I joined the University of Sussex in 2022, after a period of freelance research work and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Brighton.

My research specialism is legal aid and access to legal advice, particularly in immigration and asylum, and I have undertaken research commissioned or funded by the Welsh Government, Refugee Action, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the Community Justice Fund, the Greater London Authority, East of England Local Government Association and Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

I teach public law, migration law and law and public policy on the undergraduate and MA courses, and co-supervise the Sussex Migration Law Clinic.

I was previously a barrister specialising in immigration, asylum and unlawful immigration detention cases at Garden Court Chambers in London, where I remain an associate tenant. I regularly worked on cases for unaccompanied children and victims of human trafficking. I contributed to several editions of the main practitioner manual, MacDonald and Toal Immigration Law and Practice, and designed and delivered training for immigration solicitors and caseworkers. I am a member of the Immigration Law Practitioners Association (ILPA). I also worked at Bristol Law Centre as a casework assistant, before qualifying as a barrister.

Before all of that, I was a clown in a circus in Iraq, and wrote a book, ‘Don’t Shoot the Clowns’ about the experience.