Hannah has experience acting in urgent applications for interim relief before the Administrative Court, including to secure the release of individuals unlawfully detained in immigration detention.  

She has contributed research to numerous urgent judicial review challenges both to policies and individual decisions including concerning the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy and the policy on temporary permission to stay for victims of human trafficking or slavery.  

As a solicitor in the public law litigation team of an international law firm she advised and represented public bodies across a range of sectors. As a solicitor at the AIRE Centre, she contributed to expert third-party interventions in judicial review challenges before the High Court, Court of Appeal and UK Supreme Court, as well as before the European Court of Human Rights.  

Hannah regularly acts for clients in immigration and asylum appeals before the First-tier and Upper Tribunal, as well as applications for immigration bail before the First-tier Tribunal. She has successfully appealed refusal decisions in contexts including: Article 3 ECHR medical cases, Long-Residence and persecution on account of ethnicity and imputed political views.   

She has particular expertise in cases concerning EU law and the Withdrawal Agreement. She has delivered training to lawyers, NGOs and local councils across England and Wales on the impact of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU on immigration applications and access to benefits. As a solicitor she supported individuals to make complex applications to the EU Settlement Scheme and to appeal EUSS refusal decisions.

Hannah also a has particular interest in the overlap between social welfare and immigration law and has acted in appeals concerning eligibility to claim benefits on the basis of a person’s right to reside in the UK. 

Casework includes: 

• Fertre v Vale of White Horse DC [2024] EWHC 1754 (KB) – acting as Simon Cox’s junior in an appeal to the High Court concerning whether a homelessness assistance refusal decision breached the non-discrimination provisions in the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement. 

• SSWP v AT [2022] UKUT 330 (AAC); and SSWP v AT [2023] EWCA Civ 1307 – when working as a solicitor for the AIRE Centre (third party intervener) 

• Fratila v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2021] UKSC 53; [2020] EWCA Civ 1741 - when working as a solicitor for the AIRE Centre (third party intervener)

Hannah can assist with civil claims against the police, local authorities and other public bodies. 

She advises on false imprisonment claims in the immigration context often after representing individuals in their prior applications for immigration bail and challenges to unlawful detention.

She has a particular interest in securing adequate and appropriate compensation for individuals under the relevant statutory schemes, has advised on eligibility under the Miscarriage of Justice Compensation Scheme and successfully represented an individual to appeal a decision of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme.  

Hannah has acted in numerous pre-inquest review hearings and represents families in inquest proceedings considering deaths in prison, police custody, arising from contact with the police and failures of mental health and social care institutions to afford adequate care in the community.

She assisted Fiona Murphy KC and Alison Gerry with work on the inquest into the death of Thomas Orchard following police restraint whilst in mental health crisis.  

As a solicitor Hannah represented a core participant at a major Public Inquiry (the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse).

Hannah has a particular interest in cases involving a breach of data protection legislation and the right to privacy under Article 8 ECHR and has co-authored a publication on Balancing Data Protection with Transparent Justice under the European Legal Framework with former ECtHR judge Ledi Bianku.

She has advised on claims involving a breach of Article 8 ECHR and the Data Protection Act, for example in the context of CCTV and surveillance in a care setting, and wrongful / inaccurate processing, publication and storage of a person’s data by the police and local authorities.

Prior to moving to the bar, she spent 6 months as a trainee solicitor in the data protection team at an international law firm, where she helped advise a range of companies and organisations on the implementation of the GDPR, widescale repapering projects and drafting new data protection polices to ensure compliance with the relevant data protection provisions.  

She has also advised on responses to information requests under the Freedom of Information Act and Environmental Information Regulations.

Hannah has particular expertise in cases engaging ECHR rights. 

As part of the AIRE Centre Western Balkans Rule of Law Programme, she collaborated with ECtHR judges to help deliver training to judges, lawyers and NGOs in the Western Balkans to further understanding and implementation of the ECHR in the region. She has co-authored guides on the ECHR with current and former European Court of Human Rights judges on topics including the Protection of Human Rights during Times of Emergency, Gender Equality and Discrimination on the Grounds of Sex and the ECHR and Balancing Data Protection with Transparent Justice and helped to establish the region’s first Gender Champions in the Judiciary Network. 

Case work includes: 

• V.D. v Russia, no.57893/19 – drafting a third-party intervention before the ECtHR on discrimination on the basis of bisexuality amounting to a breach of Article 3 in conjunction with Article 14 in the context of the threat of extradition to Belarus. 

• Drafting part of a complaint on behalf of UNICEF to the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar 

• Siti Aisah and ors. v United States of America - Contributing to an amicus brief concerning diplomatic immunity against prosecutions for human trafficking and modern slavery. 

• Les droits fondamentaux et la pandémie Covid-19 (Covid-19 and Human Rights), Ledi Bianku and Hannah Smith, Annales du droit Luxembourgeois (Volume 30 (2020))