Areas of Practice
• Family and Matrimonial
• Housing and General Civil litigation
FAMILY & MATRIMONIAL
Mr Squire accepts instructions in all aspects of public and private law relating to children, and in ancillary relief proceedings. With a background working for charities he is well used to dealing with difficult and vulnerable clients. Mr Squire is one of the few family advocates to have experience of litigating Sharia law in relation to Muslim marriages contracted abroad and he has considerable experience of clients from different cultures and the associated problems with language and perception.
Cases of interest: Children
• Represented a confessedly violent father in care proceedings who purported to be doing God’s will in driving the Devil out of the child;
• Guiding a Bangladeshi client with no English from occasional indirect contact to an unrestricted relationship with his child;
• Mr Squire represented a mother in care proceedings whose children stood to be taken from her following non-accidental injuries from her partner. The partner was imprisoned for his role and despite her remaining loyal to him, the children were not removed;
• In a matter involving an abduction to India, Mr Squire persuaded a Circuit Judge to make orders which though unenforceable had the effect of returning the child to the jurisdiction.
Ancillary Relief
Has represented applicants, respondents and interveners in ancillary relief. Cases have involved pension sharing, annuity purchase, TLATA, freezing orders, matters where up to nine properties with five potential beneficial owners were involved and enforcement and contempt proceedings
Housing and General Civil litigation
• Housing
• Landlord and tenant
• Contract disputes
• Personal insolvency
• Licensing
Prior to being called to the Bar Mr Squire worked exclusively in housing: for two national homelessness charities; for local authorities, housing associations and housing law centres. His legal career touched on judicial review of homelessness decisions and latterly he has represented either side in the post-1996 appeals procedure. He has also acted in relation to succession rights, introductory tenancies, and secured leave to appeal in a homelessness matter later compromised following a House of Lords decision which endorsed his arguments in the lower court.
Mr Squire has been keen to develop other areas of civil practice and by way of illustration was retained by a Caribbean government to review its banking legislation. More prosaically, and more usefully, he has undertaken general contract work, personal insolvency, partnership disputes in the Commercial Court and a long-running professional negligence case involving £2million fraud by a solicitor.
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