Ben Sheldrick Managing Partner

Ben joined the firm in 2000 and became Managing Partner in 2014.

He has been recognised for many years as a leading UK Immigration expert by the legal community and he is ranked for his expertise in Immigration Law by the main professional directories; Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners.  He also appears in Legal Experts (published by Legal Business) and he is rated by  Global Law Experts. He is recognised in Who’s Who Legal as a thought leader on Brexit. He has also been named as a Who’s Who Legal Thought Leader on Corporate Immigration.

Ben has acted as immigration counsel to many household name multinational companies. In particular, he has worked for a number of major City institutions operating within the financial services sector in London.  He has spoken on numerous occasions to the International Mobility Banking roundtable and other leading professional bodies.

He also guides media and arts organisations in planning the movement of talent between the UK and the European Union. He has worked with the Society of London Theatres in preparing for the new immigration framework following the UK’s departure from the single market.

He has experience in strategic immigration planning for large organisations and he assists international assignment departments and human resource managers in developing compliance and Legal Right to Work (“LRTW”) policies. This work has become increasingly important given the emphasis on devolved responsibility within Skilled Worker policy.

Ben contributed to the development of the Points Based System (“PBS”) by organising and chairing stakeholder meetings with officials from UK Visas and Immigration as well as directors of PBS policy. He hosts seminars annually with representatives of UKVI and stakeholders from the business community to discuss developments in Immigration Law as they impact upon business and high net worth individuals and entrepreneurs.

He is an active member of the International Bar Association (“IBA”) immigration committee and he has spoken at a number of their conferences, both in the UK and around the world.  He is also on the Consulting Editorial Board of LexisNexis Immigration PSL.

Ben is Co-Editor of the Corporate Immigration Review, an annual publication that identifies trends in Global Immigration Law issues attracting contributions from leading immigration and nationality practitioners around the world.

He works closely with British American Business Inc (“BAB”) the transatlantic business organisation dedicated to helping companies connect and build their business on both sides of the Atlantic.  Magrath Sheldrick LLP hosts two business immigration conferences with BAB every year where they attract well known thinkers and policy stakeholders in the immigration field. Past speakers have included the Minister of State for Immigration, the Chairman of Parliamentary Home Affairs Select Committee and the Consul General of the US Embassy in London.  Ben is a member of the BAB Policy Group and has helped draft their policy manifesto with particular focus on the immigration policy consequences of Brexit.

He has been closely involved with the Immigration Law Practitioner Association (“ILPA”) for many years and he has taught a number of their training courses.  He is also an Associate Member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (“AILA”) and he attends the AILA global immigration forum annually.

Ben chairs an annual conference, Immigration Law – Shaping Law and Policy into Solution Focused Advice for Business Clients for White Paper Conferences.

Ben is particularly interested in the development of immigration policy and the way successive UK governments have approached the conflict between the need to attract talent and investment from overseas and the political difficulties resulting from a popular perception of the negative impact of mass migration and weak immigration controls.

Ben and his team act as technical immigration partners to Expat-Academy, a leading industry forum for global mobility professionals.  He has presented a series of Essential Briefings on Immigration Law and his team hosted a number of training sessions on global mobility issues for multinational companies.

Ben is a member of the Union Internationale des Avocats (“UIA”) and sits on their Human Rights Commission.

Ben is also a member of the Investment Migration Council, which is an association for citizenship-by-investment professionals and stakeholders. He is also a member of Chatham House.

Ben is listed in the Legal 500 Hall of Fame for Immigration.