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Legal Representation or Not?

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1. Can you afford to manage your case through the whole legal process without legal representation?
2. Can you afford to lose your case due to lack of compliance with the correct legal procedures; something you could have perhaps avoided by seeking the right legal advice?

You may choose to commence or defend legal proceedings brought against you without legal representation for various reasons, for example; affordability of legal costs, self-confidence to manage without legal representation or experience in dealing with previous legal proceedings or other personal choice.

Whatever your reason, it is imperative to familiarise yourself with the law, rules, practice directions and procedures relevant to your case. Quite often, the court will be lenient by making allowances to Litigants in Person (LiPs) in relation to the hearings or case management. However, the court will still expect you to maintain an acceptable level of compliance with the rules; for example, complying with directions set by the court and vital rules and procedures relevant to your case.

In a new 2018 case of Barton v Wright Hall, the UK Supreme Court, albeit by a narrow majority has decided that “lack of representation will not usually justify applying to LiPs a lower standard of compliance with rules or orders of the court.” In this case, Mr Barton’s claim was invalid, having been served on his opponent via opponent’s solicitor, by email. He had failed to check whether his opponent’s solicitor could accept service by e-mail, which is required by Civil Procedure Rules. Unfortunately, the court could not validate his claim, which had expired the following day, without effective service.

If legal action you intend to bring or brought against you is of great significance, it is worth having a solicitor guide you, even if at first instance. At AGR Law, we do offer unbundled services (depending on the nature of your case), to individuals who cannot afford to engage a solicitor fully on retainer. Unbundled Services will allow you to only pay a solicitor to deal with aspects of your case that you cannot manage or that demand legal assistance.

Why the rise in number of refused applications for British Citizenship?

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The number of refused applications for British Citizenship has risen in recent years.  In this post Ruth Goward of AGR Law discusses some of the potential issues around this.

Although the Home Office reported an increase in number of those granted British Citizenship, the number of refused or withdrawn applications rose by 105% (from 7,441 to 14,558.).

The Home Office states an increase in the rate of refusal or withdrawn application is attributable to the introduction of ‘enhanced checks on cases requiring higher levels of assurance in April 2015, e.g. those cases with previous asylum refusals and cases with adverse immigration histories.’ National statistic on citizenship April – June 2016

We also cannot underestimate the decrease in grants of Indefinite Leave to Remain with statistics showing 241,200 grants in 2010, 104,100 in 2014 and 89,900 in 2015, which has consequently reduced the number of people eligible to apply for citizenship.AGR Law - Immigration solicitors in Leicestershire - refused applications for British Citizenship image

Prior to policy guidance on good character which is applicable to all decisions taken on or after 11th December 2014, only serious contraventions such as criminal offences would count towards good character. The scope on good character requirement has widened with the introduction of policy guidance under Chapter 8 Annex D on good character requirement.
Good character is of course not defined within the British Nationality Act 1981, which means there is no statutory guidance as to how this good character requirement should be interpreted or applied.

According to the guidance, the good character requirement will generally apply to anybody over 10 years old who applies for naturalisation or registration as a British citizen. The Home Secretary would not consider a person to be of good character if there is information to suggest; criminality to include involvement in terrorism, war crimes, crime against humanity and so forth, lack of financial soundness, notoriety, deliberate dishonesty or deception in dealings with the UK Government, assisting in the evasion of immigration control, previous deprivation of citizenship and so on.

We have of course encountered various citizenship applications refused on the good character requirement in relation to the applicants’ previous immigration histories; for example, although the applicant may have been residing in the UK lawfully during the qualifying period (for example 5 years of ILR plus a further 12 months), the Home Secretary may refuse to grant the application if the applicant was in contravention of immigration rules within 10 years preceding their application for British Citizenship. The refusal is likely as immigration offences such as working illegally and harbouring other immigration offenders, should be considered under the good character requirement and not residence.

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