Education

B.A., LL.B., Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

Admitted as a Solicitor 1995

Called to the English Bar 1997

Admitted as a Solicitor & Barrister (Australia) 1993

Affiliations

Family Law Bar Association

Association of Lawyers for Children

Human Rights Lawyers Association

Area of Practice:

Family Law Specialist

Richard is instructed predominantly in public law care and adoption proceedings and the more complex private law children work.

Public Law Children

Representation of local authorities, parents, interveners and children’s guardians at all stages of care and adoption proceedings. Regularly acts in cases involving complex medical and factual evidence arising from possible non-accidental injuries, sexual and physical abuse and chronic neglect.

Experienced in cases involving the Official Solicitor; children who are separately represented from the guardian; concurrent criminal prosecutions; mental health problems; disability in parents and children; applications for special guardianship and placement; contested adoptions; legal and illegal immigrant cases; and placement of children outside of the jurisdiction.

Private Law Children

All aspects of private law proceedings including cases involving domestic violence, sexual abuse and fact finding hearings; intractable contact disputes; cases where the child is separately represented; specific issue applications; and jurisdictional disputes. Emergency injunctive relief and committals.

Representation of parents in cases of child abduction (convention and non-convention cases); Brussels IIR; leave to remove from the jurisdiction and international relocation of children.

Financial Provision

Experience of proceedings involving jurisdictional disputes; interveners; pension sharing; enforcement; freezing orders; cohabitation disputes; and applications under Schedule 1 Children Act 1989.

Reported Cases

Re R (a Child) [2005] EWHC 2018 (Fam): May 5, 2005
Richmond v Ballester [2006] EWHC 352 (Fam): March 2, 2006
[Both cases involved consideration of whether the English Court had jurisdiction in accordance with Brussels II].