Winstanley-Burgess After
training in Skipton, Burgess moved to London, where in 1972 she worked at Dawson & Co in
Lincoln's Inn with Robert Winstanley, a friend from Cambridge, and did voluntary work for the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants.
Harriet Wistrich trained at Winstanley-Burgess from 1995 to 1997. Burgess acquired a reputation for showing great kindness to her clients, helping them financially and with housing. Jawaid Luqmani of Luqmani Thompson called her "extraordinarily talented, with an encyclopedic grasp of the law" and someone who had "almost no ego". MP
David Winnick paid tribute to Burgess in the House of Commons in 1997, telling MPs that "in Government circles", Burgess was "probably looked upon as one of those difficult characters who pursue matters when they should not and who become over-interested in civil liberties. It is a good job that we have such people in Britain. The rule of law and the democratic process is strengthened by such solicitors."
Marriage In 1985, Burgess married Youdon Lhamo, a
Tibetan refugee working as a nurse in the UK and one of Winstanley-Burgess's former clients. a group co-founded by Stephen Whittle that campaigns for transgender rights. Also in 1986, Burgess represented
Viraj Mendis, a Sri Lankan national who claimed the right of
sanctuary at the Church of the Ascension in
Hulme, Manchester. The men stripped down to their underwear on the tarmac in an effort to slow down their removal. Burgess won at the court of appeal, but the
House of Lords overturned the decision, and the group was sent back to Sri Lanka. Burgess and another lawyer travelled to Sri Lanka, located the group, gathered evidence of their mistreatment, and appealed to the
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The appeal was unsuccessful, but in response to the case the British government changed the law. The High Court ruled against M., the Court of Appeal overturned that decision, and the Law Lords upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal, ruling that "ministers and officials may be liable for contempt of court and that injunctions and other legal remedies are available against them". The government was required to pay costs. According to the legal scholar
William Wade,
M v. Home Office "put the rule of law back in place". In another case initiated by Burgess,
Chahal v. United Kingdom (1996), involving the deportation to India of a
Sikh separatist, the ECHR ruled that Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights "provides an absolute prohibition of torture". Even if there are compelling grounds to suppose that a deportee is engaged in terrorism, they cannot be deported if doing so would place them at risk of torture. Burgess wrote in
Independent Lawyer in 2003 that she was exhausted from "working 13-hour days, plus weekends, and earning about the same as a teacher", and that although "you'll be lucky to make a profit, let alone fund a pension, the media will shamelessly libel you as a legal aid millionaire." She took a year off to study
Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet, and when she returned to England in 2005, she and her spouse separated. Burgess moved to an apartment in
Cambridge Circus, central London, and lived as Sonia when not working. As David, she worked for Luqmani Thompson & Partners, an immigration law firm, and for the
Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture. ==Death==