Mark Lilley-Tams

Background

Mark is head of the Personal Immigration Team at OTB Legal and co-founded the firm. Having completed a law degree, followed by a Masters in Human Rights Law at the University of Nottingham, Mark has worked in the area of Immigration Law since 2006. Over this time, Mark has developed his expertise in Immigration Law and is well known for his in-depth knowledge of the law and his focus on achieving excellent outcomes for his clients. Before becoming a Director at OTB Legal, Mark was head of the Personal Immigration Team at one of the largest niche Immigration Practices outside of London. 

In the Times list of 200 best law firms, Mark has been described as 'renowned' for his work representing detained clients and seeking compensation. Mark has also been recognised in independent legal directories 'Chambers and Partners' and 'The Legal 500' for his work in immigration law. 

Mark has delivered training on behalf of ILPA on Judicial Review and presented at ILPA's annual general meeting in 2017 on the area of Administrative Review. Mark has also been delivering workshops and training to Universities and Corporations on the impact of Brexit and on the Settled Status Scheme. 

In addition to Mark's representation of immigration clients, he has served on the Panel for the Legal Aid Agency as an Independent Funding and Costs Adjudicator, making important appeal decisions on whether clients should be entitled to legal aid services. Mark has also worked as a Peer Reviewer in the field of Immigration and Asylum for the Ministry of Justice, conducting audits of the quality of work carried out by other Practitioners to determine whether they are meeting their obligations to deliver legal aid services.

Areas of Expertise

Mark specialises in personal immigration matter (family type applications, long residence, British citizenship and EU Settlement Scheme). Mark has a large amount of experience of complex cases and judicial review applications, as well as appeals to the higher courts. Mark also has extensive experience representing clients who are facing deprivation of their British citizenship. 

Accreditations and Awards

Qualified as a Solicitor on 15th March 2010.

Accredited as an Advanced Immigration and Asylum Caseworker (Level 3) by the Law Society. Mark is one of only four lawyers in the Midlands to have been accredited as an advanced caseworker, and is the only lawyer in Nottingham to have been so.

Mark was also ranked in the internationally recognised 2024 edition of Chambers and Partners, as well as being named as a leading individual in the 2024 edition of the Legal 500. 

In Chambers and Partners, Mark received the following review for the UK-wide personal immigration category:

"Mark Lilley-Tams is a seasoned immigration partner with significant expertise across personal immigration. He is best known for his work on nationality matters and often handles complex deprivation of citizenship cases, as well as judicial reviews.
"He is just brilliant; he is very professional and always super responsive.""

Feedback

Mark prides himself on the exceptional service he delivers to clients, and always strives to achieve the best possible outcome with the minimum of fuss. To find out more about what clients have had to say about Mark, read reviews about him on independent review site Review Solicitors.