
PRCBC’s beneficiaries are enabled to receive pro bono legal advice and assistance delivered by and under the supervision of Solange Valdez-Symonds with the assistance of qualified volunteers. We are grateful to Paul Hamlyn, Trust for London and Access to Justice Foundation for funding some of PRCBC’s work.

Alice Bennington is a solicitor at Bates Wells. She qualified in August 2021 after completing her training contract at the firm and previously worked as a paralegal at a specialist firm. She advises individuals and businesses across the spectrum of immigration law and also has a keen interest in British nationality law. She has been volunteering since December 2021.

Mike Poulter is a legal aid solicitor and level 2 accredited caseworker at Turpin & Miller in Oxford. His work primarily focuses on asylum, detention and deportation. He has been volunteering since mid 2019.

Lizan Ghafoor is a community care and public law solicitor at Wilson Solicitors. She has particular interest in cases involving issues of support for asylum seekers and persons from abroad, victims of human trafficking, as well as age disputed asylum seeking minors. She has been volunteering with PRCBC since June 2022.

Fiona Couzens is a lawyer at the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Prior to joining the EHRC she worked in legally aided private practice for several years and worked on cases for children and young people, particularly those from abroad and victims of trafficking.

Steve Valdez-Symonds was called to the Bar in 1995. He worked as a Legal Officer for the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA) 2006-2012. Since July 2014, he has been working as Refugee and Migrant Rights Programme Director for Amnesty International UK. Steve supports PRCBC with some of its complex legal research. He has been volunteering since January 2018 as legal researcher. Prior to this he was our occasional volunteer receptionist and co-author of various blogs and articles.

Solange Valdez-Symonds is a Law Society Level 3 Advanced Accredited supervising solicitor. She has been practising as a solicitor for over 17 years. She is also PRCBC’s co-founder, supervising solicitor and CEO. Solange supervises and manages all pro bono advice, casework and litigation work.
We are grateful to our previous volunteers for their support, work and commitment:
Kitty Falls (solicitor, Aug 2020-December 2022)
Amarjit Ahluwalia (solicitor, January 2019-Sept 2021)
Dirghayu Patel (solicitor) (December 2018-November 2020)