Immigration Solicitors

We are delighted to announce that Darren Middleton has stepped up to the role of Director of Immigration at Duncan Lewis Solicitors after receiving a well-deserved promotion.

Darren is based at the Birmingham office where he will continue to serve our clients with the skill, care and tenacity that many of them are already accustomed to.

He has a proven passion for supporting the vulnerable and disenfranchised and worked for several years at a local charity - the Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre - gaining extensive experience of working with migrant communities, prior to joining Duncan Lewis in 2015.

Darren said: “working there cemented my interest in working in the area of immigration and I’m grateful for the chance to continue that important work at Duncan Lewis and delighted to have been promoted to Director so I can continue supporting the most vulnerable in our society.”

Darren was admitted as a solicitor in 2017 and made supervisor just a year later. He guides a team specialising in asylum, immigration and public law and is accredited as a Supervising Senior Caseworker under the Law Society’s Immigration and Asylum Law Accreditation Scheme.

He specialises in working with vulnerable individuals in complex cases, often with clients facing threats of deportation.

His thorough submissions often lead to refugee status being granted outright.

He says: “I am very much of the view that a well prepared application can play a vital role in the overall result for clients.”

Darren is experienced at preparing asylum and immigration appeals for the tribunal, and for preparing and lodging judicial reviews. He has provided representation for nationals of Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Mongolia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sudan, Uganda and Zimbabwe, many who have had their appeals successfully allowed by tribunal following his intervention on their behalf. He is also a participant in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber Committee Working Group at the Tribunal in Birmingham, which meets periodically.

His notable cases include:

Mostafa Shahi v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWCA Civ 1676: Darren and his team obtained permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal to challenge a decision of 'no order' as to costs, when the initial judicial review had been successful in obtaining interim relief and then the claim was withdrawn by consent. The Court of Appeal provided guidance to claimants and practitioners as to what they will need to achieve in order to have an arguable claim for costs after obtaining interim relief.

R(ZV) v SSHD [2020] EWHC 3562 (Admin): Justice Fordham gave guidance on four 'needs' that are to be taken into account at the interim relief stage, when holding that the SSHD should be providing client support.