Specialisms

• Advocacy in all Family Courts: Contested hearings, multi-day final hearings, appeals and out of hours applications.
• Private law matters: Section 7 and Section 37 Children Act 1989, reports and special guardianship.
• Adoption law: Advice to agency decision-makers, conducting placement order and adoption proceedings, post-adoption work and adoption disruptions. We also delivering regular training to prospective adopters.
• Wardship: Advising on wardship proceedings in the High Court.
• Discrete areas of law: Child sexual exploitation, public interest immunity, forced marriage and fabricated induced illness.
• International childcare cases: including adoption matters.
• Care provisions: for older children and young adults.
• Deprivation of liberty: For children involving proceedings in the Court of Protection or under the inherent jurisdiction in care proceedings.
• Advocacy: The majority of our advocacy is dealt with in-house, either by case-holding lawyers or our specialist in-house advocates. We also have strong links with chambers recognised as world leaders in child protection law.
• Radicalisation: Pioneering experience in dealing with cases where radicalisation is an issue.

Our approach

Greater competence in the legal aspects of your work enables you to spend more time with your clients.

That’s why we believe in a partnership approach and have developed and delivered a major training programme for social workers and other child protection professionals, helping you to understand the court process, improving your ability to draft documentation and give evidence in court.

We also play a key role in implementing a Family Drug and Alcohol Court pilot in Kent and Medway, working with the National FDAC Unit, Tavistock and Portman, the judiciary, HMCTS, CAFCASS, Specialist Children’s Services and other key agencies.

Our joint Heads of Group chair the local Family Justice Board and Performance Improvement Sub-Committee, which in turn fosters close working relationships with CAFCASS and the local judiciary.

We also provide a telephone helpline for our clients; meaning there is always a friendly and expert lawyer to speak to should you need urgent or immediate legal advice.

We believe that the combination of our expert sector knowledge, public service ethos and heritage, our innate understanding of public-sector service provision and our competitive pricing allows us to seamlessly become an extension to your in-house team.