Our immigration lawyers

Vanessa is one of the most highly regarded experts in immigration law, with three decades of specialist experience.

She is recommended by Chambers & Partners UK, Chambers High Net Worth Guide Top Tier, Legal 500 Hall of Fame and Who’s Who Legal as a Thought Leader in commercial and personal immigration.

“Vanessa has a wealth of connections at the Home Office and frequently liaises with them in relation to the development of immigration policy,” according to Who’s Who Legal, and she has “a particular flair for appeals at all levels and challenging refusals.”

“Vanessa Ganguin is especially knowledgeable in the handling of immigration matters for entertainment industry clients,” according to Chambers & Partners, and Legal 500 commends her “particular niche in acting for US corporate clients looking to establish a presence in the UK.”

With a glittering legal career spanning decades, Philip Trott has been described by Chambers as the “go to guy for any horrendously complex cases.” “You cannot get better” according to Chambers High Net Worth, which has described him as “the godfather of immigration law.”

“Philip Trott is a legendary figure in immigration law” according to The Spear’s 500 Top Recommended Immigration Lawyers.

Philip’s clients have led him onto the stage at Glastonbury Festival, into their private jets, VIP lounges and various news headlines.

As well as often providing expert commentary on various news media, Philip has consistently ranked at the very top of the industry in all the major legal guides. Like Vanessa Ganguin, Philip is ranked a Thought Leader in Corporate Immigration according to Who’s Who Legal.

Working across the spectrum of personal as well as business immigration, Philip is renowned for his record on particularly complex and challenging cases.

He has a rich history of assisting ultra and high net worth clients and high-profile celebrities on a wide variety of UK immigration matters, including successfully helping many appeal adverse decisions, including those arising from spent criminal convictions.

Philip is renowned for tricky discretionary immigration applications outside the rules, as well as sports and media-related work and cases involving national security issues.

Philip has contributed to several LexisNexis publications on the ever-changing immigration routes for creatives and sports figures, sat on the LexisNexis Consulting Editorial Board, the American Immigration Lawyers Association Global Migration Publications Committee and co-authored McDonald’s Immigration Law and Practice (7th ed) and Immigration Law and Practice (Jackson, 3rd ed).

He is a winner of a Leaders in Law Global Award 2020 in the category of Immigration Law Expert of the Year in England. Philip provides expert comment on immigration issues on news and current affair shows on the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, and he also makes appearances as an immigration expert on the LBC legal hour.

Philip’s commercial clients range from big household brands to the health, charity and faith sectors, as well as entrepreneurs and start-ups.

He has represented the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA) on the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) employer taskforce.

Philip was admitted to the roll of solicitors in 1979.

Ben Maitland has extensive experience of both private and business immigration allowing him to successfully navigate the UK’s ever-changing immigration system for his clients.

Ben was admitted to the roll of solicitors in 2006 and his legal career has been exclusively in immigration law for a wide variety of business, including multi-national law firms, public bodies, the education and health sectors (including the NHS), charities as well as individuals and their families.

He advises on all aspects of the sponsor licensing system and the Skilled and Temporary worker routes, including Skilled worker and Global Business Mobility routes such as the UK Expansion Worker visa as well as non-sponsored routes such as Graduate, Global Talent, Innovator Founder and High Potential Individuals.

His work includes EU Settlement Scheme late applications, advising individuals, families as well as employers who want to reassure and assist their EU workforce.

Ben provides High Net Worth individuals tactical advice on how to obtain Indefinite Leave to Remain and British citizenship, especially in complex cases where applicants are at risk of failing to meet all the required criteria.

He has a wealth of experience conducting Human Rights Article 8 applications, spouse/partner applications and Immigration Appeals, Administrative Reviews and Judicial Reviews.

Ben provides expert opinions for both claimants and respondents with regard to insurance claims which have an immigration element to them, affecting the scope of damages.

Ben also writes articles and presents on immigration matters. He is on the LexisNexis Editorial Board for Immigration, reflecting his proficiency in all aspects of UK immigration law.

Alex Piletska has a wealth of experience in private immigration and is able to advise on a wide range of cases, including family and human rights applications, as well as skilled work migration. She has a particular interest in complex citizenship and nationality cases, vanishingly tricky Adult Dependent Relative applications, Judicial Review and technical procedural issues like validity and variations.

After studying English at the University of Cambridge, Alex was awarded a First in her Cognitive Psychology BA at the Open University, before completing an MSc in Experimental Psychology at the University of Sussex in 2014. Alex was awarded a Merit in her Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) at the University of Sussex, where her freelance writing career began.

Alex previously worked at Turpin Miller LLP from 2017 to 2025, where she qualified as a solicitor in August 2020. She simultaneously completed her LLM (LPC) with the University of Law, achieving a Distinction (80%). Alex was promoted to Joint Head of the Private Immigration team before leaving to join Vanessa Ganguin Immigration Law working across all UK immigration and nationality law matters in September 2025.

She contributes regularly to Free Movement, a popular immigration and asylum blog, and LexisNexis, where she sits on the panel of experts for immigration and the Q&A panel.

Alex is a co-founder of the award-winning Ukraine Advice Project UK, a non-profit initiative set up to link qualified lawyer volunteers to Ukrainians affected by the conflict seeking free legal immigration and asylum advice. To date, the pro bono project won multiple awards, signed up more than 600 lawyers and helped more than 4,000 families escaping the conflict.

She is ranked an “associate to watch” (Human Rights, Asylum and Deportation) in Chambers and Partners 2023, 2024 and 2025. She was also ranked as an EDI (‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion’) Champion in 2023 and 2024; and she is ranked in the Legal 500 as a “key lawyer” in 2024 and 2025.

Alex is a keen mushroom forager, she loves to read and she never says no to a game of D&D.