Shahram Taghavi is a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

practising in

the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. He is a specialist in

Judicial Review Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incompat ...

Human Rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

, Immigration and

EU law European Union law is a system of rules operating within the member states of the European Union (EU). Since the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community following World War II, the EU has developed the aim to "promote peace, its val ...

. He was called to the

England & Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Engli ...

bar in 1994. He is a partner at Article 1, a law firm specialising in immigration, EU freedoms of movement and human rights law. He practised as an independent barrister at

Doughty Street Chambers Doughty Street Chambers is a British set of barristers' chambers situated in Bristol, Manchester and London's Doughty Street, undertaking criminal justice, public law, immigration, employment, human rights and civil liberties work. Doughty Stre ...

specialising in human rights, immigration and

public law Public law is the part of law that governs relations between legal persons and a government, between different institutions within a state, between different branches of governments, as well as relationships between persons that are of direct ...

. He was joint head of the Human Rights and Public law departments and head of the Immigration department at Simons Muirhead & Burton solicitors. He was a Senior Barrister at Bates Wells & Braithwaite LLP as a member of their Public & Regulatory, Human Rights and Immigration departments, Deputy Head of Human Rights and Immigration at Lewis Silkin LLP, Head of Human Rights and Immigration at Charles Russell LLP (now Charles Russell Speechly LLP) and National Head of Immigration and Human Rights at Grant Thornton LLP. He has appeared in numerous "test" cases on human rights and migration . He is a contributing author to ''Tolley's Employment and Personnel Procedures'', ''

Human Rights Act 1998 The Human Rights Act 1998 (c. 42) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which received royal assent on 9 November 1998, and came into force on 2 October 2000. Its aim was to incorporate into UK law the rights contained in the European Con ...

, A Practical Guide'', a contributing author to the ''Blackstone's Guide to the Asylum and Immigration Act 2004'', the ''Guide to the Points-Based System'' and the founder and former editor of the ''Immigration and

Nationality Law Nationality law is the law of a sovereign state, and of each of its jurisdictions, that defines the legal manner in which a national identity is acquired and how it may be lost. In international law, the legal means to acquire nationality and for ...

Reports'' from 1997 to 2001. He also taught Constitutional and

Administrative law Administrative law is the division of law that governs the activities of government agency, executive branch agencies of Forms of government, government. Administrative law concerns executive branch rule making (executive branch rules are gener ...

at the

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

from 2001 to 2004 whilst practising at the Bar. Shahram Taghavi is recognised as a leading lawyer in the following fields by the Legal 500: immigration litigation; administrative &

; civil liberties &

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

. He has been recommended as a leading lawyer in the following fields in Chambers and Partners: Civil Liberties, Personal immigration; Business immigration. The directories have described him as "brains on legs", "excellent", having a "dynamic touch" and a "calm and reassuring manner and inside-out knowledge of immigration law", a lawyer whose "knowledge shines through", and a "respected advocate". The UK Chambers & Partners has described him as "Absolutely first class in terms of his knowledge and pragmatism". He has acted pro bono in numerous high profile human rights cases, including the Trafigura Ivory Coast toxic waste dump incident, prohibiting the Turkish authorities from torturing a leading political leader, and representing dozens of victims and relatives of the

Grenfell tower fire On 14 June 2017, a high-rise fire broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block of flats in North Kensington, West London, at 00:54 BST and burned for 60 hours. 72 people died, two later in hospital, with more than 70 injured and 223 escapin ...

. Shahram Taghavi has been involved in many of the key test cases challenging the Home Secretary's tightening of the UK's human rights and immigration laws such as ''Pankina'', the successful challenge to the coalition government's 2010 immigration cap and ''Alvi''. He was also the lawyer behind the challenge to the UK's secret 'blacklist' that permits British officials to actively discriminate against certain (undisclosed) nationalities. He continues to lecture on human rights, immigration and public law and is regularly called as an expert witness on immigration and human rights law in civil and criminal matters. He is founder of "We Are You", a non profit mentoring scheme introducing young refugee children to adult first generation refugees who have excelled in their professions.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taghavi, Shahram English barristers Living people Human rights lawyers Year of birth missing (living people)