A barrister with leading national set No5 Chambers represented the Home Office in court last week, in a high profile immigration appeal.
Vinesh Mandalia was at the First Tier Immigration Tribunal, sitting at Manchester Crown Court, as convicted paedophile Shabire Ahmed appealed the decision by the Secretary of State to deprive him of his British citizenship. Ahmed was convicted in 2012 of being the ringleader of a group of Asian men who preyed on girls as young as 13 in Rochdale. He is currently serving a 19 year jail sentence for his part in the crimes and a separate 22 year sentence for convictions of rape.
Three judges will decide on Ahmed’s appeal. Similar decisions to deprive British Citizenship were made against three others that were convicted for their roles in what has come to be described as the ‘Rochdale Sex Abuse’ convictions. The decisions made by the Home Secretary to deprive those involved in serious organised crime and the related appeals, are the first time the powers conferred upon the Home Secretary have been exercised by her in cases where the deprivation of British citizenship is considered to be conducive to the public good.
Vinesh Mandelia began his career in Law as a Legal Executive and was admitted as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives in June 1996. As a Legal Executive, he handled a wide-ranging caseload of civil litigation, before embarking upon his career at the Bar.
Since being called to the Bar in 1997, Vinesh has continued to practice in Civil, Public and Regulatory work. Vinesh has been a member of the Attorney General’s regional panel of counsel since 2003 and has recently represented the Home Office in a number of high profile appeals that have attracted international media attention.
He joined No5 Chambers in 2013 and his expertise has been recognised by his rankings in leading publications such as Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners. He is ranked in Chambers UK 2016, and is described as an expert in human rights law who brings that knowledge to bear on a variety of asylum and nationality matters. Vinesh is highly regarded as one of the leading barristers dealing with Administrative and Public Law claims in the regions: ‘His peers praise him for offering advocacy of a superior kind’, ‘He has been a key player in public law in the Midlands for a number of years’, and ‘His oral submissions are incisive’ are just some of the observations made about him by his peers in recent years.
Vinesh acts predominantly for the government and local authorities in public law and policy issues arising from immigration and asylum cases, and is particularly strong in defending claims for Judicial Review. He also regularly represents HMRC in multi million pound VAT and Duties appeals.
Having commenced his career as a Legal Executive, Vinesh was also appointed a Deputy Judge of the Upper Tribunal in 2015, a remarkable achievement at the age of 45 having had no prior Judicial experience. His practise goes from strength to strength and he has this year been shortlisted for Barrister of the Year by the Birmingham Law Society.
In his spare time, Vinesh is a motorsport enthusiast and enjoys travel.