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Immigration lawyer pushed under train and killed

user iconThe New Lawyer 01 November 2010 SME Law

A leading immigration lawyer in the UK was last week pushed under a train in London and killed.

A leading immigration lawyer in the UK was last week pushed under a train at King’s Cross station and killed, according to UK media reports.

Tributes have been paid to David Burgess, an immigration lawyer at law firm Luqmani Thompson, who was cross gender and also went by the name Sonia. Burgess was wearing women’s clothes and make-up when we was allegedly pushed beneath the train.

A 34-year-old woman, Nina Kanagasingham, late last week in Westminster magistrates court charged with murder.

In a statement Burgess’s family said: “Sonia (David) was a loving and wonderful person and will be missed deeply.”

Burgess’ firm, Luqmani Thompson, said it was “immensely saddened” by his death. He was “an enormously talented practitioner, an inspiration to a generation of lawyers practising in this field [immigration], and a great friend”, the firm said.

Burgess was best known as a founding partner of Winstanley Burgess, where he acted in a number of high profile cases such as Chahal v UK at the European Court of Human Rights.

Raza Husain QC of Matrix Chambers described that law firm as: “the gold standard immigration law firm in the 1990s”.

His cases involved matters as diverse as fair trials in foreign countries, persons facing exclusion from the Refugee Convention, civil claims against the Ministry of Defence for unlawful detention and country guidance casework on North Korea, UK magazine The Lawyer reports.

Burgess was responsible for what was described by Professor Sir William Wade as “the most important constitutional case for centuries” (M v Home Office), which began with his attendance out of hours before a duty judge challenging the unlawful removal of his client to Zaire. “M orders” subsequently entered the lexicon of public law.

Luqmani Thompson said in a statement: “David’s contribution to legal development is unquestionable but what’s sometimes forgotten is that he was a pioneer in setting legal tests and trends in genuinely trailblazing cases.

“This firm has tried hard to live up to the high standards set by David, we’d not have been the same firm without his contribution and encouragement; we shall not be the same firm without him.”


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