Harun is a Londoner who has studied, qualified and practised here. As a trainee, he found a great interest in Criminal Law whilst undertaking work to assist the Solicitors on the well-known Baby P case. Once he qualified, Harun was not only instructed in other high profile cases such as a complex multi-million pound Fraud against O2 the network provider and the M1 arson case, causing more than £4million of damage, but also developed a working knowledge of Extradition laws and has continued pursuing this.

A couple of years later, Harun was approached to join a specialist Extradition team in another London firm. He has, over time, become a well-known face at the Westminster Magistrates Court, which is the only court in England and Wales which deals with serious and complex Extradition matters.

Professional memberships:

Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme
Black and Ethnic Minority Lawyers Association
Society of Bangladeshi Solicitors
Extradition Lawyers Association

Selected cases:

– R (on the application of Mechlinski) v Westminster Magistrates’ Court [2015]- successful judicial review of extradition to Poland.
– ZZ v Ministry of Justice Lithuania [2014]- successful appeal overturning decision to extradite a single mother to Lithuania for fraud offences committed.

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Lynne, originally from Sunderland, is one of our Senior Solicitors who works in the criminal department. She is an integral member of staff due to her level of experience and knowledge within the sector. Lynne also assists other members of the team with their training in order for them to obtain additional qualifications.

Consistently found within the Magistrates Courts, Lynne is an excellent Advocate providing advice to clients in relation to extremely serious criminal offences but also attends at the police station to assist in the interview procedures. Lynne is not afraid to protect the rights of her clients and has a genuine passion for advocacy after initially being called to the Bar. She then converted those qualifications to be a Solicitor and spent her early years working in the Magistrates Courts as a Legal Advisor to the Magistrates and District Judges. This allowed her to understand the thought processes of the Magistrates when they make decisions about defendants and has proved extremely beneficial in her technique when using her advocacy skills.

Not only does Lynne excel in her advocacy, but she also builds strong rapports with clients. They feel reassured and relieved knowing that Lynne is conducting their case and that no stone remains unturned. She listens to the instructions and provides strong and accurate advice so that a client knows exactly where they stand and what will happen next.

Aside from her work commitments, Lynne is very passionate about volunteering in the community. She has previously been a Trustee for the Acton Homeless Concern organisation. She has also represented parents and carers as a Foundation Trust Councillor at Great Ormond Street Hospital and continues to be involved with other projects in her local community. As part of the voluntary work, Lynne has obtained training to work with Young People who have suffered significant trauma and disruption in their lives. Because of the knowledge Lynne has gained with these projects and having an active hands-on approach, she works extremely well with Young People and Adults with learning and physical disabilities understanding how important it is to approach each person individually with patience and understanding.

Professional memberships:

The Law Society for England and Wales
Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme
Education: Sheffield university

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Noam is a crime and extradition solicitor with a background in serious crime and a particular focus on protest-related defence work. His tenacious and thorough approach has resulted in the acquittal of many clients over the years, including those against whom the evidence initially appeared extremely strong.

Noam has been an extradition practitioner since around 2010.  He is recognised for his highly creative approach, identifying numerous novel points of law.  Noam conducts the vast majority of his own full hearings, including drafting skeleton arguments.

Some of Noam’s notable extradition cases include:

Advocate & litigator: Germany v S – 8^th January 2019

Temporary transfer; less coercive measures; Requested Person (RP) discharged;

• Advocate & litigator: K v United States – (ongoing)

Re-extradition to USA after an interval of several years, appeal rights; novel point of law identified;

• Advocate & litigator: Bulgaria v N – October 2018

Prison conditions in Bulgaria; Requested Person discharged;

• Advocate & litigator: Poland v Kuinert –  (Ongoing)

Abuse of process, previous extradition to the same Requesting State; novel point of law identified; 

• Advocate & litigator: Hungary v R – November 2018

Abuse of process, Articles 5 and Article 6 ECHR (delay in youth proceedings); Requested Person (RP) discharged; 

• Advocate & litigator: Poland v A – (ongoing)

Human slavery; fugitive status; Article 8. 

• Advocate & litigator: Ireland v R – (ongoing)

Threat from non-state actors; Articles 3 and 8;

• Advocate & litigator: Romania v Forogau – 21^stNovember 2016

Validity (particulars) & admissibility; Requested Person (RP) discharged; Novel points of law identified

 

Extradition – Administrative Court:

 

• Grozavu v Romania (unreported), 10 August 2018 –Novel point of law identified;

Noam was the advocate in the Magistrates’ Court.  The RP was discharged on one matter and extradition ordered on the other.  The High Court specifically commented that Noam’s submissions at the Magistrates Court were correct and the RP was discharged on the remaining matter;

• Olga C v The Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Latvia [2016] EWHC 2211 (Admin)

Extradition and risk of re-trafficking; highly vulnerable appellant; Divisional Court 

• Bowen v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2016] EWHC 1400 (Admin); United States v Bowen (No.2) [2015] EWHC 1873 (Admin); United States v Bowen (No.1) [2015] EWHC 1873 (Admin);

First ever case dealing with civil commitment in New York State; specialty; Divisional Court

• Peru v Cato & Others [2016] EWHC 914 (Admin)

Prison conditions and judicial corruption; First Peruvian extradition requests in living memory; Divisional court   

• Romania v Barbu [2016] EWHC  124 (Admin)

Validity (merged sentences); Divisional Court

• Sarkozyova v Slovakia – 10^thFebruary 2016 (unreported)

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Joe joined us in the early part of 2016 after travelling from South Wales to join the London legal circuit. He stems from Southampton where he was privately educated, at The Gregg Independent School, before travelling to Nottingham to undertake his Law degree. He was offered a place at Cardiff Law School to undertake his Legal Practice Course and whilst undertaking this was provided the opportunity to become a Solicitor. He is also currently undertaking a Masters course in Legal Practice in his spare time.

In order for Joe to become a Solicitor, he spent the majority of his training and early part of his career working in Civil Litigation. He worked for several reputable law firms in the South Wales area building a reputation in personal injury matters. This background is of great benefit as Joe has brought some excellent skills into the Criminal Law Team. Not only does he have an eye for detail and recognise the smallest of inconsistencies, but his level of preparation is second-to-none when matters are before the Courts.

Joe is another one of our team who has obtained his TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) qualification. He has as a result spent considerable time in a number of countries including England, Italy, Cambodia and Thailand, teaching English. During this time, he gained a knowledge and understanding of the Thai language to be able to communicate proficiently which can be used if required for conferences with clients.

Bringing an excellent contribution to the team ethic, Joe is regularly called upon to assist in analysing and assessing evidence against the client and thereafter advocating those findings at the Magistrates Courts with confidence and assertiveness.

Joe is a very keen footballer previously playing for local, university and county teams. He is in the process of signing to a local Legal football team and sharing his passion with other lawyers. He also actively encourages the integration of religions and undertook the organisation of an inter-faith football tournament after getting the idea from his Uni days when he sat as the Nottingham University and Nottingham Trent University Jewish Society Secretary and events coordinator. Feedback resulted in it being such a memorable occasion that he is looking to coordinate similar tournaments in London. Joe is also involved with our Outreach programmes in the community providing information to Young Persons and locals about the law and how it affects their rights

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Clovis began work at the start of 2015 as a Legal Assistant for all departments. Clovis has fast progressed in his career as a Criminal Paralegal assisting fee earners in the Criminal Department with their cases.

Clovis will shortly be commencing his training to become a Police Station Representative and aspires to become a fully qualified solicitor.

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Kirsty is The Head of the Family Department and a Director at National Legal Service.  She conducts a range of family law cases including divorce, financial remedy, private children law, domestic abuse and public children law proceedings.  She is a member of Resolution and the Association of Lawyers for Children.  Kirsty is also an accredited member of the Law Society’s Children Panel and specialises in public children law proceedings, representing children’s guardians, parents, special guardians and interveners.  She has also worked with the Official Solicitor on many cases.

 

Kirsty conducts all her own advocacy through to the final hearing stage wherever possible and has a variety of experience of courts within London, Greater London, Oxford, Luton, Bedford, Guildford, Chelmsford and other national locations.

She specialises in care and supervision proceedings (including all other public children law applications) and have extensive knowledge in dealing with issues of sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, non-accidental injury, fictitious illness and neglect. She is very thorough in her approach to all cases she works on, whether representing the child/ren through their appointed children’s guardian or a parent/ other respondent involved in the proceedings.  She deals with complex legal issues arising within her cases and has represented a child in a court of appeal case which was published in respect of the interpretation of hair strand results (drug testing), see Re. R (A child – care order)[2017] EWHC 364 (Fam).

Kirsty also has experience of adoption proceedings (private applications and those following care and placement proceedings) and has conducted all the advocacy achieving a positive outcome for her child/ren clients.

Aside from her active fee earning role, she supervises and manages a team of committed lawyers and also heads up the Family Department with branches in London, Guildford, Birmingham and expansion plans already in place for the coming months to ensure that we have as many national offices as possible.  Kirsty is committed to ensuring that the business develops in such a way that we provide the highest quality legal advice to all our clients and that we outreach to as many vulnerable people as possible. All the team within the family department have the same ethos and commitment in respect of helping as many people as we can, as fast as we can and without compromising on the quality of our legal advice.

Kirsty also enjoys writing articles and opinion pieces and has been published online and in hardcopy for books, newspapers, legal magazines and Journals.  She also appeared on BBC London News discussing legal aid cuts in February 2011 when the proposals were first aired by the government.  Her most recent pieces are:

Do you know a good Expert, Danny Allen (contributed a chapter within the publication) (2013)

4 x online opinion pieces – Jordans Family Law (2013 and 2014)

CCFS Events model, care proceedings – 1 – Jordans Family Law Journal (2015)

Mental Health within care proceedings – Asian Voice newspaper (2015)

CCFS Events model, care proceedings – update – Jordans Family Law Journal (2016)

CCFS Events model, care proceedings – conclusion – Jordans Family Law Journal (2016)

Work-Life Balance – Birmingham Law Society’s Bulletin (2017)

Re DAM, analysis – Jordans Family Law Journal (2018)

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Evelyn (more commonly known as Lindy) qualified as a solicitor in 1989 and has specialised in Family law since 1994. She is a Resolution-accredited specialist in the fields of domestic abuse and low/medium value financial cases. Currently, Lindy is dealing primarily with domestic abuse and cases relating to children.

Lindy joined NLS as a Supervising Solicitor in April 2018. Prior to that she was a Partner in the Family department of a long-established law firm in the East Midlands.

Outside of work, Lindy is a keen singer, gardener and pet-lover. She has a cat, several chickens, a cockerel and a very large Labradoodle!

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Jasbir is a Family Solicitor with particular expertise in the areas of Domestic Abuse, Parental Disputes involving Children, Care and other Public Children Law Proceedings, Divorce & Matrimonial matters. Jasbir is the Supervisor for the Birmingham branch at National Legal Service Solicitors since March 2018.

Prior to joining National Legal Service Solicitors, Jasbir Raindi was a Childcare Director at Duncan Lewis Solicitors and Family Director at Greens Solicitors Ltd. Jasbir has a passion for advocacy, endeavouring  to assist his clients from initial advice to trials, final hearings and appeals.

Jasbir is an Accredited member of the Law Society panels for Advanced Family Law in the fields of Domestic Abuse & Private Family Law and Children (Public/Private Law) as Children’s Representative. Jasbir was admitted as Solicitor in 2008, he has worked in Birmingham, across the West Midlands, Milton Keynes, Luton and Northampton. Jasbir graduated from the University of Wolverhampton before achieving his Vocational Qualification (LPC) at the University of Law, Birmingham.

Jasbir has regularly supports & mentors students looking to enter the legal profession, he enjoys cooking, reading, being with family and curating his vast collection of 12” records from his time as a budding Disc Jockey in University.

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John studied Law at Nottingham University and qualified as a Solicitor in October 1990. He is a Member of the Law Society Children Panel and the Law Society Family Law Panel (Advanced).  John used to be Family Law Partner at a Firm of Solicitors based near Middlesbrough. 

He has often represented Children in Children Law matters, particularly Child Care Proceedings. He has also represented Parents, Grandparents and other Family Members. John has many years experience in dealing with other Children Matters, such as Applications for Child Arrangements Orders (Live With or Spend Time With) and Applications for Prohibited Steps Orders or Specific Issue Orders. He has represented Children, Parents, Grandparents and other Family Members in such Cases too. 

John has always dealt with Domestic Abuse Cases as part of his Family Law Practice and is committed to helping Victims of Domestic Abuse. He has in the past been actively involved in a Domestic Violence Forum. 

Outside of Work, John is married to Alison and they have 2 grown up Children. They also have 2 Cats, Pippin & Poppy. John enjoys Cycling and exploring the North York Moors National Park. 

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Katha is the Supervising Chartered Legal Executive at the Liverpool Branch Office for National Legal Service.  Katha handles a full range of family law matters including representing victims of domestic abuse seeking protection, parents in dispute over the arrangements for their children together with representing parents when Social Services become involved.  Katha also represents clients facing divorce and in securing a financial settlement following separation.

Katha is passionate about representing victims of domestic violence as well as parents in dispute as to the arrangements for their children and has secured accreditation with the Law Society Family Law Advanced, specialising in these areas.

Katha has been qualified for over 9 years and has joined National Legal Service with a commitment to ensuring quality legal representation is available to all. Katha represents clients on both a privately paying basis and under legal aid.

Katha has spent her career in and around the Merseyside area during which time she has formed close working relationships with local domestic violence organisations which has provided Katha with a greater insight into the impact of domestic abuse upon families and children.

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Lindsay is a supervising solicitor with National Legal Service, and she has specialised in family law work since 2005. Lindsay does a wide variety of family law work, including care proceedings, domestic abuse cases, children cases, divorce work, and financial cases.

Lindsay’s specialism in family law is recognised by her membership of the Law Society Children Panel, and also the Law Society Advanced Family Panel. Prior to joining National Legal Service, Lindsay was a Director and Head of Family at a local regional firm.

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Rashpaul is a Family Law Solicitor with experience in Non-Molestation Orders, Occupation Orders, Cohabitation and Trusts of Land applications, Care Proceedings, Civil Partnerships, Divorce Proceedings, Separation, Financial Remedy Proceedings, Private Adoption, Private Children Act Proceedings and Special Guardianship Orders. She has also undertaken Lasting Powers of Attorney and Wills and Probate work.

She obtained her LLB (Hons) Law degree from Huddersfield University and undertook the Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice at Manchester Metropolitan University. Rashpaul qualified as a Solicitor in 2012 and is an accredited member of the Law Society panel for Family Law and also a Member of Resolution.

In her spare time, she enjoys meals out with friends and family.

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Shazia is a Family and Childcare Solicitor who qualified as a solicitor in 2005. She has dealt with complex matters such as Forced Marriage, Female Genital Mutilation, Child Abduction, Radicalisation, Child Sexual Exploitation and where children have been found with Non-accidental injuries.

Shazia regularly represents vulnerable clients including children, young adults, clients with mental health /capacity issues. She frequently appears before the Family Court, County Court and (on occasion) the High Court.

Shazia is a member of the Law Society Children’s Panel, which recognises specialist Solicitors in Child Care matters to the Law Society’s high standard. She has a keen interest in ensuring victims of domestic abuse and vulnerable members of our society have access to legal advice. She has established free legal advice clinics.

Shazia has delivered training on options available to the Police, Victim Support, Rape Crisis centre and other organisations involved with vulnerable individuals .

Shazia speaks Hindi and Urdu, and basic Punjabi

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Asma is a supervising solicitor with National Legal Service Solicitors. She specialises in all areas of Family law; and in particular, public and private law children cases as well as domestic abuse cases.

She is a member of the Law Society Children Panel, and also the Law Society Family Panel. Being multilingual, Asma works closely with local Women’s Aid organisations and has previously filled the role of a Treasurer for a Women’s Refuge Organisation.

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Suna is an experienced Supervising Solicitor specialising in Family Law. She is a member of the Law Society’s Family Law Accreditation Scheme and a Resolution member. In particular she has experience in matters relating to divorce, family finances, domestic abuse, children and international child abduction.

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Born in London, Alasdair studied Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, before undertaking the GDL and Legal Practice Course to train as a solicitor. Alasdair began working as a paralegal in 2012, qualified as a solicitor in 2016, and joined us in 2017.

Alasdair has considerable experience in family law matters, particularly in matters relating to domestic abuse and disputes involving children. He also has experience in divorce and matrimonial proceedings, and in Public Law cases involving Local Authorities. Alasdair undertakes his own advocacy and has represented clients in many County and Magistrates Courts. Alasdair deals with both publicly funded (Legal Aid) and privately funded clients.

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Fatimah graduated with a Hons Degree from St Mary’s University and then went onto undertake the Graduate Diploma in Law and subsequently the Legal Practice Course at the Inns of Court School of  Law. Fatimah undertook her training contract in one of the countries largest Legal Aid firms where she specialised in areas such as Divorce, Financial Remedy, Private Law Children, Domestic Abuse, Public Law and Probate.

Fatimah qualified in England and Wales in 2017 and subsequently joined a boutique practice in North London where she dealt with cases, both straightforward and highly complex, in the following areas divorce, cohabitation matters, financial proceedings and issues concerning children.

Fatimah joined the National Legal Service in July 2018 and specialises in all areas of Family Law. Fatimah aims to provide timely, sensitive and pragmatic advice throughout family proceedings in order to ensure that a good outcome can be achieved as early as possible for her clients

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Olaolu is a Solicitor in the Family Law Department at National Legal Service and represent clients in all aspects of Family Law matters. Prior to joining the National Legal Service, he worked and trained as a Solicitor specialising in immigration, public law and private children matters.

He provides a flexible service and offer clients sound legal advice on a practical basis and work to nothing but the highest standard. He makes a point of getting a good understanding of his client and their individual vulnerabilities, concerns, needs and wishes. Olaolu view clients as the most important focus of his work and seek to ensure that they are fully engaged in the work that he undertakes on their behalf

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Started with the firm in September 2018.

Jon has 17 years experience in the Serviced Office Sector from Commercial Director with MWB Business Exchange, Business Transformation Director at Regus UK and Chief Operating Officer at i2 Office.

He has experience across all business disciplines and was brought on board for his Strategic and Operational knowledge in growing a multi site ABS.

Jon’s interests are around his family, his three children and Sports.

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Maria is the practice Manager at National Legal Service & joined the team in July 2018. She oversees all aspects of the legal practice and is responsible for the smooth daily running of the firm. Maria has a strong legal background and extensive experience in legal practice management.

She is an Affiliate Member of CILEx and a member of The Institute of Legal Finance & Management. Maria has a passion for media and communication. Her interests revolve in particular around the cultural industries and Intellectual Property Law.

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