Sophie Barrett-Brown

Practice Areas

Sophie is Senior Partner and Head of UK Practice at Laura Devine Immigration. Long-recognised by legal directories as a foremost expert in UK immigration and nationality law, Sophie is described as “the best immigration lawyer in the country”, “a force to be reckoned with in the field”; and “the crème de la crème: she's clever, she's personable and she's absolutely bang up to date on the law”. Sophie’s clients are drawn from all sectors and range from multinational corporations, SME’s and entrepreneurs, to entertainers, high net worth individuals and families. Sophie has extensive experience in all aspects of UK business and personal immigration and nationality law. She is an expert in all routes of the points-based system (PBS), including sponsored routes (such as Skilled Worker, Global Business Mobility and Expansion Worker and temporary work routes) and non-sponsored work routes (such as Global Talent, Innovator Founder and legacy routes including Entrepreneur and Investor) as well as personal immigration categories (including Appendix FM for family members). Known for her agile strategic approach, Sophie regularly advises on complex and discretionary immigration and nationality applications (including indefinite leave to remain and naturalisation applications with substantial excess absences and applications for children based on serious and compelling circumstances). Sophie is also highly regarded for her policy work, regularly participating in policy consultations and working parties, including managing Laura Devine Immigration’s submissions to the Migration Advisory Committee’s (MAC), Home Office and the Select Committees, to which she has provided evidence on a number of occasions. Sophie is a longstanding Trustee (and former Chair) of the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association and a member of the Lexis Nexis editorial advisory board. She is a prolific conference speaker and frequently quoted in the general media on immigration topics.