About Tricia Lawlor
I am a Senior Legal Assistant within the Community Care group with over 30 years of experience.
My areas of expertise in local authority community care include judicial review challenges, no recourse to public funds, unaccompanied child asylum seekers and leaving care.
I hold a substantial caseload and have 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.
I have 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.
I have been involved in several notable cases, including A v LB of Croydon & Secretary of State for Home Department (Interested Party); 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.
I have also successfully defended a number of judicial review challenges on age assessments and care provision to UASC