Solicitor Toufique Hossain, who brought a string of successful legal challenges to the Rwanda scheme, has won the prestigious Lalys outstanding achievement award
Hossain, director of public law at Duncan Lewis, described the scheme as ‘incompetent, cruel, an affront to the rule of law and to basic human dignity’. Prime Minister Keir Starmer scrapped it on his first day in office last week.
The Lalys (Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year awards) were presented by broadcaster Symeon Brown at a ceremony in London last week. Former MP Karen Buck received a special award for her commitment to housing justice, as a key driver behind the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018.
The public law award went to Sophie Naftalin, partner, Bhatt Murphy, who represented the family of Kellie Sutton. In an unprecedented result, an inquest found that, although Sutton’s death was self-inflicted, it was caused by domestic abuse, so as to constitute the criminal offence of manslaughter.
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