Tom Wilding answers the questions in our latest Public Perspectives!
Tom joined 36 Public and Human Rights after a 13-year career as an advocate for the Home Office, where he appeared in both the First-tier and Upper Tribunals. He has extensive experience in immigration and asylum law, with a particular focus on war crimes cases involving the exclusion clauses of the Refugee Convention and the suitability provisions of the Immigration Rules. In addition, Tom sits as both a Deputy Judge of the Upper Tribunal in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber and as a fee-paid Judge of the First Tier Tribunal in the same Chamber.
Tom also accepts instructions in employment, education, and housing law, particularly where issues of discrimination and human rights arise.
Which personality trait or strength do you think is essential for success in your industry?
Resilience. It is a rewarding, and intellectually challenging environment and career, however having the resilience to absorb everything that the profession throws at you is essential. There is no easy way to build that resilience, and the pressures come from all areas.
It takes time, effort and hard work to build that resilience, and to develop the toolkit to recognise and react to the pressures that the job brings, however it is essential in almost all areas of the job. From being unsuccessful in cases, arguments, appeals, work generation and, developing the ability to say “no”, developing a method through the many challenges the profession presents to you is really important. The sooner you can develop an understanding of that in your career, the better really.
Beyond your profession, what are you passionate about?
I have 2 young sons who are enormous fun, and a never ending source of entertainment and challenge, and my wife who is an enormous source of support, love, and (when needed) keeping my feet wll and truly grounded!
Outside of the law, I enjoy all music, particularly heavy rock and metal, which includes messing around on my guitar, albeit how tunefully and successfully I will leave for others to determine.
I am a season ticket holder at Arsenal FC, which mostly keeps me entertained and a passionate cricketer, albeit my cricketing career has been ‘asleep’ (not retired!) for the last few years.
When are you most productive during the day?
Usually first thing, if I’m not in court I’ll take myself off to the end of my garden to “The Shed”, a 1980s summer house repurposed as my office. If I’ve remembered I’ll have turned the heating on from the house, but invariably I won’t have done this, so the freshness of the morning hits like an unwelcome punch to the face.
Notwithstanding the cold air punch, morning work is when I am definitely at my most productive, the distractions of urgent emails haven’t really kicked in, and I can work often at my own pace, and crucially with the purpose that I knew what I wanted to do when I turned the screen on.
Learning from this however means that I can use those techniques to work at less productive times. Identify a task I need to get done, and ensure that I clear, to the best I can, my work space of the easy distractions of doomscrolling and not urgent email traffic. Turning the speakers up to 11 with something heavy, loud and fast also helps….
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose?
Somewhere where I can do something I enjoy as well as continue to work. The joy and privilege of doing this work is that, when not in court, working life lends itself to remote working. Taking that as my starting point, living in the French alps would be no.1 pick as I could combine getting work done, getting out on my snowboard, yet close enough to pop back to make court appearances. The wine and food would be an added bonus of course.
If you could try any profession other than your own, what would it be?
I’m making an assumption that talent is not in question but lead guitarist in a rock band would be the dream!
Further information
For more information from the public-law team, contact clerks@36public.co.uk

Involving Tom Wilding