Nadia O'Mara

Nadia has a strong background in immigration law. Prior to coming to the Bar, she qualified as an IAAS Senior Immigration Caseworker and worked for two years providing legal advice and assistance to migrants in Greece and Calais, France. Nadia has expertise across the full spectrum of statutory appeals, including asylum, deportation, deprivation, EUSS and human rights appeals. She welcomes instructions at the earliest stage and is always keen to work with her instructing solicitor to assist with evidence preparation and negotiation with the Home Office.

Nadia has a particular interest in issues arising in the context of immigration detention. She is regularly instructed in unlawful detention claims and applications for immigration bail. She takes a holistic approach to advice and representation, drawing on her expertise in immigration, human rights, and community care to secure positive outcomes for clients. She takes a trauma-informed approach to her practice and is trained in psychological first aid. 

Nadia’s judicial review work cuts across her multi-disciplinary practice, drawing on her strong academic and policy background, teaching administrative law at UCL and working with organisations, including Liberty and JUSTICE. She accepts judicial review instructions in all areas of immigration law, unlawful detention, community care and education law. She regularly acts, led and unled, in highly complex claims concerning the interplay between these areas.

Nadia has a busy and successful community care practice. She regularly acts in age dispute challenges 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. Nadia has particular expertise on the interplay between the duties of the Home Office to accommodate asylum seekers and migrants, and the obligations on local authorities to provide care and support under the Care Act 2014. She recently acted for a disabled asylum-seeking client in a successful judicial review challenge to a local authority’s refusal to accommodate him and his family, led by Gráinne Mellon.

Nadia has an extensive education law practice. She is regularly instructed in SEND Tribunal appeals relating to Education, Health and Care Plans, and has experience in running – and securing settlement – in disability discriminations claims in the First-tier Tribunal.

She has particular expertise challenging decisions to permanently exclude children from school and is confident running complex and novel human rights and Equality Act 2010 arguments. She acts for children, young people and parents, often pro bono with organisations like Coram Children’s Legal Centre. Nadia welcomes difficult instructions requiring a creative and novel approach.

Nadia acted for the Claimant in R (TZA) v a Secondary School [2023] EWHC 1722 (Admin), led by Stephanie Harrison KC with Ollie Persey, and in R (AI) v London Borough of Wandsworth [2023] EWHC 2033 (Admin), led by Nicola Braganza KC with Ollie Persey.