Matthew Evans Director Expand Director Matthew Evans is a Solicitor and has been the Director of the AIRE Centre since October 2013. Prior to joining the AIRE Centre, Matthew was Managing Solicitor at the Prisoners Advice Service and in private practice, where he undertook mental health, community care and public law work. Matthew has been involved in 20 cases before the UK Supreme Court including Janah and Benkarbouche (challenge to UK’s State Immunity Act), AM (Zimbabwe) (the applicable test for when removal of seriously ill people to their country of origin breaches Article 3), Gubeladze (challenge to Worker Registration Scheme extension), Simkova (concerning the EU social security co-ordination rules) and MS (Pakistan) (the identification/treatment of trafficking victims and application of ECAT), as well as a number of other cases in the UK Higher Courts such as Gureckis (EU Rough Sleeper challenge), MK (Pakistan) (Extended Family Members appeal rights) and Hafeez (the need for the Home Secretary to conduct proportionality assessments in every removal/deportation case). Third Party Interventions in the European Courts, include cases on LGBTI rights (Sabalic v Croatia and Oliari and others v Italy), and immigration detention (OM v Hungary), as well as before the CJEU such as NA (derived rights and domestic violence victims) and Bajraktari (self-sufficiency and Chen parents). Matthew conducts direct litigation in the First Tier and Upper Tribunals. He was awarded Human Rights Solicitor of the Year at the Law Society Excellence Awards 2020 (having been shortlisted in 2017 and 2018) and highly commended in the Managing Partner category of the Modern Law awards in 2023. He was formerly Director of External Relations at Queen Mary University of London and holds degrees from Southampton, LSE and King's College London. Matthew is a co-author of European Court of Human Rights and Mental Health: The Case Law, published in October 2024 by Bloomsbury. This book was given the first ever international book award by the Dublin Solicitors Bar Association in 2025.
Nuala Mole Senior Lawyer Expand Senior Lawyer Nuala Mole founded the AIRE Centre and has worked for more than 25 years in the field of human rights. Initially specialising in immigration and asylum, she has broadened her work to include all aspects of international human rights law. She has written extensively on all aspects of the European Convention on Human Rights and on the free movement of persons under European Union law, with special attention to the interface between the two legal orders. She is on the Board of the European Human Rights Law Review and co-edits the Centre's monthly Bulletin of ECHR caselaw. She has been part of the legal team in more than 100 cases before the ECtHR, the ECJ and landmark cases in the UK. She was the Law Society's Human Rights Lawyer of the Year in 2001. She also received the 2005 Prix de l'Ancien - this Alumnus of the Year Prize is awarded each year to a former student of the College of Europe who has made a significant contribution to the promotion of the European ideal, the promotion of excellence, generosity, tolerance and respect for diversity, friendship and solidarity and open-mindedness. Nuala received a doctorate from the University of Essex in 2009Nuala has conducted training for the Council of Europe, the European Commission and the AIRE Centre for judges, public officials, lawyers and NGOs in 40 of the 46 member states of the Council of Europe on a wide range of topics including immigration, prisoners' rights, children's rights and family law. Since 2001, she has been assisting in curriculum development and implementation for judicial training centres in South East Europe. She works with national and international judges and public officials throughout Western, Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union, but particularly in the Balkans, promoting familiarity and awareness with human rights standards and providing assistance in applying them in practice. Before setting up the AIRE Centre she was the Director of the NGO Interights for a number of years. Nuala read law at St Anne's College, Oxford and European law at the College of Europe. She speaks English, French, Spanish and Greek.
Markella Papadouli Senior Lawyer for Europe Expand Senior Lawyer for Europe Markella is the AIRE Centre's Senior Lawyer for Europe, a Solicitor qualified to practise in England and Wales and Greek Attorney-at-Law qualified before the Athens Bar Association. Working for the AIRE Centre since 2013, in her current capacity Markella leads the Centre’s work on asylum, migration, and human trafficking cases before the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union. Her principal field of expertise is migration and asylum law, often combined with related areas such as the law of the sea, exploitation, and gender and children’s rights. In addition to providing free legal advice and representing victims, she delivers tailored expert training to a wide range of stakeholders worldwide, from direct beneficiaries to members of the judiciary, and represents the AIRE Centre at conferences and international forums. Markella is a PhD candidate in Human Rights Law and Sociology at the Democritus University of Thrace with her academic work running alongside her legal practice. Markella was a Lecturer in Practice at London South Bank University (2013-2024) and has guest lectured at several international academic institutions, including the University of Cambridge, Columbia Law School, and the University of Michigan. She currently serves as a part-time Lecturer for Southampton and Oxford Brookes University (Metropolitan College Campus), where she teaches Maritime Law and Human Rights Law. In parallel, she regularly places her legal research and drafting expertise at the service of European and international organisations such as OSCE/ODIHR, the World Bank and the European Commission.
Ciaran King Europe Litigation Coordinator Expand Europe Litigation Coordinator Ciaran is the Europe Litigation Coordinator for the AIRE Centre. Ciaran joined the AIRE Centre in May 2021 and has been part of the legal team in more than 70 cases before the European Court of Human Rights and UN Treaty Bodies. He is responsible for coordinating our European and international litigation partnerships and was an expert researcher for a Council of Europe study on the UK’s implementation of ECtHR judgments in 2024.
Ruaridh Owens Solicitor and Legal Project Manager Expand Solicitor and Legal Project Manager Ruaridh works primarily on the UK litigation team, covering: - Appeals against refusals of applications to the EU Settlement Scheme - Appeals against deportation for EU nationals - Appeals against refusal to provide benefits (eg, Universal Credit most commonly) to migrants from EU countries As well as doing public law work, Ruaridh also works on advice letters as well as applications to the EUSS, normally for very vulnerable victims (eg, domestic abuse victims, homeless, mental health, children, care leavers, trafficking victims). He also works on third-party appeals, closely involved in preparing submissions, instructing counsel, and doing specific research. Ruaridh is a qualified solicitor and worked at Slaughter and May from 2020 to 2023. He then worked as a judicial assistant at the UK Supreme Court for Lord Hodge, where he worked on immigration and public law cases, such as Rwanda, Abassi, All Saints Spring Park Parochial Church Council and Bertino v Italy. He then studied at the University of Pennsylvania (funded by the Thouron Award), doing a mix of international human rights law and asylum and immigration law, including representing an asylum seeker in the US immigration courts. Ruaridh also interned with the AIRE Centre in 2018.