Marcia Leonard (Partner)
Marcia joined as a partner in the immigration team in January 2014. She has practised in the area of immigration, nationality and European law since 1998. She has had a long career in the field of immigration and is incredibly passionate about this area of law. She has won a number of challenges against the Home Office regarding complex cases, which have resulted in discretionary leave for her clients.
She has a collaborative approach with the Home Office and government officials and is often invited to participate in consultations and round table discussions on changes to UK and European immigration. While some of these meetings are conducted under Chatham House rules, her input to these discussions is well received and often incorporated into material produced by the government.
Marcia’s experience spans over 20 years in the industry. She has become a leading expert on corporate immigration covering mergers and acquisitions. She is incredibly knowledgeable with HR policy, compliance and risk analysis; reporting and audit planning; high touch service planning for executives and VIPs; business traveller compliance; cost and budgeting as well as global project planning. In her early career she represented clients as an advocate before immigration judges and prepared cases for judicial review.
Marcia has excellent industry knowledge in a variety of sectors including: oil and gas, banking and finance, telecommunications, insurance and pharmaceutical industries. Marcia also provides training to HR professionals and practitioners on compliance and reporting. She is a popular speaker at immigration events and conferences.
Marcia will also often assist clients who may have had their applications refused and is often recommended to give a second opinion to clients looking to find an alternative solution.
Marcia is ranked as a leading individual in Legal 500 UK 2020/2021/2022. She was chosen as the Citywealth Top 100 Private Client Lawyers 2021 list. She continues to be listed in Who’s Who Legal as a Thought Leader in Corporate Immigration. She was chosen as one of the first Legal Services Are Great champions, representing the UK’s best legal minds in her area of expertise. She is also ranked 4th in Chambers and has been since 2020 to present.
Recent work
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Advising on a complex Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) application for a leading Nigerian Afrobeats performer;
- Advising a large digital media agency in relation to the suspension and possible revocation of its Tier 2 sponsor licence following a Home Office visit. Detailed representations were filed with the Home Office and as a result the sponsor licence was reinstated and reputational and financial damage thwarted;
- Advising an international educational organisation on the transfer of its headquarters to the UK, including in relation to obtaining special dispensation in relation to the ‘inward investment route’ and subsequent Tier 2 sponsor licence application;
- Advising a large Indian technology company regarding the inadvertent overstay of a business-critical Tier 2 worker who had made an honest mistake in relation to the expiry date of his visa. On an exceptional basis, the employee was granted an extension to his visa because of the legal and commercial representations we submitted on his behalf;
- Assisting a Tier 4 student who had a criminal conviction to obtain a visa to return to the UK to undertake his studies. The Immigration Rules state that applications should normally be refused if the applicant obtained the said conviction within 12 months preceding the application. We argued that this was a one-off incident and out of character, and the UKVI agreed with us and approved the application. The individual was allowed to enter the UK and commence a new degree course; and
- Advising the parents of a child actor in a well-known theatre production who wanted to remain in the UK as the child’s chaperone. The parent had overstayed their initial permission because they hadn’t wanted to leave their 7 year old child in the UK. Although, the production company had chaperones for the children, the parent was adamant that they wanted to remain throughout the production. We advised the parent to return to their country of origin and managed to successfully convince the UKVI to allow the parent to return to the UK, despite the previous overstaying, and to allow them to stay until the child’s part was completed, which was approximately 12 months later.
Professional societies and memberships
- American Bar Foundation (ABF) – Marcia is a Fellow of the ABF
- Worldwide ERC Immigration Working Party
- Immigration Practitioners’ Association (ILPA)
- American Immigration Lawyers’ Association (AILA)
- International Bar Association (IBA)
- American Bar Association (ABA) – Marcia is also a Human Rights & Immigration committee member with the Employment and Labor Section. She has been appointed International Co-Chair to the ABA Labour & Employment, Immigration & Human Trafficking Section
- Law Council of Australia – Marcia is a member of the Migration Law Committee of the International Law Section
- Romildamor Charity – Marcia is also a trustee on the Advisory Board
Further Information
Marcia studied Law at the University of Westminster and subsequently attended the College of Law to complete her solicitor finals.
Before joining Hanidel Jones LLP, Marcia managed the global immigration team at Ernst & Young. Prior to this she was a manager at the immigration firm of Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy.