Gwawr Thomas (2008)


Teams

Actions against the Police, Animal Welfare & Dangerous Dogs Act, Crime, Immigration, International Human Rights, and Public law

 

Profile

Gwawr's busy practice encompasses public law, asylum and immigration, prison law, and criminal defence.   Throughout all areas of her work, she retains a passionate dedication to promoting human rights and defending civil liberties.

 

Education

  • MA (Hons) History: Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge (1st class)
  • Graduate Diploma in Law: University of the West of England, Bristol (Merit)
  • Bar Vocational Course: BPP Law School (Very Competent)
     

Practice

Asylum and Immigration

Gwawr is passionate about asylum and immigration issues, and is well respected amongst those who instruct her for her clear and pragmatic advice, her lucid presentation of complex or novel legal arguments, and her sensitivity in dealing with vulnerable or anxious clients.  She is regularly instructed in asylum (including Detained Fast Track), human rights, family reunion, deportation, entry clearance, points based system and EEA appeals before the First Tier and Upper Tribunals; she also frequently acts in applications for immigration bail and in actions for unlawful detention.

In addition, Gwawr has been called upon to advise and act in judicial review matters involving issues as broad as

  • fresh claims for asylum on the basis of sur place activities;
  • the legality of the Home Office's decision to continue to hold an immigration detainee in a Category B prison at the end of his sentence;
  • the right to work, as guaranteed by the Reception Directive and as an aspect of private life;
  • the legality of detention where that frustrates the carrying out of a Parenting Assessment in concurrent family proceedings;
  • UKBA's refusal to process an EEA application on grounds that photographs submitted with the application did not comply with the published requirements, where the applicant was detained and did not have access to a camera.

Where necessary, she is able to draft grounds at short notice. 

Gwawr recently acted in a complex bail case which raised issues concerning the acquisition of British Overseas Territories Citizenship.  This has whetted her appetite for nationality law, and she is keen to expand her practice into this area. 

She regularly accepts instructions on a pro bono basis, from law centres and from Bail for Immigration Detainees, and is Trustee and Director of Action for Refugees in Lewisham (AFRIL), taking a particular interest in the organisation's advice service.

As a volunteer Tribunal representative with the Asylum Support Appeals Project, she is also able to advise on the repercussions of immigration decisions for asylum support eligibility.

 

Prison Law

Having worked as a paralegal in the prison law department of a leading prison law firm alongside her studies, Gwawr has a longstanding interest in the welfare of prisoners and detainees.

To that end, she regularly represents prisoners at adjudication and Parole Board hearings, and in civil actions against detaining authorities.  She also has a busy judicial review practice in this area, recently accepting instructions in claims concerning issues such as

  • the legality of a prisoner's transfer following an allegation of assault, where there had been insufficient evidence to bring a charge against prison discipline;
  • refusal to recategorise on the basis that a prisoner had not completed a course for which he had been assessed as ineligible;
  • the timely handling of prisoners' complaints;
  • failure to safeguard vulnerable prisoners, such as to to place them at risk of treatment contrary to Articles 3 and 8 ECHR;
  • the legality of the Home Office's decision to continue to hold an immigration detainee in a Category B prison at the end of his sentence.

 

Public Law & Human Rights

Gwawr is committed to promoting human rights and to holding public authorities to account, through judicial review and civil actions.

As a pupil, Gwawr assisted in the preparation of a number of high profile cases such as the challenge to the sex offender registration scheme as being incompatible with Article 8; the judicial review of the refusal of Legal Aid to enable the wife of one of the perpetrators of the 7/7 bombings to participate in the inquest; and the civil claim against the UK government by the Ay family, Kurdish asylum seekers who were to become the face of a controversy surrounding the government's policy of locking up children in high security detention centres. 

More recently, she has:

  • been instructed in two appeals before the First Tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability), concerning local authorities' failure to conduct an assessment to determine whether a child has special educational needs requiring additional provision;
  • advised a mother facing care proceedings as to whether the local authority's failure to assess her community care needs as a disabled parent gave rise to a public law defence;
  • drafted particulars of claim in a misfeasance in public office and Article 9 action, on behalf of a claimant whose hijab was forcibly removed by immigration authorities.

 

Criminal Defence

Gwawr's meticulous preparation, tactical foresight and spirited advocacy have earned her a rapidly expanding Crown Court practice.  She particularly enjoys the challenge of those cases which provide an opportunity for argument on contentious points of law and has been instructed to present legal argument before both the Divisional Court and the Court of Appeal.

She has a particular interest in cases which overlap the criminal and immigration jurisdictions, having been instructed in matters including possessing false identity documents, assisting unlawful immigration, and seeking leave to remain by deception.

Gwawr is respected by those who instruct her for her 'human touch' in dealing with vulnerable and difficult defendants and their families. She not only has extensive experience of defending youths, but has also dealt with cases where fitness to plead is in issue. Alert to the injustice in criminalising such defendants, Gwawr has a strong track record in persuading the Crown to reconsider whether prosecution is in the public interest.

Gwawr also has experience of confiscation hearings and other applications under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. 

Gwawr has recently:

  • successfully argued in a trial for public order matters that a defendant was entitled to use verbal threats to defend himself from unlawful arrest;
  • advised as to whether private conversations in an internet chatroom fell within the ambit of the Obscene Publications Act;
  • mounted an abuse of process argument on the basis that the Officer in charge of the investigation had unlawfully delegated his duty to assess the evidential value of seized CCTV footage to the complainant's employer;
  • secured an acquittal in a drink driving case by arguing that the provisions of the Road Traffic Act, requiring two urine samples to be taken, had not been satisfied where the defendant had only momentarily ceased urinating (view client feedback here).

Gwawr has also enjoyed particular success in cases involving dangerous dogs legislation and animal welfare, gaining valuable experience of cross-examining expert witnesses as to both type and behaviour.

 

International

Gwawr maintains an active interest in international human rights law, building on experience gained within the Prosecution Division of the International Criminal Court and the Legal Aid Department in Lilongwe, Malawi (in conjunction with the Centre for Capital Punishment Studies, based at the University of Westminster, and the Criminal Bar Association).  As a Legal Clerk at the ICC, Gwawr was assigned to the case of The Prosecutor v Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui.  Her tasks included drafting submissions on the scope of victims' participation in the proceedings; conducting comparative research on the admissibility of hearsay evidence in various common law, civil law and international jurisdictions; and disclosure review. 

Prior to coming to the Bar, Gwawr was Legal Officer at the Centre for Legal Assistance (also based in Lilongwe, Malawi). In that capacity, she facilitated workshops in prisons to promote access to justice by empowering prisoners to represent themselves as litigants in person.  In addition, she worked on a number of important public interest cases, including

  • test litigation on the obligation to provide antiretrovirals to HIV+ prisoners (in conjunction with International Commission of Jurists);
  • monitoring of reception conditions for Zimbabwean nationals deported to Malawi from the UK;
  • developing a project to challenge the use of child labour on tea and tobacco plantations (in conjunction with UNICEF and the International Labour Organization).

Gwawr has maintained a strong link with Malawi, and is currently working with the Bar Human Rights Committee and the Malawi Human Rights Commission on a judicial challenge to legislation allowing the President to ban radio broadcasts on the grounds of purported public interest.

 

Memberships

  • Bar Human Rights Committee
  • Bar Pro Bono Unit
  • Human Rights Lawyers Association
  • Avocats Sans Frontières International Legal Network
  • Penal Reform International
  • Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers

 

Languages

Gwawr is a native Welsh speaker; she also speaks French and German.