Thousands of asylum seekers left adrift as law firm with five solicitors loses contract
An immigration law firm that raked in £1.7 million in legal aid last year despite employing just five solicitors has been stripped of its government contract, leaving thousands of asylum seekers without legal representation.
Middlesex Law Chambers, once operating across 15 supposed offices, took on thousands of asylum cases while dramatically expanding its legal aid income from £43,000 in 2021 to £1.7m by mid-2025. Yet when the Guardian phoned its listed branches in places such as Peterborough, Plymouth and Crawley, many were either unstaffed or had already shut down.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority website still listed the firm as running multiple locations, including in so-called “legal aid deserts” where specialist support is hardest to find. But in reality, the firm’s director admitted that most of the offices were empty shells.
Embed from Getty ImagesCriminal defence solicitor and firm director Sheraz Chowdhry told reporters the collapse stemmed from the ill-health and subsequent death of the lawyer previously overseeing immigration work, Hina Choudhery, who died earlier this year from cancer complications.
“Ultimately the firm, obstructed by Hina’s poor health over the last two years or so, has found it difficult to maintain its once very high standards in the immigration department,” Chowdhry said. He confirmed the Legal Aid Agency terminated the immigration contract on 20 August by email.
During the firm’s expansion, the number of active cases ballooned far beyond sustainable levels. With just five immigration solicitors and about 15 caseworkers, each lawyer or paralegal was left with an average caseload of 164 clients – more than eight times the typical 15–20 recommended for asylum work.
Campaigners said the warning signs were obvious. Frances Timberlake of Migrants Organise accused authorities of failing to step in sooner. “It is the Ministry of Justice’s duty to ensure that legal advice is available to people who need it,” she said. “Decades of cuts and neglect to the legal aid system have left many in our communities without support.”
Dr Jo Wilding, a University of Sussex researcher and immigration barrister, said: “This was completely foreseeable when one small firm with very few accredited staff set up offices in several new areas, including six serious advice deserts, and started taking on hundreds of cases. Vulnerable people were being exploited, but the Legal Aid Agency didn’t seem to act until it was too late.”
Former clients told harrowing stories of missed interviews and DIY translations. Rami, an asylum seeker, said: “It feels too late, because a lot of people like me have already suffered. I had to do my asylum interview without real advice, holding my evidence in my hand translated on Google. I have lost a lot of time in my life because of this.”
Chowdhry admitted he could not explain how the firm grew so rapidly before his arrival. “No solicitor was here during the expansion phase,” he said. “It is difficult for me to explain how the firm suddenly grew so large in such a short space of time. I do not know.”
The government defended the decision. A Legal Aid Agency spokesperson said: “Middlesex Law Chambers’ immigration legal aid contract has been terminated. Firms that hold legal aid contracts are subject to annual reviews. These can lead to financial sanctions or, as in this case, contract termination where standards are not met.”
The termination leaves many asylum seekers scrambling for representation just as grant rates are falling – initial approvals dropped from 58% to 48% over the past year – forcing more people into appeals they may now have to fight without lawyers.