Profile description
Specialist Practice Areas
Direct Access Family Law
Alex acts for local authorities, parents, relatives and children in public law proceedings relating to care and placement orders. He has experience in taking instructions from children directly and through their guardian and in cases where clients have mental health problems.
He has been instructed in a variety of interesting private law cases in which disputes have centred around parents' religious beliefs and mental health. He is experienced in cases involving actual or threatened abduction both within the UK and beyond and in applications for leave to remove a child from the jurisdiction. He has wide experience in disputes over residence and contact, often made complex by allegations of domestic violence.
Alex regularly advises on the possibility of seeking judicial review of local authority decision making and has also advised several local authorities on their potential liability in relation to such claims and those made under the Human Rights Act.
Alex's experience also includes cases involving ancillary relief, financial remedies and TOLATA matters.
Recommendations
“He has been very supportive throughout, and understanding of our concerns taking into account things we were worried about”- Social Worker, Leeds City Council; January 2017.
"Alex has shown great commitment to the client and his advice has been of the highest quality in this unusual and difficult case. He has been pleasant to work with and always accessible, which are also very important"-The Official Solicitor, October 2015.
He is recommended in the Legal 500 2011 - good on his feet.
Recently Concluded Cases
A (Children) [2015] EWCA Civ 1254 (08 December 2015)
Reported Cases
Counsel for the Appellant in Re K (A Child) [2010] EWCA Civ 478 in which the Court of Appeal allowed an appeal against an order refusing direct contact notwithstanding that the trial judge had rightly made "coruscating criticisms" of the father's immoral and dangerous behaviour: cohabitation with his mother-in-law, a conviction for people-trafficking and a failure to accept a serious breach of a non-molestation order. The court reiterated "the court's starting point in any inquiry into contact, namely the need in principle for a child to have some sort of a relationship with both her parents and at least an informed sense of her own identity".
Lectures/Seminars
Alex regularly provides lectures and seminars for local authority staff, solicitors and other interested groups. His lectures are CPD accredited.