Susan Chan

Date of Call 1994

 

 

RANGE OF EXPERIENCE          

Susan has more than 14 years' experience, specializing in employment law, immigration, personal injury, judicial review and inquests.  In 1999, she was appointed to the Attorney-General’s ‘C’ panel of Civil Litigation Counsel and in 2005, was appointed to the ‘B’ Panel.  Susan is currently on the 'A' panel, having been appointed in March 2010. She has appeared as an advocate in the House of Lords and regularly appears in all other courts, including the Court of Appeal, the High Court and Employment Appeal Tribunal. 

Immigration: Has advised and acted for the government in all immigration matters. Appears regularly in the Court of Appeal, Administrative Court and Asylum and Immigration Tribunal.  Reported cases include the landmark case of ZH (Tanzania) v SSHD (interests of children are a primary consideration in immigration decisions); the significant ECJ decision in Shirley McCarthy v SSHD (Union citizens who have not exercised free movement rights cannot rely on citizenship to regularise status of family members) and PO (Nigeria) v SSHD (burden of proof in cases of Nigerian trafficked women); A (Iraq) v SSHD (duty of court to take Refugee Convention points such as art 1F exclusion, even if not  previously raised); FP (Libya) and MB (Iran) v SSHD (‘vires’ of particular AIT Procedure Rules) and Y and Z (Sri Lanka) (art 3 ECHR claims and suicide risk).

Employment: acted for the HMRC in Dragonfly v HMRC (2008) STC 3030 (IR35 legislation) and has advised government departments such as HMRC, Department of Health, DWP and DEFRA on employment issues such as rights of agency workers; intermediaries legislation; collectively bargained agreements; compliance with age discrimination legislation; ‘zero hours’ contracts; Statutory Sick Pay; and the TUPE implications of re-structuring government bodies.  Has extensive experience of acting for both claimants and respondents in claims involving all forms of discrimination - particularly race and sex discrimination, unfair dismissal, TUPE, breach of contract, minimum wage enforcement and unlawful deductions claims.     

Inquests: She has acted for the MOD in inquests into the deaths of British servicemen in Iraq and Afghanistan.  They include Hewett and others (IED and ‘Snatch’ vehicles); Coxen and others (missile brought down Lynx helicopter); Alderton (use of night-vision goggles) and Wysozan. Has also acted for the Prison Service in many prison death inquests. 

Personal injury: Has acted in many negligence and assault claims for  both claimants and defendants, including in high-value MOD claims.   

Vexatious litigants: Experience of obtaining orders against vexatious     litigants, including Mahajan v DCA (2004) Times, July 13, 2004 (High Court’s jurisdiction to make civil restraint orders extended to cover all county courts).  Has also obtained injunctions against representatives acting abusively. 

 

 

 

QUALIFICATIONS

1994-95   Pupillage at 13 KBW before joining as tenant in 1995 

1994       Bar Vocational Course, Inns of Court School of Law 

1993       Awarded Gray’s Inn Prince of Wales Scholarship

1993       BA (Hons) 2:1 in Law, Magdalen College, Oxford

1991       Appointed a Demy (Scholar) of Magdalen College

 

REPORTED CASES

Shirley McCarthy (Eire) v SSHD ECJ’s ruling given on 5.5.11 answering questions referred by House of Lords on 13.11.08 Case C-434/09 [2011] ECR 0; [2008] EWCA 641
EU citizens who have not exercised their right of free movement cannot invoke Union citizenship to regularise the residence of their non-EU spouse.

ZH (TANZANIA) v SSHD [2011] UKSC 4 Supreme Court  (2011) 2 WLR 148 : (2011) 2 All ER 783 : (2011) UKHRR 371 : Times, February 8, 2011
The best interests of a child who was a British citizen had to be a primary consideration when considering whether a decision to remove the child's mother to another country was proportionate under the European Convention on Human Rights 1950 art.8.

PO (NIGERIA) v SSHD [2011] EWCA Civ 132; The Times, April 19, 2011
The Asylum and Immigration Tribunal had erred in its consideration of a case involving a Nigerian citizen who had been the victim of human trafficking. It had not considered evidence as to the availability of adequate shelter if she was returned and had incorrectly imposed a burden on her to prove she had been trafficked by a gang and not just by a single trafficker. 

Y and Z (Sri Lanka) v SSHD [2009] EWCA Civ 362; (2009) HRLR 22; Times May 5 2009 (claimed breach of art 3 ECHR due to suicide risk and inability to access mental health facilities in Sri Lanka) 

Dragonfly Consultancy Ltd v Revenue and Customs Commissioners [2008] EWHC 2113 (Ch); (2008) STC 3030 (intermediary company of IT contractor liable for tax and N.I. under IR35 legislation, as hypothetical contract would be one of employment) 

Shirley McCarthy (Eire) v SSHD [2008] EWCA Civ 641 (Meaning of ‘legally resided’ under EEA Directive 2004/38, for the    purposes of acquiring right of permanent residence, in context of British/Irish citizens of dual nationality) 

FP (Iran) and  MB (Libya) [2007] EWCA Civ 13 The Times, January 26, 2007 (rules 19(1) and 56 of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (Procedure) Rules 2005 were ultra vires) 

A (Iraq) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (2005) The Independent December 6, 2005 (Adjudicator's duty to consider  possible Refugee Convention exclusion under Art 1F where the facts obviously disclosed it, even if neither party raised it) 

Mahajan v Department for Constitutional Affairs 13 July 2004, The Times (Court of Appeal decided that under court’s inherent jurisdiction, general civil restraint orders could be made by High Court judges so as to cover all county courts) 

R v Liverpool Health Authority, National Health Service Litigation Authority and Department of Health ex parte Richard Hopley (2002) Lloyd's Rep Med 494 (health authority's decision not to pay damages in periodical payments was not amenable to judicial review as it fell within the exercise of its functions in private law) 

Smeed v Sparrow LTL 1/2/99 CA Kemp and Kemp (damages for loss of use of wheelchair)

 

OTHER IMPORTANT CASES

R (on the application of EBCIN Mehmet v SSHD [2011] EWHC 741 (Admin)

Wanjiku v SSHD [2011] EWCA Civ 264

R (on the application of SINGH) v SSHD [2011] EWHC 1402 (Admin)

Krasniqi and Kadria v SSHD [2011] Admin 18.11.10 (conferring of citizenship can be treated as a nullity if obtained by deception as to a person’s identity - no requirement for deprivation of citizenship proceedings in such cases)

Rashid Anwar and Prosper Adjo v  SSHD [2010] EWCA Civ 1275

IT (SIERRA LEONE) v SSHD [2010] EWCA Civ 787

AS (INDIA) v SSHD [2009] EWCA Civ 1495

FH and AK (Kosovo) v SSHD [2009] EWCA Civ 1032                                    

SN (Pakistan) v SSHD [2009] EWCA Civ 181

R (on application of Beckett) v SSHD [2008] EWHC 2002 (Admin) 

A (Iran) v SSHD [2008] EWCA Civ 261 

TR (Sri Lanka) v SSHD [2008] EWCA Civ 1541 

XY (Iran) v SSHD [2008] EWCA Civ 911 

LS (Uzbekistan) v SSHD [2008] EWCA Civ 909 

R (on the application of TR) v SSHD [2008] EWHC 747 (Admin) 

R (on the application of Omoruyi) v SSHD [2008] EWHC 3120 (Admin) 

R (on the application of Sivapalan) v SSHD [2008] EWHC 2955 (Admin)

DA (Eritrea) v SSHD [2008] EWCA Civ 1465 

RK (Algeria) v SSHD [2007] EWCA Civ 868 

VN (Uganda) v Entry Clearance Officer [2008] EWCA Civ 232 

XZ (Russia) v SSHD [2008] EWCA Civ 180

Yousuf v SSHD [2008] EWCA Civ 394 

NG (Pakistan) v SSHD [2007] EWCA Civ 1543 

R (on the application of Ali) v SSHD [2007] EWHC 1983 (Admin) 

RM (Somali) v SSHD [2007] EWCA Civ 751

RK (Algeria) v SSHD [2007] EWCA Civ 868 

TT (Eritrea) v SSHD [2007] EWCA Civ 163 

R (on the application of Obasi) v SSHD [2007] EWHC 381 (Admin)

R (on application of Martin) v SSHD [2006] EWHC 799 (Admin) 

HH (Iraq) v SSHD [2006] EWCA Civ 1374 

RG (Ethiopia) v SSHD [2006] EWCA Civ 339 

Bozkurt v SSHD [2006] EWCA Civ 289 

Ariaya and Sammy v SSHD [2006] EWCA Civ 48

Thompson v Medical and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency [2005] UKEAT 0780_04_2907  

R (on application of Dhar) v SSHD (2005) 7.11.05 Administrative Court Clare Montgomery QC 

Dagdalen v IAT (2003) Jackson J 18.6.03 

R v SSHD (ex parte N) [2003] EWHC 207 (Admin) 

HM Inland Revenue v Silk [2002] UKEAT 0405_01_1503 15.3.02 

Ladbroke Grove Rail Inquiry (1999-2000) Second junior Counsel to the Inquiry assisting Chairman Lord Cullen 

BSE inquiry (1999) Acting for Department of Health witnesses

 

OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Member of the Personal Injury Bar Association 

Member of the Employment Law Bar Association 

Regularly appears for appellants in the Employment Appeal Tribunal through the Employment Law Appeal Advisory Scheme (ELAAS)

Advocacy Trainer for Gray's Inn

 

QUALIFICATIONS