2024
Father v Mother & Anor [2024] EWHC 3332 (Fam)
Represented the mother in an international contact dispute following her removal of the child from the United States. The court accepted that separation from the mother would cause profound emotional damage and postponed U.S. contact until at least 2028, with substantial safeguards. Read more at the Transparency Project.
Hannah Summers & Anor v Kristoffer Paul Arthur White &Ors [2024] EWFC 182 and W v J [2024]EWFC 351 (B)
Represented the mother in a successful appeal against a child arrangements order made despite findings of rape and coercive control against the father, with the court identifying serious procedural failings including an inadequate PD12J risk assessment. Following the appeal, the mother supported two journalist’s applications securing publication of the father’s identity as a convicted serial rapist, overcoming opposition from both the father and Cafcass. Read in the Guardian 14/09/2024, TBIJ 31/08/2024, the Guardian 17/07/2024 and TBIJ 16/07/2024.
Appeared for the mother in a successful appeal against the instruction of a male psychologist, arguing she could not properly engage as a victim of male violence and had been denied participation measures; appeal was allowed. Previously secured the recusal of Sir Jonathan Cohen, partly due to his membership of the all-male Garrick Club, giving rise to a perception of gender-based bias. Read morein London Evening Standard, Independent, the Guardian and the Daily Mail.
Re GB (Parental Alienation: Welfare) [2024] EWFC 168 (B), Re GB (Parental Alienation: Factual Findings) [2024] EWFC 75 (B) and GB (Part 25 Application: Parental Alienation) [2023] EWFC 150
Successfully represented a mother in an appeal against the instruction of a psychologist focused on parental alienation; the expert instruction was set aside. Read more in the Guardian. At a fact-finding hearing, the court found the father had used claims of parental alienation, as DARVO (deny, attack and reverse the role of victim and offender), and the court ordered that the father pay £50,445.40 towards the mother’s costs.
This was the first judgment defining DARVO. Read more in TBIJ and the Guardian. Final orders included no direct contact, a section 91(14) order, restrictions on parental responsibility, and permission for the children to change their surnames.
Successfully appealed the appointment of a psychologist in a case involving findings of domestic abuse, where the proposed expert’s primary focus was parental alienation. The instruction was set aside.
​Appeared for the mother in a successful appeal against the father having unsupervised child contact. The appeal raised failures to consider the need for participation directions, a fact-finding hearing and the proper application of PD12J. The order was set aside. Read more in Barrister Magazine.
Represented the mother in care proceedings connected to a suspected illegal abortion police investigation. The mother supported the media’s application to report the proceedings so that she could tell her story. The case engaged important issues of transparency in the family court. Read more at Tortoise Media and listen to the podcast.
Acted for the mother in Hague Convention proceedings brought by the father for the child’s return to Italy. The mother successfully established an Article 13(b) defence. The court accepted that she was a victim of domestic abuse, including coercive and controlling behaviour, and dismissed the father’s application for summary return of the child. Read more at Hague Mothers.