Meet the Team
Dr Charlotte Proudman is a multi-award-winning barrister, academic and campaigner, recognised as one of the UK’s leading family lawyers and among the most prominent women’s rights advocates in the country. She was named Woman of the Year 2025 at the Women and Diversity in Law Awards.
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Renowned for her pioneering legal work on coercive control, domestic abuse and systemic reform, Charlotte has shaped how family courts understand and respond to gender-based violence. Her cases have set national precedents, defining gaslighting and coercive control as forms of domestic abuse; setting aside findings where victims did not have special measures; and challenging the use of victim stereotypes and rape myths in judicial reasoning.
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She has been instructed in seminal cases ensuring children are recognised as victims in their own right and that women in refuges are protected by fair procedures for serving court orders. Her case also marked the first time intersectionality was defined in a family court judgment, a landmark ruling handed down on International Women’s Day.
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Charlotte’s representation of former MP Kate Kniveton shown on tv in Kate’s Story: Breaking the Silence (ITV1) secured landmark rulings on survivors’ rights to speak publicly about their experiences of abuse, changing public and legal discourse alike. Charlotte’s record of over 70 published judgments places her among the most cited family law advocates of her generation. ​​
Her highly acclaimed book, He Said, She Said: Truth, Trauma and the Struggle for Justice in Family Court (2025), exposes systemic misogyny within the family justice system and draws on her groundbreaking cases to reveal how survivors of abuse are silenced, disbelieved, and retraumatised by the very courts meant to protect them.
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Charlotte’s courtroom successes have been matched by her campaigning for institutional accountability, including her high-profile challenge to judicial membership of the Garrick Club, which led to multiple resignations and the Club’s decision to admit women, a turning point in legal culture.​​
As a Senior Research Associate at the University of Cambridge, Dr Proudman writes on gender inequality under the law, integrating academic insight into every aspect of her legal practice. She holds a doctorate in female genital mutilation law and policy from King's College, Cambridge, which was published as a book, FGM: When Law and Culture Clash, 2022 by Oxford University Press.
She is also the Founder of Right to Equality, the non-profit organisation that led the successful campaign to repeal the presumption of parental involvement in the Children Act 1989, a reform now recognised as one of the most significant protections for survivors of domestic abuse in recent decades. She continues to lead the national campaign for a Family Justice Bill to enshrine children’s safety and women’s rights in law.​​
Charlotte’s vision shapes every aspect of Proudmans. Drawing on her leadership in family law reform and landmark cases on private law children, domestic abuse, transparency, and financial remedies, she has built a firm that combines rigorous legal strategy with a commitment to systemic change. By uniting solicitors, barristers, and campaigners for change in one legal firm, Proudmans delivers representation informed by cutting-edge legal, academic, and policy insight. Each case is approached with precision, compassion, and purpose, ensuring that clients receive not only exceptional advocacy but also the benefit of a firm actively reshaping the standards and culture of family law.
Dr Charlotte Proudman
One of the bar's most outspoken feminists
The Times
Charlotte Proudman has represented many parents accused of parental alienation
BBC
Few would take on the legal system and challenge it from within, but Charlotte Proudman has done just that
The Telegraph
Award-winning barrister Dr Charlotte Proudman has spent her career advocating for vulnerable women in family law courts
The Guardian
Awards
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Awarded, Woman of the Year, Women and Diversity in Law, 2025
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Highly Commended, Barrister of the Year, Family Law Week, 2025
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Highly commended, Woman of the Year, Women and Diversity in Law, 2024
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Awarded, Advocate of the Year, Women and Diversity in Law, 2023
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Shortlisted, Legal Personality of the Year and Case of the Year (Griffiths), Lexis Nexis 2023
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Shortlisted, Legal Personality of the Year and Case of the Year (H-N and Others), Lexis Nexis 2022
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Shortlisted, Case of the Year, Griffiths v Tickle [2021] EWCA Civ 1882, Family Law Awards, 2022
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Hot 100 Lawyers, The Lawyer 2022
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Highly Commended, Family Law Junior Barrister, Family Law Awards, 2021
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Awarded, Case of the Year, H-N and Others), Family Law Awards, 2021
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Shortlisted, Case of the Year (C-603/20 PPU – MCP), Family Law Awards, 2021
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Shortlisted, Pro Bono Junior Barrister, Advocate, 2021
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Awarded, Rising Star, Women in Law Awards, 2020
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Shortlisted, Woman Lawyer of the Year, Women in Law Awards, 2020
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Shortlisted, Family Law Junior Barrister, Family Law Awards, 2020
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Manveet Chhina
With over a decade of experience in legal practice, Manveet Chhina is a highly respected and fearless litigator and advocate in family law. Known for her tenacity, insight, and trauma-informed approach, she has developed a formidable reputation for representing some of the most complex and sensitive cases before the Family Court and High Court.
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Manveet’s practice spans the full breadth of private and public children law proceedings, including cases involving allegations of coercive and controlling behaviour, sexual abuse, serious emotional harm, and the intersection of family law with mental health and trauma. Her empathetic yet incisive advocacy is rooted in a deep understanding of how trauma affects both children and parents within the family justice system, ensuring that her clients’ voices are heard with dignity and precision.
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Manveet has acted in a number of notable cases, where her meticulous preparation, strategic judgment, and sharp cross-examination have been recognised by both clients and peers. Her extensive knowledge and experience are borne out through her success in achieving outcomes that safeguard vulnerable children and empower survivors of abuse.
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She is skilled in:
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Complex fact-finding hearings involving allegations of rape, coercive control, and serious safeguarding concerns.
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Applications concerning parental responsibility, contact restrictions, and protective orders.
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Complex international children proceedings.
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Manveet’s advocacy style is characterised by a rare combination of intellectual rigour, emotional intelligence, and unflinching resolve. Clients and colleagues alike describe her as a solicitor who “never gives up,” whose command of the law is matched by her compassion for those she represents.
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As a trauma-informed practitioner, Manveet is committed to advancing systemic fairness and improving professional responses to victims of domestic abuse within the family courts. Her work reflects a broader commitment to justice reform, gender equality, and the protection of children from harm.​​​​​​​​​
Manveet exceeded my expectations of a solicitor by going above and beyond to get the results needed whilst taking my emotions into consideration. I would never have been able to get through it without her and am thankful I had her by my side supporting me.
I strongly suggest Manveet’s services to anyone who is going through the same. She is not only an excellent solicitor; she is a real supporter for survivors of domestic abuse.
Client
Client
Manveet completely turned my case around. Not only was this because of her incredible talent, skill and understanding of the law and domestic abuse, but it was her remarkable ability to connect with and communicate with me, at a point where I was highly traumatised and vulnerable. She was able to build a relationship with me, based on trust, which enabled me to fully share details of the abuse I had encountered.
Her written and oral advocacy reflects an intellectual and emotional depth far beyond her years of qualification.
Counsel
I am forever grateful for Manveet's support, professionalism, and compassion. She didn't just represent me; she stood by me every step of the way.
Client
Client
Awards
Finalist (2025): Family Law Awards
Mona Faham
Mona Faham is a highly accomplished paralegal whose work reflects outstanding analytical ability, legal precision, and a deep commitment to justice and equality. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy with a concentration in Law, graduating with High Distinction and membership in Phi Beta Kappa, the United States’ most prestigious academic honour society.
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At Right to Equality, a UK non-profit organisation dedicated to advancing the rights of women and girls and founded by Dr Charlotte Proudman, Mona was a dedicated champion of women’s rights and played an integral role in advancing the organisation’s legal and policy work. She conducted in-depth legal research, drafted policy briefings, and helped to launch campaigns addressing judicial bias in the family courts. Her work contributed to national advocacy efforts, including calls to end the presumption of contact and to expose the misuse of “parental alienation” in custody disputes. Her efforts strengthened the organisation’s campaign for a fairer and more protective justice system for victims of abuse.
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During her time at Berkeley Law, Mona conducted comparative legal research with the Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law, examining how legal systems across jurisdictions confront inequality and structural discrimination. Her scholarship contributed to the Centre’s published volume on systemic legal inequality, reflecting her deep understanding of the intersection between law, gender, and social reform.
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Mona also distinguished herself as a finalist in the OSCE International Moot Court Competition on global disability rights, where she drafted written submissions and presented oral arguments before a panel that included legal experts and UN leadership at the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in Warsaw. Her advocacy on behalf of a client denied reasonable workplace accommodations was commended for its clarity, precision, and intellectual rigour.​​
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At Proudmans, Mona applies her advanced research skills, drafting expertise, and detailed understanding of equality and family law to support complex casework and legal reform initiatives. She plays an active role in developing case strategies, and contributing to the firm’s broader mission of achieving justice and systemic change. Her professionalism, analytical insight, and commitment to excellence make her an invaluable member of the team and a paralegal of exceptional calibre.