“You were fantastic Stephen, during a very emotional and stressful time I know we would have found this all a lot more difficult without you.”
Stephen is director and head of the care team at The Family Law Company. Having qualified as a Solicitor in 1994 Stephen focussed on civil litigation law for 5 years before moving to family. Although Stephen has experience in all areas of family work, he has a particular interest in all matters relating to children, the rights of the child and the best interests of the child.
He is a member of the Law Society Children panel and represents children, parents and extended family members, primarily in cases where the local authority is involved but also in private family disputes about children.
Stephen acts for parents as well as extended family members (in particular Grandparents) and for and against Local Authorities in terms of public law matters. He specialises in contact issues, residence issues, step parent adoption, adoption and Special Guardianship Orders.
He is a Trustee of Grandparents Plus the national dedicated to supporting kinship carers – grandparents and other relatives raising children who aren’t able to live with their parents.
To see a video of Stephen talking to The Grandparents Association about helping those grandparents’ with issues such as special guardianship’s and denied contact click here.
Relevant Experience
- Supporting a grandmother in proceedings where she had lost contact with her grandchild. She had started the proceedings with guidance but despite the Court order she was still denied contact. It was transferred to the High Court; a psychologist was instructed and the relationship between the child and grandparent was found to be crucial to the child’s wellbeing.
- Acting for a child who had been adopted in a South American country, which was not recognised in the United Kingdom. The matter was heard in the High Court and the adoption was allowed to proceed.
- Acting for a mum who was a drug addict to secure a family placement for her child, who had been seriously harmed while in her care, so that she could still have good contact with her child;
- Representing a mother to help ensure two siblings remained in contact. The eldest was adopted as the mother was unable to care for the child, but she was able to care for the younger child. The mother applied to the court for an order this was refused by the Circuit Judge but the Court of Appeal granted her permission to make her application and a guardian was appointed.
