of the demands placed on solicitors through several years of experience as a paralegal. As a result, he is adept at helping his instructing solicitors in whatever way they need to ensure their cases run smoothly.

This applies to legal aid clients and to private clients, where Isaac has substantial experience of complex High Net Worth asylum claims and of providing advice on immigration status and nationality.

Asylum & Immigration

Isaac has a strong background in immigration law, with a number of successes in asylum, deportation, and human rights appeals, and public law challenges to fresh claim decisions and urgent removals. He has particular experience in deportation, including where there is an EU law element.

Whoever his client is, Isaac is always keen to work with his instructing solicitor from the earliest stages of a case to help with evidence preparation and negotiation with the Home Office. He is adept at building relationships and trust with vulnerable clients who have suffered torture or trafficking, and also has experience of contentious political asylum claims, including for High Net Worth clients.

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Administrative and Public Law

Isaac’s public law work is at the heart of his multi-disciplinary practice, where he is able to cut through the factual and legal complexity to get at the core issue and offer clear strategic guidance in complex cases. Isaac regularly accepts judicial review instructions in the areas of immigration law, unlawful detention, and community care. 

His notable cases include the Rwanda litigation, CR v The Lord Chancellor in the High Court and Court of Appeal ([2023] EWCA Civ 717),  and F v Surrey County Council [2023] EWHC 980 (Admin). He has also been instructed in successful challenges in the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC).

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Community Care Law

Isaac is regularly instructed in challenges to age assessments on behalf of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and in matters involving the entitlement of children and adults to support under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, Children Act 1989 and Care Act 2014.

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Civil Liberties and Human Rights

Isaac has successfully represented a number of clients in civil actions against the police and prisons, including several cases involving unlawful strip searches. He also accepts instructions in inquests and parole board hearings. Isaac is well aware of the sensitivity and gravity of these matters for professional and lay clients.

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Education Law

Isaac is regularly instructed in SEND Tribunal appeals in relation to Education, Health and Care Plans, and has experience in running disability discrimination claims in the First-tier Tribunal.

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Notable Cases

Recent notable instructions include the judicial review against the government’s Rwanda removals scheme, a successful challenge to the Home Office’s policy in respect of visas for the family members of Afghans hired by the British army, and an ongoing challenge to the legal aid means regulations.

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Notable Cases & News

Immigration Blog: Garden Court barristers secure clean sweep of Rwanda removals bail victories

Blog post by Georgie Rea of the Garden Court Immigration Law Team.

24 June 2024

Immigration Blog: Section 2 of the Illegal Migration Act - Duty to Remove

Blog by Eva Doerr and Isaac Ricca-Richardson of the Garden Court Immigration Team.

3 January 2024

Rwanda Judgment: Supreme Court unanimously rules Rwanda policy is unlawful

Sonali Naik KC, Adrian Berry, Mark Symes, Eva Doerr and Isaac Ricca-Richardson, of Garden Court Chambers, represent AS (Iran). David Sellwood, of Garden Court Chambers, is part of the team representing RM (Iran).

15 November 2023

Rwanda Plan in Supreme Court: Garden Court representing asylum seekers

Sonali Naik KC, Adrian Berry, Mark Symes, Eva Doerr and Isaac Ricca-Richardson, of Garden Court Chambers, represent AS (Iran). David Sellwood, of Garden Court Chambers, is part of the team representing RM (Iran).

9 October 2023

Rwanda Judgment: Court of Appeal rules government plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is unlawful

Sonali Naik KC, Adrian Berry, Mark Symes, Eva Doerr and Isaac Ricca-Richardson represent AS (Iran). David Sellwood is part of the team representing RM (Iran).

29 June 2023

Permission to appeal on additional grounds granted in challenge to Home Secretary decision to relocate asylum seekers to Rwanda

Sonali Naik KC, Amanda Weston KC, Mark Symes and Isaac Ricca-Richardson of Garden Court Chambers represented AS (Iran) instructed by Paul Turner and Iain Palmer of Barnes Harrild and Dyer Solicitors.

14 March 2023

Changes to legal aid rules in SEND appeals following legal challenge

Amanda Weston KC, Oliver Persey, and Isaac Ricca-Richardson of Garden Court Chambers represented the child, instructed by Emma Vincent Miller of Public Law Project.

14 February 2023

Rwanda judgment: Permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal granted

Sonali Naik KC, Amanda Weston KC, Mark Symes, Eva Doerr, Isaac Ricca-Richardson, Alex Grigg, David Sellwood, Raza Halim and Ali Bandegani of Garden Court Chambers instructed for the claimants.

18 January 2023

Rwanda judgment: Home Secretary failed to properly consider if asylum seekers should not be relocated to Rwanda

Garden Court Chambers (with others) represented a number of claimants.

19 December 2022

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Background

Isaac has two years’ experience as a paralegal in an immigration firm, has volunteered for a number of non-profit organisations, including Bail for Immigration Detainees and the Public Law Project, and spent several months working in Dunkirk refugee camp and on death row in the United States.

Isaac obtained a first-class honours degree at University College London, where he won the Sweet & Maxwell Prize for achieving the highest overall performance in the final year of his studies, and achieved the highest grade at BPTC level. He was awarded a full scholarship to fund the BPTC.​

Education

  • University College London - Bachelor of Laws (LLB)
  • BPP Law School - BPTC (Full Scholarship)

Professional Membership

  • Administrative Law Bar Association
  • Legal Sector Workers United (Executive Committee)
  • Haldane Society of Lawyers

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