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Accepted Paper:
Caught in the middle: an ethnography of immigration case workers in London Law Centres
Evan Killick
(University of Sussex)
Paper short abstract:
Based on participant observation and interviews with immigration case workers in a number of Law Centres in South London, this paper considers how changes to UK immigration laws and legal aid funding are affecting the process of asylum and immigration applications in the UK.
Paper long abstract:
The UK Government has recently introduced 'targeting legislation', aimed at more narrowly defining 'legitimate claims' to asylum. Concurrently, state funding for welfare provisions such as legal aid is being eroded, creating a two-tier legal culture, with those on the bottom tier being effectively denied access to justice. Based on participant observation and interviews with immigration case workers in a number of Law Centres in South London, this paper considers how these changes are affecting the process of asylum and immigration applications in the UK. In particular it examines the current position of case workers, the personal and professional pressures they are subject to and their changing roles in the current environment.
Lawyers, lawyering and immigration litigation
Session 1