Call: 2020 mmk@onepumpcourt.co.uk
Specialist in
Experience
Margo is a criminal, immigration, and public law barrister. She accepts instructions in prison law and civil claims relating to the criminal justice system or immigration system. She has particular expertise in youth matters, in protest work, and in acting for victims of trafficking.
Margo has defended in criminal courts at all levels up to the Court of Appeal.
Margo has a busy Crown Court practice. She also accepts briefs in the youth courts and magistrates’ courts, in particular for charges arising from protest.
Her knowledge of several areas of law and grounded approach make her a good choice for clients with complex, intersecting needs and vulnerabilities. She is alert to the immigration and employment implications of criminal charges, and looks for avenues to refer for further legal support, in particular regarding civil claims against the police or prisons and community care claims.
Margo accepts instructions in immigration matters. She has worked on asylum, humanitarian protection, and human rights appeals, applications for family reunification for adult dependent and child relatives under both domestic and European law, trafficking cases, alleged sham marriage cases, criminal deportations, unlawful detention cases, and judicial reviews challenging procedural and substantive unfairness. Her knowledge of criminal law gives her a particularly detailed understanding of routes to resist criminal deportations. She was part of a team that successfully secured interim relief from the ECtHR against the Greek State, requiring it to transfer seriously ill individuals from Lesvos to the mainland for medical treatment.
Margo also appears in the Employment Tribunal.
Education
BPTC/LLM, Very Competent with Distinction for the LLM dissertation, City Law School
Graduate Diploma in Law, Commendation, City Law School
BA Oriental Studies (Persian and Turkish), First Class, Wadham College, University of Oxford, including a year abroad at the University of Tehran.
Professional Memberships
Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers
Legal Sector Workers United
Administrative Law Bar Association
Languages
Persian (Farsi and Dari), Turkish, French.
Awards
City Law School GDL and BPTC scholarships
Inner Temple Geoffrey Veale pupillage award and exhibition awards for the GDL & BPTC
Wadham College undergraduate scholarship for performance in first year examinations and academic award for performance in final year examinations
Wadham College choral award
Margo launched judicial review proceedings against Willesden Youth Court when it allowed a CPS application to adjourn her client’s trial after failing to warn the correct witness.
Area of Law: Crime Appeals General Crime Public Law Criminal Judicial Review
— Read moreIn the judgment of DPP v Cuciurean [2022] EWHC 736 Admin, handed down on 30 March 2022, the High Court sought to limit to its own facts the judgment in DPP v Ziegler & ors [2021] UKSC 23.
— Read moreIn AAR (OLF – MB confirmed) Ethiopia CG [2022] UKUT 1 (IAC), the Upper Tribunal has confirmed that the situation in Ethiopia has not changed substantially enough to allow a departure from previous cou
Area of Law: Personal Immigration Asylum Deportation
— Read moreIn order to claim asylum in the UK, you need to be physically in the UK. If you want to enter the UK, you need entry clearance. But, you can arrive in the UK without entering the UK.
— Read moreFollowing the decision in Brecani that Conclusive Grounds Decisions are not admissible as expert evidence in criminal proceedings, how can they still be used in building the defence case?
— Read more