Rachel Henson

About Rachel Henson

Rachel specialises in immigration, asylum and human rights law, with a varied practice, advising both private and legally aided clients. She prepares applications and appeals at all levels, including applications for judicial review. She has particular experience of complex asylum and human rights cases, including criminal deportation and those involving exclusion from the Refugee Convention, and has had conduct of a number of reported cases in the Upper Tribunal and the Court of Appeal. She has acted for many vulnerable individuals, including those in immigration detention, survivors of torture and other human rights violations, and people experiencing mental health problems. Rachel’s work in advocating for a vulnerable client who had been unlawfully detained was singled out as “farsighted” by Thornton J in S, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2014] EWHC 50(Admin) .

Rachel has been accredited as a supervisor under the Immigration and Asylum Accreditation Scheme since 2006. Prior to joining Wilsons, she worked as a Legal Officer at a national charity, Refugee and Migrant Justice (formerly the Refugee Legal Centre), where she prepared and presented appeals, conducting her own advocacy before the First-tier and Upper Tribunals, and provided advice and training to other casework staff.

Rachel read Geography and Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh and has a Masters in Forced Migration from the University of Oxford. She later converted to law and was awarded a distinction in the Legal Practice Course at London Metropolitan University in 2015. She joined Wilsons as a senior immigration caseworker in 2010 and qualified as a solicitor in 2015.

‍ Interests: cooking and cycling