Alan Caskie is Junior Counsel to the Inquiry. He has been an advocate since 2006 and prior to that a solicitor working in Glasgow and London. He is ranked as a leading junior counsel in the fields immigration and asylum and public law.

Alan brings to the Inquiry his experience of cases before the Court of Session and in the Tribunal system, where he has been a Judge of the First Tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) for over 20 years.  Over 200 of his cases have led to published decisions.  He is a highly experienced litigator.

Cases:

Alan was has appeared in many significant Public and Immigration law cases in recent years, including:

SK (Japan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department 2013 S.L.T. 74; 2013 S.C.L.R. 245 on whether holiday courses are education courses that require to be accredited for immigration purposes

AA (Turkey) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2013] CSOH 58 on the Ankara Agreement and Section 3C of the Immigration Act 1971

Oke, Petitioner 2012 S.L.T. 609 the first successful Judicial Review of a refusal of Permission to appeal by The Upper Tribunal post Eba.

Saunderson v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2012] CSIH 102; 2013 S.L.T. 115; on the proper assessment whether of seasonal workers are in work in their “off-season” for benefit purposes

JYZ (China) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2012] CSOH 78; 2012 S.L.T. 1130 and [2013] CSIH 16 on the applicability of Zambrano to Irish citizens in the UK

AMC (Colombia) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2011] CSOH 155 on the inter-relationship of Immigration Rule 390 & 391 in deportation cases

AAS (Somalia) v Secretary of State for the Home Department 2011 S.L.T. 1058 on the approach of Immigration Judge’s to apparently corroborative evidence

FA (Afghanistan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2010] CSOH 159 on the proper approach to certification as clearly unfounded in relation to an Article 8 claim

Rosaleen Kennedy and Jean Black v The Lord Advocate and Scottish Ministers [2008] CSOH 21 relating to the failures to date to hold an Article 2 ECHR complaint enquiry into Hepatitis C related deaths and held that the actions of the Lord Advocate and other Scottish Ministers had not been compatible with the obligations of the United Kingdom under Article 2

Publications:

Alan writes a quarterly Immigration and Asylum Law update for SCOLAG.

Appointments:

Immigration Judge (previously Adjudicator) from 2000 to date.

Yet again the only Petitioner’s Counsel in both Chambers and the Legal 500

Chambers UK, Band 1 Immigration 2015 & 2016:

“(He) covers a wide range of immigration and asylum issues. He is praised by market commentators for his experience in judicial reviews. He is a good advocate – his success rate is great. He recognises which cases are good to run.”

Recent work: He appeared for the petitioner in JYZ (China) v SSHD, a case which concerned the applicability of the Zambrano judgment to Irish citizens in the UK.

Alan is the only Petitioner’s Counsel mentioned in both the Chambers Directory and Legal 500, with the latter describing him as “Noted for his expertise in immigration matters.”

Chambers 2016

Alan Caskie of Themis Advocates receives instructions across the full range of immigration law issues. He is noted for his judicial review expertise. 
Strengths:“He is a petitioner of choice and is one of the leading Scottish practitioners in immigration.”

• Devil Masters: Simon Collins QC, Ailsa Carmichael QC and Chris Shead
• Qualifications: B.A. Soc. Sci (Hons) Law Society of Scotland and Faculty of Advocates Examinations; Dip.LP