Ole Hansen
Ole Hansen manages the practice. He trained and practised in the City before deciding that there was more to legal life than looking after large corporations and accepted an invitation from a legal aid firm in Hackney. He later spent 7 years as Co-Director and Director of the Legal Action Group and then combined work as a journalist, lecturer, legal consultant, and television producer/presenter before returning to full-time practice in 1995, setting up Ole Hansen & Co, which is now Hansen Palomares. He is a member of the Colombia Caravana. He has written three books and innumerable articles on legal practice but since going back into full time practice in 1995 he has not had much time for writing. In 2005 he was the Legal Aid Practitioners’ Group “Legal Aid Personality of the Year”. Ole is fluent in Danish and speaks some Spanish.
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Maria Palomares
Maria Mercedes Palomares is the partner in overall charge of our housing, public law and community care work. Maria specializes in access to housing and social services with focus on the rights of disabled people, migrant workers and asylum seekers. She has particular experience in representing mentally incapacitated people. Maria was born in Colombia. After studying sociology she obtained post-graduate qualifications in the UK in welfare economics and housing/planning and trained as a social worker. She set up community organisations for Latin American women and has been involved in promoting the rights of migrant and refugee women as well as the promotion of international human rights. From 1983 onwards Maria was employed in law centres as a housing adviser before becoming involved in setting up Ole Hansen and Co and qualifying as a solicitor in 1996.
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Jacobo Borrero
Jacobo Borrero is head of our housing department. Jacobo qualified in May 2011 after training with us. Jacobo also acts as office manager. He is in charge of our administration and is our first point of contact for IT support. He has customised our case management system and developed and implemented the automation of document templates. Jacobo was born in Colombia and is a native Spanish speaker.
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Nadine Clarkson (non-practising)
Nadine Clarkson provides expert advice as a consultant in community care and public law housing. She has expertise in working vulnerable clients and clients who lack mental capacity. She is also a part-time Judge in the Social Security and Child support Tribunal and Immigration Appeal Chamber. Before becoming a judge in 2011 she was for many years a solicitor at Hansen Palomares and successfully conducted litigation in the Court of Appeal, House of Lords, and European Court of Justice. She qualified as a barrister in 2002. She has also served as a trustee for the London Advice Services Alliance, the Latin American Disabled People’s Project, and the Clapham Community Project. Nadine speaks Spanish.
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Isabel Escobar
Isabel qualified as lawyer in Colombia where she worked in various legal and social development roles, including as legal advisor for the victims of the armed civil conflict. She moved to the UK in 2012 and has worked in various legal and charitable organisations, including as a development coordinator for a mental health charity, intern legal caseworker at the AIRE Centre and volunteer migrant advocate at the Hackney Migrant Centre. In addition to her law degree, Isabel holds a Master of Laws in Human Rights Law from Queen Mary University of London, a Diploma in Advice for Victims of Violence from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and a Diploma in Conciliation from the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana de Medellin. She qualified as a solicitor in the UK through the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme and was admitted to the roll of solicitors in 2022. Isabel is a native Spanish speaker.
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Deborah Martins
Deborah studied law at the University of Surrey and completed the Legal Practice Course at the University of Law, Moorgate. She has volunteered for the National Centre for Domestic Abuse, and the Joint Enterprise Appeal Project. Deborah is a native Portuguese speaker.
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