PracticeShu Shin has a civil / public law practice with a special interest in representing children and vulnerable adults and in pursuing cases involving the interplay between different disciplines of law. Social welfare / Children Act / Housing: Shu Shin practises in all areas of community care and child law. She has particular expertise in bringing successful challenges against social services and health authorities in respect of failings in provision of support and accommodation for vulnerable children and young adults. She has advised on dispute over s20 accommodation under the Children Act 1989, leaving care duties, and other transition to adulthood duties, inter-authority disputes over duties owed to vulnerable young people, closures of care homes and day centres, adult and child protection, mental health, supported housing, adult and child social care policy and eligibility criteria, continuing NHS care disputes. She is regularly successful in obtaining urgent relief and injunctions both in court and out of hours to require children's services to support and accommodate teenage runaways, children leaving custody, care leavers, age-disputed minors and child victims of domestic abuse and trafficking. Age assessments and Trafficking: Shu Shin advises regularly on trafficking claims for unaccompanied minors and young adults as well as age-dispute challenges on behalf of the same client group. She has a solid grasp of immigration law with a particular interest in the overlap between immigration and social welfare law. Education: Shu Shin regularly appears on behalf of parents in SENDIST appeals, school exclusions and admissions appeals and judicial review proceedings. She has particular experience in disability discrimination-related and regulatory matters and is currently instructed in a judicial review against a local authority on the lawfulness of their school transport policy for children with special educational needs vis a vis the equality duty under s49A of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. Prison law: Shu Shin is experienced in handling sensitive and difficult parole applications for young sex offenders and those subject to indeterminate and extended sentences for public protection. She also advises regularly on public law challenges against prison authorities, probation and social services for failures in respect of planning for the release of vulnerable children and young adults. She has been successful in bringing claims settled in favour of the claimant addressing the lacuna in the law as to who ought to be responsible for these particularly vulnerable people who would be entitled to social services support but for the fact that they are in custody. See for example R (RH) v Hackney LBC, CO/1796/2009, settled in favour of the claimant after an all-day mediation; and R (A) v Stockton on Tees County Council, settled in favour of the claimant relating to inter-agency duties owed to a vulnerable former relevant child subject to an extended sentence for sex offences, in advance of his parole hearing for early release. Public Authority Negligence: Arising out of her specialism in child law, Shu Shin has developed an expertise in tortious claims against public authorities, both as a sole and led junior. She was the led junior in the human rights damages claim of A v Essex County Council on the construction of Article 2 Protocol 1 (right to education) for disabled children. She appeared before the UK Supreme Court as a led junior in the matter, heard over two days on 24 and 25 March 2010. Judgement is pending. She was led in Anthony Crowley v Surrey County Council and ors [2008] EWHC 1102 on failures of education and health authorities to assess and provide for a child's special educational needs; and in BP v Reading BC and ors [2009] EWHC 998 (appeal pending), against police and social services concerning the manner in which they investigated child abuse allegations. In conjunction with her expertise in age dispute and trafficking claims, Shu Shin also advises on damages claims in respect of unlawful detention. Family: Shu Shin represents children in proceedings parallel to ongoing judicial review applications, including wardship applications, appeals against secure accommodation orders, applications to discharge final care orders, trials on identity and age of trafficked unaccompanied minors. She is currently representing a mother in a case which raises the question of whether a stillborn child can be regarded as a 'person' under s55A of the Family Law Act 1986 and whether the deceased father's parentage can be registered on the stillborn child's certificate. The Attorney General has expressed an interest in intervening. Recent Notable CasesKC v Newham London Borough Council [2010] UKUT 96 (AAC): Successful appeal against the First-Tier Tribunal's decision to strike out the Appellant's appeal against the contents of Parts 2, 3 and 4 of her grandson's statement of special educational needs. The Upper Tribunal held that there was a live issue to be determined in the appeal, and the FTT had jurisdiction to determine the issue irrespective of the fact that the Appellant's grandson was over the age of compulsory schooling. R (O) v East Riding of Yorkshire CC [2010] EWHC 489 (Admin) (2010) ELR 318 on the question of whether a local authority is entitled to discharge its duties under the Children Act 1989 when it moves a child from foster care to a residential special school named in the child's statement pursuant to the Education Act 1996. Permission to appeal (for a second time) has been granted by Elias LJ. R (on the application of AW (Afghanistan)) v Croydon London Borough Council [2009] EWHC 3090 (Admin), CI/2009/2647: Permission to appeal against the decision of Collins J in the first instance was granted on three grounds: (i) that the issue of age is a question of fact following the Supreme Court's decision in A v Croydon; (ii) that public law principles of procedural fairness require the decision-maker to put adverse matters to the applicant child at the end of the assessment and provide the child with an opportunity to respond before a final decision on age is arrived at; and (iii) that the principle of the "benefit of the doubt" means that the local authority should start its factual appraisal of age affording the child the benefit of the doubt. This is arguably akin to placing the onus of disproving age on the person disputing an asserted fact made by the applicant child. Matter is remitted to the High Court for a full fact-finding hearing. Decision of Collins J set aside. R (A) v Stockton on Tees County Council: relating to inter-agency duties owed to a vulnerable former relevant child subject to an extended sentence for sex offences, in advance of his parole hearing for early release. Settled in Claimant's favour with costs awarded to the Claimant that s23C(4)(c) of the Children Act 1989 can include a duty to provide accommodation for a vulnerable young adult where his welfare requires such assistance. On the facts of the claim, the welfare of the particular claimant required an intensive residential therapeutic unit. Pro BonoPro Bono: Shu Shin regularly undertakes pro bono work in education, immigration, asylum support and social security matters. She is happy to accept pro-bono instructions in these areas. She has experience in preparing pro bono appeals to the Privy Council on behalf of death row inmates and was a legal fellow in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago during summer 2006 assisting the London Panel of Solicitors in such appeals. She was a second junior (led by Ed Fitzgerald QC) in a successful Privy Council appeal against conviction in Lester Pitman v The State of Trinidad and Tobago [2008] UKPC 16. TrainingShu Shin regularly provides in-house training on the Children Act 1989, community care law and education law to solicitors, law centres and charities across the country. BackgroundShu Shin was born and raised in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Prior to coming to the Bar, she worked as a part-time campaign assistant on the China Team of Amnesty International, where she investigated links between trade and human rights in China, particularly looking at the role foreign technology corporations play in assisting in the restrictions of free flow of information and free speech on China's internet. She helped edit the "Fair Trials" manual in Chinese (which is her first language). She also spent six and a half years as a journalist for the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and the Chicago Sun-Times, writing extensively on issues ranging from consumer rights, immigration, crime and regional politics in Southeast Asia and China. She was a regular commentator on CNBC's Squawk Box, and has appeared on CNN and National Public Radio (NPR). She has won awards for investigations into detention of children in asylum care in the US, deaths arising from officer-involved shootings and price-fixing among grocery conglomerates. Around Asia, she has reported widely on labour and corporate management issues, particularly those involving major multinational clothing manufacturers' dealings in alleged sweatshops in Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia. In 2003, she published Business the Sony Way (John Wiley & Sons). In 2005, she published The People of China(Mason Crest Publishing) and The Economy of China (Mason Crest Publishing). Professional Membership- Administrative Law Bar Association
- Human Rights Lawyers Association
- Immigration Legal Practitioners Association
- Education Law Association
Profile updated June 2010
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