Jeremy Johnson was part of the counsel team (with Michael Beloff QC, Robin Tam QC and Charles Bourne) that appeared for the Secretary of State in the Supreme Court in R (Lumba and Mighty) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2011] 2 WLR 671. This case was heard by nine Supreme Court Justices. More than 400 authorities were cited, the largest number amount ever cited to a court in this jurisdiction.

In April 2006 it came to light that over 1,000 foreign national prisoners (FNPs) had been released without it first being determined whether they should be deported. Shortly thereafter those prisoners were re-detained and FNPs who reached the end of their sentence continued to be detained under immigration powers. At that point, the published Home Office policy was that there was a presumption of liberty for FNPs. However, the Home Office operated a practice, undisclosed to the public or the courts, which amounted to a near blanket policy of detention.

This appeal was brought by two FNPs on the basis that, among other things: (a) it was unlawful for the Secretary of State to maintain an unpublished policy; (b) it was unlawful for the Secretary of State to maintain a policy with a presumption of detention; (c) any significant public law error rendered detention unlawful whether or not the error was causative or material to the detention; (d) Lumba and Mighty were entitled to more than nominal damages; (e) Lumba was detained contrary to the Hardial Singh principles; and (f) Lumba and Mighty were entitled to an award of exemplary damages.

Please click here to see a full analysis of the decision of the Supreme Court.

Jeremy was described in the 2011 edition of Chambers and Partners as "an extremely bright public lawyer with an outstanding intellect… one to go to if you have a complicated public law challenge…always on top of the facts and　a model of fearless independence"

He practises in the areas of police law, public law, human rights (domestic and international) and civil liberties.

Jeremy was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2011