Devon Law Centre awarded the Law Centres Innovation Award 2009 for the Asylum Appellate Project

The Asylum Appellate Project is funded by the Lankelly Chase Foundation and the A B Charitable Trust, and has been running since June 2007. Over the past two years, it has found that around 80 per cent of asylum seekers are being wrongly denied publicly-funded legal representation (legal aid).

In one case, a woman was forced to flee China because of her trade union activities which had seen her detained and tortured in a forced labour camp for over two years. She was initially refused asylum by the Home Office and then refused legal aid by her solicitors to appeal this decision. Appearing unrepresented at the tribunal hearing, her asylum appeal was turned down. After the Project assisted her to get legal representation to challenge the tribunal’s determination, she was granted asylum.

Devon Law Centre is now hoping to secure funds to continue its work as well as to expand the project to other areas of the UK. For further information please contact Jean-Benoit Louveaux, Devon Law Centre’s Asylum Appellate Lawyer, on 01752 519 794 or at .

The Law Centre has been seeing success on other fronts as well.

It had helped bring a judicial review on behalf of the family of an autistic schoolboy whose housing, care and welfare needs were recognised by Plymouth City Council but were not catered for. The High Court found in the family’s favour but the Council appealed this ruling. Recently the Appeal Court upheld the High Court’s ruling in the family’s favour, and upheld a £50,000 costs order. Lord Justice Wall also criticised the Council for the spending public money on mounting ‘academic’ defences instead of providing adequate care for local residents.

Local news story from the Plymouth Herald: Devon Law Centre.pdf