Public Law Children

Jess predominantly practices in public law proceedings. She is regularly instructed to act on behalf of Local Authorities, parents, grandparents, Children’s Guardians and interveners. Jess has extensive experience representing clients who are vulnerable and in cases where children have been required to give evidence. Jess has experience of dealing with a host of issues including, but not limited to: domestic abuse, controlling and coercive behaviour, secure accommodation, neglect and substance misuse and non-accidental injuries through various mechanisms.

Private Law Family

Jess is frequently instructed to represent parents, grandparents and Guardians in private law proceedings. Jess is experienced in dealing with finding of fact hearings addressing allegations of parental alienation, rape and controlling behaviour. Jess also has experience of contempt of court proceedings and enforcement proceedings.

Re AT [2024]

Jess represented the Children’s Guardian in a Finding of Fact hearing, and in the subsequent Final Hearing under separate proceedings, concerning the same family. Within the case, the Local Authority sought findings of non-accidental injury whereby a baby had sustained a serious head injury and was shaken.

Re LL [2024]

Jess was instructed by the Children’s Guardian in a case in which there was disagreement between the Local Authority and the Guardian about the final care plan for a child. The case involved complex issues of mental health disorders, alcohol misuse and domestic abuse in the form of controlling and coercive behaviour. Following her cross-examination of the social worker about the adequacy of their assessments Jess secured an adjournment of the proceedings for her client, which resulted in further assessment of connected carers and resulted in a final placement within the family.

G and J [2023]

Jess was led by June Venters KC, and they represented a Father faced with the most serious of allegations arising out of the death of his baby, aged teen weeks at the time. The case was listed for a lengthy composite final hearing spanning over four weeks and the court heard from numerous medical experts and lay witnesses.

The client instructing June and Jess was particularly vulnerable and had the benefit of an intermediary. Despite initial difficulties engaging the client in proceedings, the perseverance of June and Jess led to him developing a positive professional relationship with them and enabled him to fully participate in proceedings. Within the hearing itself, June and Jess successfully argued for the elimination from the Local Authority’s threshold document for a finding on cause of death and the judge deemed the same an unnecessary exercise to be undertaken by the family courts.

The evidence within the case was voluminous with there being over 90,000 pages of phone data and other documents which required skill to interpret and understand, such as the reports of varying professors of medicine and pathology.

LB [2023]

Jess represented a special guardian in a Final Hearing which resulted in the child being returned to their care under the auspices of a supervision order.

Re MF [2022]

Jess represented a client facing committal proceedings for allegations he had been in breach of a non-molestation order on three occasions, in family proceedings. The client was potentially facing a prison sentence if the court found him to be in contempt. Jess successfully made an argument that the application made by her client’s partner should be struck out on the basis of procedural failure in bringing the application.

Re NS [2022]

Jess represented a Mother in private law proceedings in a finding of fact five-day hearing. The Mother had made allegations of the Father of domestic abuse including physical, sexual and emotional abuse and controlling and coercive behaviour. The Father had made counter-allegations of parental alienation. The court found the Mother’s allegations to be proven and dismissed the Father’s, making no findings against the Mother.

• The Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn
• North Eastern Circuit
• Recipient of the Felicity Ann Goddard Scholarship (Gray’s Inn)