Ashleigh Garcia
Ashleigh previously worked as an Immigration Solicitor at Law Centre NI. She is a dual qualified solicitor with over ten years’ experience working in immigration law. Her career commenced at Law Centre NI as a trainee solicitor, where she developed a passion for social justice and immigration law. Ashleigh has worked in all areas of immigration law, including corporate immigration at Penningtions Manches Cooper, Tier 4 compliance at Queen’s University, and human rights and refugee law at Law Centre NI.
Ashleigh was a committee member of the Law Society of Northern Ireland’s Immigration Practitioners’ Group.
Ashleigh is the co-founder of the ILPA Northern Ireland Working Group.
Ashleigh delivered ILPA’s training on ‘Best Practices in representing asylum claimants including victims of trafficking in Northern Ireland’.
Ashleigh's Past Training
Tutors: Ashleigh Garcia, Law Centre NI and Julian Bild, ATLEU
This one-day course looks at the law, processes and skills involved in representing asylum seekers in Northern Ireland. It will cover the asylum process from the point of claim through to the appeal hearing and grant of leave. The course will also examine how to identify potential victims of trafficking and challenge identification decisions.
The course will focus on the practical skills required in representing asylum seekers and victims of trafficking in Northern Ireland. Case studies and precedent letters will be used to illustrate the topics.
Topics:
- Asylum process
- Identification of victims of trafficking
- The law (including Home Office guidance, and case law)
- Human rights and protection applications
- Remedies (including reconsiderations, judicial review and appeals) and their interplay
- Drafting witness statements
- Instructing experts
- Considering country guidance and information
- Preparing representations and appeals
- Working within the Northern Ireland legal aid framework