Family
Kathryn specialises in family law and is regularly instructed in public and private law matters, appearing in the Magistrates Court; County Court; High Court and Court of Appeal.
Public Law
Kathryn acts for parents and children in care proceedings involving issues of neglect, non-accidental injury, mental health and drug issues, sexual abuse, as well as applications for deprivation of liberty orders, applications for secure accommodation orders, and dispute as to jurisdiction. She has experience of dealing with parents with limited capacity and/or cognitive functioning issues, necessitating the input of intermediaries, advocates and the Official Solicitor, as well as parents with psychological/psychiatric disorders and/or disabilities, and cultural and language differences.
Private Law
Kathryn accepts instructions in respect of applications for child arrangement orders, enforcement orders, specific issue orders, leave to remove from the jurisdiction, and applications under Part IV of the Family Law Act 1996, as well as 16.4 cases – both privately funded and covered by Legal Aid. Such applications have involved issues of parental alienation, fictitious illness, physical and emotional harm, and domestic abuse.
Cases
- Re C [2020] EWCA Civ 257 – Representing the Mother at the Court of Appeal and successfully defending the Judge of first instance’s decision not to remove the child from her Mother’s care; consolidating ‘new’ criteria in respect of the legal test for the interim separation of parent and child;
- S-L (Children: Adjournment) [2019] EWCA Civ 1571 – Representing the Mother at the Court of Appeal; and in the words of Jackson LJ ‘valiantly defended the recorder’s decision’.
- Representation of a Mother who was in the pool of perpetrators alongside her ex-partner and Father of the baby, both of whom were accused of causing three posterior rib fractures to the child. The Mother was completely exonerated, with findings being made against the Father, and the Judge ordered a plan of rehabilitation of the children to their Mother’s care;
- Representation of a Mother who has an extremely low IQ, learning disabilities and fluctuating capacity who was facing allegations of bruising by grabbing the child’s arm. The Judge made a finding of unexplained injury, exonerating both parents.
