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All fifty-three members of chambers are family law practitioners including a number
who have part-time judicial appointments. Members
of chambers sit as Recorders, Deputy High Court Judges
and District Judges and as chairs of Special Educational
Needs Tribunals and Mental Health Review Tribunals.
The range of call of members of chambers is from 1970
to 2005. This ensures that all types of cases and
hearings can be undertaken by barristers who have
the appropriate experience and expertise. We believe
it is very important that junior barristers have ongoing
support and assistance with professional development
from their senior colleagues. Cases are conducted
within different forums and at all levels from the
Family Proceedings Court to the House of Lords.
Members of chambers regularly provide teaching and
training for solicitors, social workers and others;
write books and articles; and appear as specialist
speakers at seminars and conferences.
Adoption
We offer a range of highly skilled specialists who
are aware of the complexities that can arise within
adoption applications, for example, international
factors, step-parent adoption and post-adoption contact.
Whether acting for birth or adoptive parents or for
adoption agencies, we will always act with the utmost
sensitivity and consideration.
Contact and Residence
Disputes between separating parents about their children
are often the most highly charged and difficult type
of court experience for the client and the lawyer.
We offer a combination of sound advice and robust
advocacy underpinned by the wide range of experience
within the children
group.
Local
Authority Intervention in Family Life
The intervention of the state in the life of any family
is difficult for all concerned. Court proceedings
may be lengthy and can be both frightening and overwhelming.
Medical and psychological issues, where they arise,
often involve expert evidence. We offer parents/carers,
children and local authorities the highest level of
advocacy and advice in dealing with public law proceedings.
While we strive to ensure continuity of representation
in all types of cases we are conscious of the fact
that this is particularly important in protracted
care proceedings.
Child Abduction
Modern relationships are ever more likely to have
an international dimension. This means that the removal
of children from the jurisdiction is an increasingly
common occurrence. The law governing child abduction
and prevention of removal to other countries is developing
rapidly. We are able to offer clients up-to-date knowledge
of the law and considerable experience in advocacy
at all levels.
Violence
in Relationships
The impact of violence on the victim is obvious. Recently,
the impact on children who witness violence has received
a great deal of judicial scrutiny. We are well versed
in the law and procedure relating to violence in relationships
and can provide urgent advice and representation to
either party in proceedings.
Divorce and Financial Provision
The breakdown of a relationship will result in emotional
distress and upset but difficulties can also arise
in relation to the division of property and settlement
of financial arrangements. Disputed issues may include
the division of assets, provision for children, pre-and
post-nuptial agreements, tax, pensions and the enforcement
of court orders. We advise and represent clients across
the entire spectrum of financial provision applications,
from those with modest means to those with substantial
assets.
Good advice on financial matters is needed at an early
stage in proceedings to avoid protracted litigation
and unnecessary costs. We are able to provide a broad
range of barristers in this area to suit the needs
of particular clients and the demands of each case.
Inherent
Jurisdiction
We have considerable experience in this field from
medical treatment cases and publicity injunctions
to non-convention abduction cases.
Developing New Areas of Law
We are committed to representing clients in new and
developing areas of law such as incapacity, human
rights and judicial review. We are alive to the impact
of the Human Rights Act 1998, which has provided a
new perspective on family law issues and which we
apply in all cases in which it is relevant.
We also have a particular
interest in developments in law and practice in
relation to civil partnerships.
Family Cases
Listed below is a sample of significant cases in which
members of chambers have been involved in recent years:
Mubarak -v- Mubarik [2007] 1 FLR 722 [2006]
EWHC 1260 (Fam)
Ancillary relief - Party in contempt - Discretion
whether to hear or impose terms - Objective of
achieving procedural justice - Proportionality
Re
H (A Child)
[2007] EWCA 392 (Civ)
Care proceedings – Admission of fresh
evidence –
Ordering viability assessments
Re P-B (Placement Order) [2006] EWCA Civ 1016
Westminster City Council
-v- RA, B and S [2005] EWHC 970 (Fam)
[2005] 2 FLR 1309
Care proceedings - Powers and
duties of local authority - Duty to convene
multi-disciplinary conference prior to initiation of
proceedings
Re O (Care Proceedings: Evidence) [2004] 1
FLR 161 (Fam)
Care proceedings - Child separately represented -
Whether child should give oral evidence - Inferences
to be drawn from mother's failure to give oral
evidence
Re A (Care Proceedings: Asylum Seekers)
[2003] 2 FLR 921 (Fam)
Care - Immigration - Family subject to removal
directions - Father implied he might kill himself
and children - Assessments found no real risk to
children - Parents supporting continuation of care
proceedings - Whether proceedings to continue
Re C (Welfare of Child: Immunisation) [2003]
2 FLR 1054 (Fam)
Specific issue order - Immunisation - Best interests
of child - Dispute between parents
Re S (A Child)(Identification: Restrictions on
Publications) [2003] 3 WLR 1425 (CA)
Children - Court's inherent jurisdiction -
Restriction on publication - Parent charged with
murder of son - Injunction to restrict reporting of
criminal trial by prohibiting identification of
defendant and victim in order to protect privacy of
surviving child - Whether jurisdiction to grant -
Balance of Convention rights to respect for family
and private life and to freedom of expression -
Whether injunction to be granted - Human Rights Act
1998 (c 42), s. 12(4), Sch. 1, Pt I, arts 8 and 10
Re W and X (Wardship:
Relatives Rejected as Foster Carers) [2003] EWHC
2206 (Fam)
Care proceedings in relation to four children -
three living with grandparents after death of
sibling - fourth child placed with a view to
adoption - court finding that remaining three should
stay with grandparents - grandparents rejected by
local authority as approved foster carers - children
made wards of court with residence order in favour
of grandparents and supervision order in favour of
local authority
Re H (A Child)(Contact: Mother's Opposition)
[2001] 1 FCR 59 (CA)
Re H (A Minor)(Occupation Order: Power of Arrest)
[2001] 1 FLR 370 (CA)
Occupation order against minor
Re S (Facilitated Communication) [2001] FLR
148 (Fam)
Abuse allegations - learning disabled children
Re F (A Child)(Contact Order) [2001] 1 FCR
422 (CA)
Contact and domestic violence
A NHS Trust v D [2000] 2 FLR 677 (Fam)
Non-resuscitation - inherent jurisdiction - human
rights
Re F (Adult: Court's Jurisdiction) [2000] 2
FLR 512 (CA)
Inherent jurisdiction - adult at risk - human rights
W v W (Ancillary Relief: Practice) [2000] Fam
Law 473 (Fam)
Financial provision on divorce - evidence after FDR
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