International Child Abduction Barristers

A number of barristers within our Family Law Group have significant experience of international child abduction cases.

These are:

Adrian Hall (1989 Call)

Since his call to the Bar in 1989 he has practised predominantly in family law. Between 2001 and the end of 2007 he worked as an in-house advocate with a firm of solicitors specialising in Family law during which time he was also involved in in-house training with the firm. He has represented local authorities, guardians and parents in care proceedings, parties in residence and contact disputes, and domestic violence cases. He also has experience in dealing with Hague Convention cases and issues around international abduction.

Yolanda Solari (1992 Call)

Has significant experience of international child abduction cases and Hague Convention matters. Yolanda also has been involved in relocation cases, one in particular involving the issue of children being relocated to the Turks & Caicos Islands.

Abimbola Badejo (1992 Call)

Bim has a growing family law practice with an emphasis on private and public law Children Act proceedings. He also has significant experience and expertise in cases involving international child abduction in leave to remove cases (both temporary and permanent removal) as well as Hague Convention and non Hague convention matters.

Alexander Scott-Phillips (1995 Call)

Alexander's practice also has an International element dealing with child abduction, forced marriages and leave to remove children from the jurisdiction in the High Court.

Beverly Roberts (1998 Call)

Beverly's Family practice encompasses International Movement of Children, Finance and Divorce, Care, Residence and Contact, and Children Act in particular. She has extensive knowledge and interest in the rights of children in the context of legal proceedings and in the wider society.

Sophie Hill (2003 Call)

Sophie frequently represents plaintiffs and defendants in cases of international child abduction, both in interim and contested final hearings.

She has broad experience of many international aspects of private law relocation and public law requests of foreign authorities.

Elizabeth Hartnett (2005 Call)

Elizabeth is an experienced advocate in the matters relating to the movement and abduction of children. She has frequently represented clients on both sides of the argument for a child to be removed from the jurisdiction to reside in another country. She has also put her forthright and cutting advocacy to use in the High Court dealing with international child abduction and wardship cases. She is available to offer advice and representation on all aspects of these types of Children Act and inherent jurisdiction cases

Kerrie Croxford (2007 Call)

International Movement of Children: Experience in representing clients in proceedings with an international aspect, including child abduction (acting for Plaintiffs and Defendants in Hague Convention and Brussels II Regulation proceedings and cases where these do not apply); international relocation, contact and the enforcement of foreign orders and Wardship and the Inherent Jurisdiction of the High Court.

Victoria Roberts (2009 Call)

Victoria receives instructions on a range of family law matters. In private law children matters, she has experience of contact, residence and applications for leave to remove from the jurisdiction. She has represented parties in contested final hearings and fact findings. During her pupillage, she also gained experience of child abduction proceedings.

Onyoja Momoh (2010 Call)

Onyoja has appeared in cases involving the international movement of children and is developing a specialist practice in the area. She is experienced in advising clients in cross-border family disputes concerning both Hague and non-Hague convention countries. Onyoja has given seminars and presentations on domestic abuse in the context of the Article 13 (1) b) defence under the 1980 Hague Convention.

In academia, Onyoja achieved a first class in her LLM dissertation titled “Does the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction justly serve the welfare needs and interests of the child?”. In 2014, she was awarded a PhD research studentship at the University of Aberdeen, and her work is funded by the Elphinstone Scholarship. Her research focuses on domestic and family violence in the context of the 1980 Hague Convention and is supervised by Dr Katarina Trimmings and Professor Paul Beaumont.

Website: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/law/research/people-72.php