Immigration contract terminated due to 'extraordinary chain of events'

An ‘extraordinary chain of events’ led to the termination of a law firm’s legal aid contract for immigration work, its director has told the Gazette. 

The Legal Aid Agency confirmed on Monday that it had terminated Middlesex Law Chambers’ immigration legal aid contract, stating that contract-holders are subject to annual reviews, which can lead to financial sanctions ‘or as in this case, contract termination where standards are not met’.

Middlesex Law Chambers was awarded a 2024 civil crime contract to provide immigration legal aid services from seven offices, but the LAA said the firm withdrew from six of the offices prior to a termination notice being served.

The firm’s director, Sheraz Chowdhry, who joined the firm last November, told the Gazette that founder Hina Choudhery, who was an immigration specialist, died in June after battling cancer. ‘From my perspective, if Hina does not get sick, none of this happens.’

Chowdhry explained that the firm had been doing immigration for several years and was run ‘completely successfully’. Hina Choudhery opened several offices around the country ‘with the aim of expanding’ but most of the immigration work was being done out of the Southall office. 'With most of these offices, we paid rent but we never had anyone there,' Chowdhry said.

Following her death, the firm planned to scale back its immigration work, but the decision was ultimately taken out of its hands when the LAA decided to terminate the firm’s contract.

Chowdhry said the termination was due to the combination of findings that emerged from an annual review last year and a poor rating from a peer review this year. Chowdhry said Hina Choudhery was a founder ‘in control of everything’ and believes her one mistake was to not relinquish some of that control and delegate when she was ill. Highlighting how committed she was, Chowdhry recalls his boss leading a Teams meeting from bed while the firm was applying for a criminal legal aid contract.

Asked why he joined the firm, Chowdhry said he knew Hina Choudhery for a long time and she was honest with him at the outset – after her death, she wanted Chowdhry to continue the business. 

Chowdhry said the firm will now be moving in a different direction. A criminal legal aid contract for 13 duty solicitors begins next month. The firm also has a family legal aid contract.