About Tricia Lawlor
Tricia has over 30 years of experience in the local authority community care field.
She has particular expertise in judicial review challenges, no recourse to public funds, unaccompanied child asylum seekers and leaving care.
Tricia holds a substantial caseload and has many years of specialist practice, directly advising the Corporate Director of Children’s Services, Assistant Directors, and Heads of Service in all aspects of local authority duties and law relating to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and no recourse to public funds families.
Tricia has experience of effectively defending pre-action and judicial review challenges to local authority decisions, conducting legal matters efficiently, advising and instructing senior counsel in High Court and Upper Tribunal hearings and providing proactive legal assistance to the practice group.
She has been involved in several notable cases, including A v LB of Croydon & Secretary of State for Home Department (Interested Party) – as to the evidential value of paediatricians reports in age disputes, the Kent case taking the place of the Lambeth case as lead case in this issue; WK v Secretary of State for Home Department & Kent CC [2009] EWHC 939 (Admin) – a landmark High Court judgment given to provide guidance on the significance and role of a paediatrician’s evidence in an age assessment.
She has also successfully defended a number of judicial review challenges on age assessments and care provision to UASC, including R (ota LYB) v Kent County Council [2021] UKUT 491 (Admin).
