Howe & Co
Encyclopedia
Ealing
Ealing is a suburban area of west London, England and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Ealing. It is located west of Charing Cross and around from the City of London. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically a rural village...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The firm has in excess of 100 staff, and specialises in human rights cases, employment law, defamation, civil litigation, public law and personal injury litigation (including medical negligence).
Background
The firm has 3 partners, Martin Howe (Solicitor) BA (Hons), Kieran O'Rourke (Solicitor) LLB (Hons), and David Enright (Solicitor) LLB (Hons).The firm has been involved in several high profile cases, including human rights claims following the Stansted Airport hijacking
Aircraft hijacking
Aircraft hijacking is the unlawful seizure of an aircraft by an individual or a group. In most cases, the pilot is forced to fly according to the orders of the hijackers. Occasionally, however, the hijackers have flown the aircraft themselves, such as the September 11 attacks of 2001...
in February 2000; the criminal cases and human rights claims following the 3 day siege at the Greek Embassy in February 1999; the successful House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
challenge to the safety of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
for asylum seekers (R v Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Adan & Aitseguer (2001) 2 AC 477).
Howe & Co currently acts for approximately 2000 British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
Gurkha
Gurkha
Gurkha are people from Nepal who take their name from the Gorkha District. Gurkhas are best known for their history in the Indian Army's Gorkha regiments, the British Army's Brigade of Gurkhas and the Nepalese Army. Gurkha units are closely associated with the kukri, a forward-curving Nepalese knife...
veterans who are challenging the British Government's refusal to allow them a right to settle and live in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The firm was instructed by Tul Bahadur Pun VC, an 84 year-old Gurkha veteran who won Britain’s highest military award for gallantry, the Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
, during the Second World War. Mr Tul Bahdur Pun VC was refused a right to settle in the United Kingdom. Howe & Co set up a website to assist Mr Pun VC's campaign to win the right to settle in the United Kingdom named: VCHero.co.uk. On 1 June 2007, the British Asylum & Immigration Minister, Liam Byrne
Liam Byrne
Liam Dominic Byrne is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Hodge Hill since 2004, and was the Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2009 to 2010 before being appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on 20 January 2011.-Early...
, stated that due to the "exceptional" nature of the case, Mr Pun VC would be allowed to live in the United Kingdom. Along with actress Joanna Lumley
Joanna Lumley
Joanna Lamond Lumley, OBE, FRGS is a British actress, voice-over artist, former-model and author, best known for her roles in British television series Absolutely Fabulous portraying Edina Monsoon's best friend, Patsy Stone, as well as parts in The New Avengers, Sapphire & Steel, and Sensitive...
, Peter Carroll, and Sir Jack Hayward, Howe & Co's Senior Partner, Martin Howe, is one of the "Gurkha Justice Campaign" organisers. The Gurkha Justice Campaign is seeking a change in the UK law to allow all Gurkhas the right to live in Britain. On 30 September 2008 Howe & Co successfully won a High Court of Justice
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
legal challenge to the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Home Office
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
's policy refusing Gurkhas who retired prior to 1997 the right to settle in the UK, in a decision which could open the door to 2,000 retired Gurkhas being allowed to live in Britain.
The Head of the firm's Human Rights and Immigration Department, David Howe, is currently involved in representing a number of foreign nationals facing deportation by the British Home Office
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
, following criminal conviction in the United Kingdom, and also a test case against the Home Office's decision to exclude unaccompanied minors from the Family Indefinite Leave to Remain Policy introduced in October 2003.
In January 2009 Howe & Co were instructed by the former radio presenter and The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
columnist, Jon Gaunt
Jon Gaunt
Jonathan Charles Gaunt , is an English radio talk show presenter, TV Personality, newspaper columnist, social commentator and spokesman....
, to pursue a legal action action against the talkSPORT
TalkSPORT
Talksport , owned by UTV radio, is one of the United Kingdom's three terrestrial analogue Independent National Radio broadcasters, offering a sports and talk radio service broadcast from London to the United Kingdom....
radio station following termination of his radio presenter contract, after an interview with Redbridge Council's Michael Stark on 7 November 2008, in which Jon Gaunt
Jon Gaunt
Jonathan Charles Gaunt , is an English radio talk show presenter, TV Personality, newspaper columnist, social commentator and spokesman....
branded Councillor Stark a "Nazi" and "an ignorant pig" live on air.
The firm holds the Specialist Quality Mark (SQM) awarded by the Legal Services Commission
Legal Services Commission
The Legal Services Commission is an executive non-departmental public body of the Ministry of Justice that is responsible for the operational administration of legal aid in England and Wales.-Overview:...
and, following an independent "Peer Review" audit of Howe & Co's publicly funded legal work, the Legal Services Commission and the Institute of Advance Legal Studies awarded the firm a rating of: "1 - Excellence".
In June 2006 the firm's partner, David Enright, was shortlisted for a Law Society
Law society
A Law Society in current and former Commonwealth jurisdictions was historically an association of solicitors with a regulatory role that included the right to supervise the training, qualifications and conduct of lawyers/solicitors...
sponsored award at the Legal Aid Practitioners' Group's "Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards 2006". In November 2008, Howe & Co's Senior Partner, Martin Howe, was jointly awarded the Ross McWhirter Foundation Award for citizenship for his work on the Gurkha Justice campaign. In December 2008, Martin Howe was also shortlisted for the award of "Human Rights Lawyer of the Year" by Liberty and JUSTICE
Liberty (pressure group)
Liberty is a pressure group based in the United Kingdom. Its formal name is the National Council for Civil Liberties . Founded in 1934 by Ronald Kidd and Sylvia Crowther-Smith , the group campaigns to protect civil liberties and promote human rights...
in an award sponsored by the Law Society of England and Wales
Law Society of England and Wales
The Law Society is the professional association that represents the solicitors' profession in England and Wales. It provides services and support to practising and training solicitors as well as serving as a sounding board for law reform. Members of the Society are often consulted when important...
. In announcing the shortlisting, the Law Society of England and Wales
Law Society of England and Wales
The Law Society is the professional association that represents the solicitors' profession in England and Wales. It provides services and support to practising and training solicitors as well as serving as a sounding board for law reform. Members of the Society are often consulted when important...
stated:-
"The outstanding achievements of human rights champions across England and Wales have been recognised by the judges of the Human Rights Awards 2008.
Exceptional legal professionals and other human rights champions have been short-listed for the awards, which recognise their vital work in the promotion and protection of human rights."'.
Howe & Co's personal injury lawyers are members of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), and the firm is regulated by the Law Society of England and Wales
Law Society of England and Wales
The Law Society is the professional association that represents the solicitors' profession in England and Wales. It provides services and support to practising and training solicitors as well as serving as a sounding board for law reform. Members of the Society are often consulted when important...
.