Miriam Carrion Benitez’s progression into the fields of public law and human rights stems from a long–standing interest in social justice. She strongly believes in the protection and development of the rights of individuals and since 1990, Miriam has been actively involved in human rights. Her experience ranges from litigation before the European Court of Human Rights, lecturing and training lawyers and judges to work with grass roots organisations and advisory and advocacy work at the Bar.

Miriam’s practice combines all aspects of Immigration, Nationality and Asylum law with an ongoing commitment to Human Rights and publicly funded work. She specialises in judicial review and has a significant Administrative Court and Court of Appeal practice.

More recently she has also built a strong practice in Education Law including discrimination, human rights and equalities claims and Special Educational Needs disputes and appeals.

Key cases

In the matter of B (a Child) [2016] UKSC 4:
Supreme Court judgment about habitual residence and the parens patriae inherent jurisdiction in the context of a same-sex relationship in which the non-biological mother has no legal status vis-à-vis the child.

EO (Ghana) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWCA Civ 40:
Appeal won on the grounds that removal of a sufferer of End Stage Renal Disease to a certain death would amount to a violation of Articles 3 and 8 ECHR as a result of withdrawal of dialysis treatment. Court of Appeal overturned this decision. Awaiting permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.

MS (Coptic Christians; Egypt) Country Guidance [2013] UKUT611:
Country Guidance on the risk of persecution of Coptic Christians at hands of the state and non–state agents on return to Egypt after the fall of the Mubarak regime.

Bah (EO (Turkey) – Liability to deport) [2012] UKUT 009196 (IAC):
Use of intelligence in deportation proceedings against a suspected member of a gang.

MB (Trinidad & Tobago) v Secretary of State for the Home Department, Court of Appeal, C5/2009/1216:
Successful appeal against an Immigration Judge’s decision on the test of sufficiency of protection (ability and willingness of the authorities to protect) and MB (Inability to provide protection–JAM) Trinidad & Tobago CG [2010] UKUT (IAC). No availability of protection to those at fear of persecution from Jamat Al Islam in Trinidad & Tobago.

Further information

Lawyer legal roundup

Membership of a particular social group on the grounds of gender and/or sexual orientation

Documents, Credibility and Fresh Claims in Asylum Law

Bar Vocational Course. College of Law, London, UK. Commendation.
Common Professional Examination. City University, London, UK. Commendation. (Gray’s Inn Entrance Award)
Postgraduate Diploma in International Human Rights Law. Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Warsaw, Poland.
M.A. in Russian and History. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain. Degree Class 1
Postgraduate Master in German–Spanish Translation and Interpretation. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain. Distinction

Miriam’s mother tongue is Spanish and she is also fluent in English, Russian, Polish and German.
Prior to coming to the Bar, Miriam lived in Russia, Poland, Germany and the US and trained as an official interpreter for the European Commission in multi–lateral interpretation (Spanish–German–English)

Appointments & Memberships

Immigration Law Practitioners Association (ILPA)
Administrative Law Bar Association (ALBA)
Discrimination Law Association (DLA)
European Bar Group (EBG))
Bar Council of England and Wales
Gray’s Inn
Reviewer for the Bar Pro–Bono Unit of England and Wales.
Volunteer for the European Human Rights Advocacy Project, Middlesex University.

External Publications

European Human Rights Advocacy Centre, Middlesex University – Legal Consultant to a project funded by the European Commission. The project seeks to assist Russian lawyers and human rights organisations throughout all stages of litigation in the European Court of Human Rights.

UNHCR/OSCE: International Human Rights Seminar in Turkmenistan – Lecturer on international human rights law, enforcement mechanisms and procedure. Second Fact Finding Mission to Turkey (Baku Ceyhan Oil Pipeline) – Member of the mission and co–author of the resulting report.

OSCE: International Human Rights Seminar in Turkmenistan – Lecturer on human rights law, enforcement mechanisms and procedure.

First Fact–finding Mission to Turkey (Baku–Ceyhan Oil Pipeline) – Member of the mission and co–author of the resulting report. Author of a preliminary legal analysis on the human rights implications of the pipeline.

Memorial. Moscow, Russia – Independent researcher for the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. Research focus on minority rights in the Caucasus and freedom of movement in Russia.

Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. Warsaw, Poland – Participated in the development of a training programme in human rights monitoring

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