Pierce Glynn
Pierce Glynn is a firm of UK-based lawyers specialising in public law, human rights, discrimination and social welfare law.
AbOUT
Pierce Glynn is a firm of solicitors based in London . They work with NGOs and campaign groups to bring test case litigation, particularly judicial review claims. The firm also acts for individuals. They are one of a diminishing number of solicitors still willing to provide representation under the England and Wales legal aid scheme . Their work includes human rights, discrimination, healthcare, environmental, public sector funding, community care, housing, asylum support and social security cases, both in the English courts, before the European Court of Human Rights and in the European Court of Justice.
High profile cases
In 2008, Pierce Glynn represented two disabled pensioners in challenging the UK government's Post Office closure policy. As the court proceedings raised important general issues about the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, the Equality and Human Rights Commission intervened to support the judicial review claim. The government and Post Office Limited responded to the court proceedings by revising their closure decisions: entering into a joint funding arrangement to keep one of the Post Offices open , and agreeing to open the first ever Post Office 'Essentials' service in the other .
In 2008 the firm also acted in two important Court of Appeal cases about local authority powers to provide financial assistance to PReVENT evictions and the whether short-term employment was sufficient to secure protection as a 'worker' under EU law .
In 2009, the firm brought a test case challenging of new UK government's regulations limiting access to hospital treatment for refused asylum seekers and other migrants who are classed as ‘overseas visitors’. The case was brought on behalf of a Palestinian man, YA, who was prevented from returning home by Israeli travel restrictions and whose condition was life-threatening . The Court of Appeal decided that the correct approach was that hospitals had a choice about whether to treat someone in Mr YA’s position and that the Government had acted unlawfully by failing to provide clear guidance about when they should exercise that choice in particular cases .
The firm has also acted in several, recent high profile planning challenges. In one case obtaining a declaration from the High Court that Greenwich Council’s decision to grant planning permission for a housing development on a playground was unlawful, and in another quashing the initial grant of planning permission for a major redevelopment in Hastings, East Sussex where local residents' concerns about traffic issues had not been properly addressed .
Pierce Glynn has represented numerous immigration detainees and secured their release from detention. This work has attracted hostile reaction from some tabloid newspapers in the UK (for example The Sun and the Daily Mail ).
The firm also works with individuals and voluntary sector organisations fighting local authority funding cuts. For example, acting for local residents in Hammersmith who fought plans to cut funding for their local Law Centre by over 60% and parents in Hounslow concerned about cuts to language services in schools .
Other information
In 2007 the head of the firms' Public Law and Human Rights department, Sue Willman, won the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year award in the immigration category . Pierce Glynn was also shortlisted for the Firm of the Year award. In 2008 associate solicitor, Adam Hundt, was shortlisted for the Law Society's Young Solicitor of the Year award .
In 2009 the firm was recommended as one of the leading firms nationally in the Legal 500 directory for its public law and human rights work . In 2010, Pierce Glynn was identified as a market leader in all of its areas of practice by the Chambers 2010 directory, which said that the firm is reknown for its high-profile cases and fantastic reputation .