Law School students visit the Immigration Tribunal

On Wednesday 21st and 28th April 2010, approximately 20 undergraduate LLB students and ILEX Paralegal Students (Level 6 Immigration law) visited the very famous Tribunal service in relation to Immigration and Asylum cases to experience first-hand the workings of the court and to see real-life cases on asylum and immigration in action.

 

The trip was arranged by Bradford Law School Lecturer and experienced Immigration law practitioner, Shazia Khan who explained "it is very important for students to gain the academic knowledge required to succeed in a legal career but it is also vital for them to understand that the law involves real people, with real issues. There is nothing better than a visit to the court to give them this appreciation. At the Law School, we do not want to just produce students with academic knowledge, we want the learning experience to be much more varied and raise their awareness of the bigger picture."

The students were able to watch cases on both asylum and immigration issues and were even granted an audience with the Adjudicator/judge who was happy to answer questions. It proved to be both an enjoyable and educational day!

The court was built in 2003 to help tackle the influx of immigration and asylum cases. It is one of the six across the country helping to ease the workload facing the Lord Chancellor's department, dealing with appeals from rejected immigration applications. Last year, fewer than a fifth of the cases were upheld, but the Refugee Council said that families were left in limbo because it sometimes took more than a year before the decisions were reached.

The tour started with all the students being checked at the entrance of the court by security officers before being allowed to pass through into the court area.  Once inside they were greeted by the Court Manager who explained the procedure of a hearing. She also told the students that it was an informal court and advised them that anyone can sit in if they want to. She also told the students that there were 12 courts in the whole building which run both asylum and immigration cases.

The Court has an Adjudicator at the top and the representatives for each side being the Home Office Presenting Officer (HOPO) and the solicitor for the client.

The Adjudicator starts by asking the basic questions about the client and then refers to the HOPO and other representative.

Year 2 LLB student Nusrat Bibi said “It was a very interesting experience and I learnt a lot about the procedure and how a case is conducted.  I especially enjoyed the immigration case which was about a spouse visa”.