Deprivation of British Nationality: the post-Begum landscape

This webinar will consider the recent Supreme Court judgment in Begum v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] UKSC 7 and its wide-ranging implications, not only for appeals against deprivation of citizenship in SIAC and the First-tier Tribunal, but also for judicial review of the Secretary of State’s decision making. Topics to be covered will include:

• Overview of the Begum judgment, facts and legal principles
• Tactics and Evidence in SIAC in the post-Begum environment
• Implications for deprivation appeals in the First-tier Tribunal
• What Begum means for the scope and grounds of judicial review, both in national security cases and more broadly
   

Recording

Speakers

Sonali Naik QC, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers (Chair)
Sonali Naik QC is a senior public law and immigration practitioner with over 28 years’ experience who specialises in public law cases and in all aspects of immigration, asylum and nationality law. Sonali is ranked for immigration in Chambers UK 2020 and has a significant Higher Courts practice. She conducts almost exclusively leading work at all levels: the Court of Appeal, the Administrative Court and in the Upper Tribunal in statutory appeals and judicial reviews. She has very substantial immigration and asylum experience in her High Court and appellate court practice, acting in various country guidance asylum cases, most recently in AS(Afghanistan) in the Court of Appeal, the latest leading case on internal relocation. Sonali has an extensive judicial review practice in the areas of Article 8 ECHR certification, nationality, challenges to Home Office policy, trafficking and unlawful detention.

Sonali is Chair of Liberty and a trustee of Freedom From Torture and the Immigrant’s Aid Trust (charitable arm of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants), a member of the JUSTICE Council and she was appointed to the JUSTICE Working Group on Reform of Immigration and Asylum system. She won Lawyer of the Year at the Diversity Legal Awards 2018. She won Highly Commended for Outstanding Contribution to Diversity & Inclusion at the Chambers Bar Awards 2019. She was a finalist for Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year in 2016 and was featured as The Times’ Lawyer of the Week in January 2018.

Edward Grieves, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers
Edward is an immigration law barrister with expertise in national security, civil liberties and terrorism cases. Since the Justice and Security Act 2013 widened the jurisdiction of SIAC to embrace judicial reviews of a decision to refuse naturalisation and deny British citizenship Edward has represented a large number of Applicants in SIAC seeking reviews of their naturalisation decisions. He appeared in the preliminary hearing of AHK and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department [SN/2/2014, SN/3/2014, SN/4/2014 and SN/5/2014] (18.7.14) which determined the approach in law to the new naturalisation reviews and also in the Administrative Court when the Secretary of State appealed the ruling of SIAC in Secretary of State for the Home Department v SIAC [2015] EWHC 681 (Admin) (18.3.15). These rulings required the Secretary of State to disclose the underlying material said to inform the decision to refuse naturalization.

Helen Foot, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers
Helen is a barrister specialising in immigration, public law, human rights and nationality law. Helen is an experienced advocate in the First-tier and Upper Tribunal and the Administrative Court. She has appeared in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, where she acted as junior counsel for the appellants in KO (Nigeria) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] UKSC 53 and R(Hysaj and others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] UKSC 82 and has expertise in representing individuals whose citizenship is subject to deprivation proceedings where fraud is alleged.

David Sellwood, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers
David is a public law practitioner, specialising in the areas of immigration, asylum, nationality, and human rights. He acts in public and private law proceedings in courts and tribunals at all levels, including SIAC and the Supreme Court. He is regularly instructed in complex asylum, deportation and citizenship deprivation proceedings; judicial reviews; and claims challenging unlawful immigration detention. He was junior counsel in the key authority on the right to private life in an immigration context, under Article 8 ECHR: Rhuppiah v SSHD [2018] UKSC 58. He was recently junior counsel in R3 v SSHD [2021], a citizenship deprivation appeal in SIAC.

Navida Quadi, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers
Navida Quadi is a public law practitioner with a focus on immigration, nationality and human rights. She is regularly instructed on complex appeals involving minors, vulnerable adults and victims of trafficking. She has experience in a wide variety of immigration and refugee work, such as deportation, Article 8 private and family life, Tier 2 sponsor license revocations, fresh claims, entry clearance representations and appeals. Navida is regularly instructed to appear at the First Tier and Upper Tribunal, the County Court and High Court. She also practices in housing and family law which provides her with insight to advising on complex cases with an overlap of various areas of law.