About
This “Immigration Law Powerhouse” is known, in equal measures, for their corporate immigration law know-how and their ground-breaking asylum and human rights work. The firm is highly regarded by clients and peers for handling complex and high profile cases. As a niche immigration law firm, we offer the full range of services to companies and individuals. Our client based is varied and includes large public companies, local authorities, charities, start-ups, universities, owner-managed businesses and individuals, a number of which are well known in sports and entertainment. Our clients are both UK based and an international community of clients that are looking to locate either themselves, their family or business in the UK. The firm acts for significant families from regions such as Asia, West Africa and the Middle East. The firm: Paragon Law is one of the largest immigration law teams in the UK. The team would be a sizeable department in a multi-service firm. The firm’s founders have a strong commitment to human rights and “building bridges and not walls”. This is demonstrated in the choice of our niche practice area. We are proud to be a multi-award-winning firm and in particular to be recognised for being as diverse as the clients that we represent. Types of work undertaken: The firm has the expertise to handle any project or problem that has a UK immigration law or policy angle to it. The practice is divided into three core areas. Corporate immigration and business services: Our work includes UK sponsor licence applications (across all Tiers), sponsor licence management for key clients, immigration law training and audits of HR processes. The firm has particular expertise in advising clients who are multisite or are part of a group of companies with sister offices overseas. The firm also has successful experience of overturning sponsor licence revocations and successfully challenging civil penalty notices. We are retained by a number of HR teams to ensure that systems and processes are maintained and compliant with UKVI sponsorship duties. For setting up businesses in the UK our expertise includes business visitor applications, advising businesses that are looking to set up through sending senior personnel via the UK Expansion Visa or transferring key staff to overseas sister companies as senior or specialist workers. Paragon Law is also active in advising educational institutions and their international students. The firm continues to work with several universities as clients, expanding a portfolio of successful corporate partnerships. EU-UK Immigration Services – Paragon Law are active in advising companies and individuals from the EU who require teams in the UK to service projects and contracts. The Brexit team at Paragon Law also advise UK companies and their staff in respective travel to the EU and the provisions of the EU-UK Trade Agreement. Personal immigration: We provide comprehensive advice and representation to individuals and families throughout the entire immigration process, including visa applications, extensions, Indefinite Leave to Remain, and British citizenship. Our experienced team specialises in handling complex cases, often requiring legal arguments under the Human Rights Act. In the event of a refusal, we are skilled in pursuing appeals and judicial reviews, with a strong record of securing exceptional outcomes through UKVI discretion or successful court challenges. Asylum and human rights: Human Rights expertise includes claiming asylum in the UK, advice for children seeking asylum, family reunion applications and appeals at all stages including the First-Tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal, the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights. The team are also able to pursue Judicial Review applications to the High Court and obtain emergency injunctions. ### Languages - All main business languages - Hindi (and several Indian regional languages) - Punjabi - Urdu - Swahili ### Memberships - A well-established international network of foreign associates
Office locations
London
London
Paragon Law 4th Floor 49 St James's Street London SW1A 1AH
Nottingham
Nottingham
Paragon Law 7b Broad Street Nottingham NG1 3AJ East Midlands
Practice areas
Lawyers in this office
Deirdre Sheahan
Deirdre Sheahan is a Director at Paragon Law where she is head of the Asylum and Human Rights team. Deirdre specialises in asylum and human rights claims, in particular those relating to very vulnerable migrant groups. These include the asylum claims of unaccompanied children, LGBTI claimants and women who have suffered gender based violence as a form of persecution. Deirdre's legal work has led to changes in law at both national and European law level. LQ (Age: immutable characteristics) Afghanistan [2008] changed the UK approach to orphaned children under the Refugee Convention. HJ (Iran) UKSC 2009/0054 at the UK Supreme Court changed the test applied to LGBTI claims. R (MA, BT, DA) v SSHD [2011] EWCA Civ 1446 was referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union and led to changes at EU level regarding responsibility for deciding the asylum claims of children in the EU. Deirdre also provides training and workshops on her areas of speciality for a wide range of organisations. · Immigration & Asylum
Emma Okenyi
Emma is the head of the Personal and Family Immigration department, established as a director and Solicitor at Paragon Law. Specialising in representing clients for family and personal immigration matters. She has extensive experience in all aspects of immigration law and in particular family and private life applications (both in country and entry clearance applications). Emma has special interest in complex nationality matters and has represented clients both within and outside the UK. In addition, Emma works closely with various local authorities in resolving immigration matters relating to children in care and victims of domestic abuse. Emma was instrumental in setting up a monthly pro bono immigration advice surgery service for users of Nottingham Citizens Advice Bureau- the advice surgery has been running for over 7 years. · Immigration
Karen Halliwell
Karen Halliwell is a qualified immigration solicitor and Law Society accredited supervising senior caseworker. Specialising in all elements of deportation and detention-related issues. Karen regularly advises on highly complex cases and her expertise is recognised by excellent working relationships with solicitors in the criminal field, as well as the Probation Service. · Immigration
Kirin Abbas
Kirin Abbas is a Director at Paragon Law and is also a leading immigration solicitor in our Business Immigration department. Kirin has a particular expertise in the technology, sports, engineering, higher education, and energy sectors. Kirin also works closely with universities and colleges to provide assistance with student visas, sponsor licence applications, and in-house immigration training and seminars. Whilst Immigration Law is often a standardised process with the same processes for a range of enquiries, Kirin Abbas is able to truly understand the nature of your business and what you want to achieve. In doing so, Kirin is able to tailor her advice to your company as opposed to delivering a blanket approach. · Immigration
Nikita Swift
Nikita joined Paragon Law in 2022, shortly after she qualified as a solicitor. Prior to her time at Paragon Law, Nikita studied Law with Criminology (LLB) and the Legal Practice Course (LLM) at Nottingham Trent University. Following her graduation, Nikita joined a small London law firm where she trained as a solicitor before joining Paragon Law. · Immigration
Shehzad Babar
Solicitor and IAAS Level 2 Senior Caseworker and Supervisor at Paragon Law. Shezhad is a London based associate solicitor specialising in Corporate Immigration, with over 15 years' experience in Immigration Law generally; also, prior work experience (in Karachi, Pakistan) and an academic background in Corporate and Commercial Law. · Corporate Immigration
Thalej Vasishta
Thalej Vasishta is a senior solicitor specialising in corporate immigration law. He works primarily with UK companies wishing to employ skilled foreign nationals and overseas companies and individuals seeking to invest in or trade with the UK. Thal also heads up the Brexit Group at the firm. Thal's work has included advising several large businesses, which are dependent on migrant workers and on their people strategy post Brexit. He has been active training organisations, businesses and trade associations on immigration issues related to Brexit and immigration. · Immigration