Alison is a public law practitioner who has a particular interest in the following areas: - Immigration and asylum: Alison is regularly instructed to appear in the AIT at initial appeal and on reconsideration in relation to both asylum and general immigration cases. She drafts grounds for reconsideration and for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal, as well as advising on fresh asylum and human rights claims. She is regularly instructed in immigration-related judicial review claims, and is experienced in dealing with urgent challenges to removal.
- Immigration detention: Alison is especially interested in issues arising out of unlawful detention under the Immigration Acts and the new powers under the UK Borders Act 2007. She has been instructed in claims for damages arising out of unlawful detention (both in judicial review and in ordinary claims) and has extensive experience of bail hearings in the AIT, regularly acting pro bono for Bail for Immigration Detainees.
- Prison law: Alison has been instructed to appear at prison adjudication hearings and in Parole Board hearings. She advises prisoners on legal issues arising from their imprisonment including claims for disability discrimination, challenges to categorisation, release and recall decisions. She is regularly instructed in judicial review claims arising out of the parole process, and in claims for Article 5(4) damages for delay. Alison also has an interest in inquests arising out of deaths in police, prison and immigration custody.
- Mental health law: Alison has appeared at Mental Health Review Tribunals and Hospital Managers Hearings on behalf of patients. She has also advised in relation to claims for false imprisonment and under the Disability Discrimination Act on behalf of people detained under the Mental Health Act 1983. Alison has a particular interest in Court of Protection work.
- Social welfare law: Alison has also advised and been instructed in judicial review claims challenging the failure of authorities to provide asylum support and services under the Children Act 1989 and the community care legislation. Alison is a pro bono advocate at the Asylum Support Tribunal on behalf of the Asylum Support Appeals Project.
- Discrimination law: Alison has a keen interest in discrimination issues. She has been instructed to advise on potential discrimination claims arising in the prison, mental health, education and public authority fields.
Recent publications
Alison is an editor (with Joe Middleton) of the International and European Human Rights Cases section of Butterworths Immigration Law Service She has also recently published the following: - Chapter 7: Arrest and Detention (with Ruth Brander) in Colvin & Cooper (Eds), Human Rights in the Investigation and Prosecution of Crime (OUP, 2009).
- "Counting the Cost", New Law Journal, 22 May 2009
- Case analysis: EM (Lebanon) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (with Alex Gask), European Human Rights Law Review, Issue 1 2009
Pro bono work
Alison volunteers as a pro bono advocate for Bail for Immigration Detainees and the Asylum Support Appeals Project. She also provides specialist advice to non-immigration solicitors volunteering with the Manuel Bravo Project, which she helped to establish while living in Leeds before coming to the Bar. In 2009 she was invited to participate in a LawWorks advisory committee on pro bono work in the asylum sector.
Training
Alison regularly provides training on topics arising out of her practice areas. Recent seminars have included a one-day Doughty Street Chambers seminar on prison adjudications and parole hearings, and in-house seminars on deportation, detention under immigration powers, and asylum support appeals.
Previous experience
Prior to coming to the Bar, Alison worked for six years as an immigration caseworker, at the Refugee Legal Centre and at two firms of solicitors. She specialised in asylum and refugee issues. She appeared as an advocate on behalf of appellants at the Asylum & Immigration Tribunal both in initial hearings and on reconsideration. Her work also involved the preparation of cases from initial application to appeal, drafting applications for review and for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal, and work on fresh claims. Alison's MA dissertation considered UK asylum law and policy in the context of "Fortress Europe".
In 1998 - 1999, Alison spent a year as a research intern at the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) in Budapest, where she conducted her own research into discrimination against Roma in employment in Hungary, France and Slovakia, and into the treatment of Romani asylum seekers in the UK and France, as well as assisting generally in the work of the research department of the ERRC.
Memberships
Alison is a member of the Administrative Law Bar Association, the Human Rights Lawyers' Association and the Immigration Law Practitioners' Association (ILPA). Alison represents ILPA on the National Asylum Stakeholder Operational Forum. She is also a member of the Management Committee of the Asylum Support Appeals Project.
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Year of Call
2007
Education
BA (Hons) (Cantab), MA (London) Understanding and Securing Human Rights (Distinction), PgDL (Distinction), Middle Temple Queen Mother Scholar
Email Address
a.pickup@doughtystreet.co.uk
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Specialist Teams
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