Qualifications/Awards
- Called: 2004 (Lincoln’s Inn)
- LLM Human Rights (King’s College London)
- LLB (KCL)
- Peter Duffy Scholarship (LI)
- Hardwicke Scholarship (LI)
Practice Areas
Immigration, Asylum, Crime, Judicial Review and Human Rights Law.
Profile
Claire frequently appears before the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal and in judicial review proceedings before the High Court. She is regularly instructed to draft grounds of appeal and review to the Tribunal, judicial review grounds to the High Court, grounds of appeal to the Court of Appeal and representations to the Home Office. She also appears in criminal matters.
Prior to practising at the Bar, Claire worked as part of the defence team in R v Ibrahim & Others, involving the first ever prosecution of failed suicide bombers following the attempted terrorist attack in London on 21st July 2005.
Claire has particular expertise in human rights, having worked at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. She has further international law experience having worked at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, advising on international legal principles and the human rights of defendants and victims. Claire has worked with human rights and other voluntary organisations including Justice, Redress and FRU. She also has a LLM in Human Rights.
Notable Cases:
US and MV (PBS applicants from same family) Malaysia [2010] UKUT 167 (IAC) (2nd June 2010) - The Appellants were represented by Claire Physsas. The Vice President of the Upper Tribunal, Immigration and Asylum Chamber, allowed their appeal, accepting that there is no proper basis for the Secretary of State to treat a valid application as invalidated by the presence in the same envelope of an invalid application by a member of the same family. The Respondent could not rely on a practice to the contrary, which had not been published in the guidance under the Points-Based System. The determination was promulgated within the context of the PBS however it is of general applicability.
For the full text of the determination: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKUT/IAC/2010/00167_ukut_iac_2010_us_mv_malaysia.html
Memberships
ILPA; HRLA; ALBA; CBA; International Criminal Court Alumni; Justice; Liberty; Bar Pro Bono Unit .
Languages
Greek (fluent); French (intermediate); Italian (basic).
