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:: Housing ::
:: Immigration and Asylum ::
:: Public Law and Judicial Review ::

Sian has a particular interest in public law, European law and human rights. She has experience of immigration and asylum work from her time in-house at the Home Office (and representing the Secretary of State on appeals) and acting for applicants in immigration matters. Her local authority work is primarily in the areas of housing and community care. She is regularly instructed on judicial reviews, s.204 Housing Act 1996 appeals as well as claims for possession, anti-social behaviour injunctions and housing-related Children Act matters such as families seeking accommodation under s.17 Children Act and cases involving disputed unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors.

Immigration status frequently has a bearing on entitlement to community care services for both adults and children, eligibility for accommodation under Schedule 3 of the Nationality Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 and eligibility for homelessness assistance or an allocation under the Housing Act 1996 and for this reason there is considerable overlap between the immigration and local authority aspects of her work. She frequently advises local authority clients on matters of EC and immigration law as they affect status and entitlement to services and more recently on the entitlement of foreign nationals to other welfare benefits insofar as this impacts upon the powers and duties of a local authority.

Sian is ranked as a leading junior in the field of Social Housing by Chambers and Partners 2010 where she is described as "a rising star with lots of promise," who has been heavily involved with the first housing case referred to the ECJ. The 2009 edition praises her as “increasingly a force to be reckoned with,” she “has a good grasp of the law and acts for her clients fiercely without being blind to the strengths and weaknesses of a case.”

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