Catherine Robinson

As part of her pupillage, Catherine has undertaken work for members of the immigration and criminal teams.

Crime

Catherine has gained experience in general crime. She has assisted on a number of Crown Court trials.  She has also observed a wide variety of hearings in the Magistrates’ and Youth Courts.  Catherine has an interest in representing young people in the criminal justice system and also those charged with immigration offences.

Immigration

During her time with the Immigration Team Catherine has gained further experience of asylum and immigration work.  She has been involved in a large number of cases including asylum appeals, third-country judicial reviews and advising on potential judicial reviews. As part of her ongoing commitment to this area of law Catherine is keen to represent vulnerable individuals within the immigration system.

Current voluntary work

Catherine is a member of the Management Committee of Lambeth Law Centre.  She also regularly speaks at the UK Lesbian and Gay Immigration Group’s asylum support meetings about the UK asylum process.

Previous experience

Prior to joining 1 Pump Court Chambers, Catherine was an immigration solicitor at Fisher Meredith LLP for 5 years.  Her experience includes: judicial reviews; appeals at all levels; and fresh asylum and human rights claims.  Her clients included: victims of trafficking; individuals with serious mental health problems; victims of domestic violence; those considered to be a risk to national security; unaccompanied minors; and individuals facing criminal deportation.

She was ranked as an Associate to Watch by Chambers & Partners 2011 in the category Immigration: Personal: London.  The entry said:

Associate Catherine Robinson enters the rankings this year due to her handling of complicated immigration cases with a terrorist aspect. She is particularly admired for her client-care skills: "She is respectful, kind and honest about the hazards within the asylum system, while still giving fearful and desperate people a sense of hope."

Catherine’s notable cases include:

M v UK (Application No: 16081/08), the first human trafficking-related claim from the UK to be brought to the European Court of Human Rights.  Instructed jointly with the AIRE Centre with Counsel, Parosha Chandran.

Two national security matters before the Special Immigration Appeals Commission including OL v SSHD [2010] SC/86/2009.

OM (Nigeria) v SSHD [2010] EWHC 2147 (Admin), instructed by the Official Solicitor in a case challenging the lawfulness of detaining an individual with serious mental health problems (Counsel: Ranjiv Khubber).

Catherine completed her training contract at Herbert Smith LLP, an international law firm.

Education

Catherine graduated from the University of Warwick in 2002 with a first class honours degree in Law (European). More recently Catherine studied part-time for an LLM at the School of Oriental and African Studies focusing on post conflict justice and reconciliation.  Her dissertation examined the United Kingdom’s obligations under the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.

Publications

Co-authored chapter entitled – ‘Human Trafficking in Northern Ireland’ in Human Trafficking Handbook edited by Parosha Chandran, Lexis Nexis, 2011