Duncan Lewis

Duncan Lewis Solicitors, headquartered in the City of London, is the largest provider of publicly funded legal services in England and Wales, with offices across the country. Founded in 1998, the firm has grown rapidly and now employs over 570 professionals. It serves both corporate clients and private individuals across 25 areas of law, representing some of the most vulnerable and marginalised members of society. Duncan Lewis is recognised among the Top 200 legal firms in the UK, as listed by The Times.

The firm is committed to delivering high-quality legal counsel and client care, frequently taking on high-profile cases that contribute to the development of legal precedent. Duncan Lewis places significant emphasis on staff training and development, holding Investors in People Gold accreditation, and is a signatory to the Pro Bono Charter. Its approach reflects a dedication to equality, diversity, and inclusion, with a workforce composed of 70% women, 50% identifying as Black, Asian, or Minority Ethnic, 62% under the age of 35, and 23% over 40. Among its senior leaders, 65% of directors are female, and 45% identify as Black, Asian, or Minority Ethnic.

The firm has received numerous awards recognising its excellence and commitment to diversity, including the Modern Law Claims Award for Diversity and Inclusion 2023, Modern Law Firm of the Year 2023, and the Excellence in Legal Services award at the Resolution Awards.

Duncan Lewis provides expert services across a broad range of legal fields:

• Immigration, public law, civil liberties, and human rights: The firm’s public law department is a leading UK practice, handling high-profile and complex cases, including immigration and asylum, regulatory fitness to practice, and environment and planning matters. The department specialises in immigration claimant judicial review cases, costs litigation, unlawful immigration detention, and representation of vulnerable clients, including victims of torture and trafficking. It also manages judicial review proceedings in the County Court, High Court, Court of Appeal, and Supreme Court.
• Court of Protection: The firm provides support for deputyship applications, powers of attorney, and matters relating to the welfare and finances of individuals lacking capacity, including domestic and international disputes.
• Business and private immigration: Duncan Lewis advises on right-to-work checks, visa applications and appeals, student and graduate visas, spousal visas, and visa overstays. It also supports SMEs on the Points-Based System, sponsorship licence applications, and immigration compliance strategy.
• Family, matrimonial, and childcare: The firm’s large family and childcare department handles all aspects of family, private, and public children law matters. Its work includes representing domestic abuse victims, complex divorce and financial cases, and acting for children and vulnerable clients in public law proceedings, including culturally complex cases.
• Children/cross-border disputes: The firm manages international child abduction cases and wardship proceedings and is listed on the International Child Abduction and Contact Unit (ICACU) referral list.
• Housing: The housing team represents both landlords and tenants in possession, disrepair, and unlawful eviction cases, including reviews, appeals, and judicial reviews relating to homelessness and neighbourhood disputes.
• Criminal defence: The criminal law department handles complex criminal cases, including gang-related and drug importation matters, cases involving mental health issues, motoring offences, prison law, and actions against public authorities.
• Commercial litigation and dispute resolution: Duncan Lewis advises corporate clients and individuals on litigation matters, providing strategic guidance and representing clients in ADR or court proceedings for UK-based and international disputes.
• Clinical negligence: The clinical negligence team manages claims including GP and hospital negligence, misdiagnosis, wrongful death, and serious brain, spinal, or neurological injuries.
• Personal injury: The firm represents clients in workplace, road traffic, overseas, and children’s accident cases, including fatal injuries, public space incidents, occupiers’ liability, and asbestos-related claims.

Additional areas of expertise include actions against public authorities, commercial and company law, childcare, civil liberties and human rights, civil litigation, Court of Protection, crime, cross-border disputes, debt recovery, education law, employment, high-net-worth divorce, wills and probate, and professional negligence.

Languages: Punjabi, Urdu, Dutch, Afrikaans, Hindi, Bangla, Polish, German, Russian, Lithuanian, French, Norwegian, Turkish, Bulgarian, Farsi, Twi (Ghanaian), Swedish, Gujarati, Albanian, Italian, Croatian, Spanish, Bosnian, Macedonian, Greek, Welsh, Czech, Slovak, Arabic, Hungarian, Cantonese, Romanian, Malay, Swahili, Tamil, Marathi, Filipino, Portuguese, Amharic, Bengali, Creole, Dari, Pashtu, Kurdish, Shona, Somali, Telugu, Yoruba

Memberships: Law Society of England and Wales, Resolution, CILEx, Association of Lawyers for Children, Employment Lawyers Association (ELA), Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL)

Staffing: 62 UK directors; 570 other UK fee-earners (including consultants)