Public Law Children

Reagan is regularly instructed by local authorities, on behalf of parents and on behalf of children (through their guardian) in care proceedings. She has a wealth of experience in this area. Her experience covers:

• Domestic abuse cases including serious sexual abuse/rape allegations, and vulnerable witnesses;
• Inflicted injuries including serious fractures and allegations made by children;
• Historical and long-standing physical abuse allegations and bruising;
• Fabricated induced illness cases;
• Cases with complex cultural issues involving the making of forced marriage protection orders;
• Cases involving parties who lack capacity, are protected parties, and their interests will be represented through the Official Solicitor;
• High Court cases involving withholding information from parties and cases relating to relinquished babies.

Reagan is also experienced in complex international care cases. She has experience of all levels of care matters up to the Court of Appeal. Further, she has successfully appealed District Judges and Circuit Judges, and successfully responded to appeals. She is not a barrister who backs down if she believes that a decision against her client is wrong.

Her extensive experience in care matters makes her second-to-none in this area of law where she is regarded as a specialist in the field. She is a regular representative for many local authorities, and very much an essential and preferred barrister for many parents and guardians in complex care cases.

Private Law Children

Reagan understands the high tensions in private children disputes and has experience of dealing with complex cases that may involve domestic violence, injunctions against parties, the involvement of children’s services via S7 or S37 reports and/or the issue of care proceedings, shared-care arrangements, parental alienation and jurisdictional disputes.

Reagan’s background in children’s services allows clients to get incisive advice into the implications of parties’ actions and the proper application of the welfare checklist. She is able to find sensible middle grounds in such disputes and ensure that long-lasting agreements can be reached. She is also capable of challenging the evidence at final hearings and giving clear and relevant submissions on her clients’ behalf if that is what is required.

Injunctions

Reagan is frequently instructed by solicitors to represent vulnerable clients who have been abused and require protection via NMOs, Occupation Orders and/or Forced Marriage Protection Orders. She understands the need for without-notice applications and how to gather evidence and represent these clients throughout proceedings. She is alive to the need for vulnerable clients to not be exposed to their perpetrators at court and is aware of the methods of protecting her clients and the unexpected/interlinked issues that her clients may face around, for instance, child contact.

Reagan’s thorough understanding of injunction proceedings and her ability to connect with vulnerable clients makes her somewhat of an expert in this area.

Legal 500 2024 – ‘Reagan is a robust advocate who goes above and beyond.’

Legal 500 2023 – ‘Reagan is a force to be reckoned with – extremely capable and diligent. She is fierce, confident and fearless in court.’

Legal 500 2022 – “An impressive advocate with a strong eye for detail. She is calm in and out of the courtroom. Conscientious and compassionate, she builds very good rapport with clients and judges.”

Legal 500 2021 Rising Star – “Reagan’s mind works fast, and draws on the specificity of the case, which is incredibly useful in cases where there are related proceedings, siblings, have been long hearings and there is a lot of detail to draw on. She is confident, which puts the client at ease, especially where other representatives are partisan and can make professional clients feel intimidated or under attack.”

A Local Authority v Y & Anor (Notification of The Father and Relatives) [2023] EWHC 2040 (Fam) An application by the local authority to obtain a declaration that they did not need to notify the child’s father of his existence, or consult him when placing the child for adoption by consent. The court laid down new guidance on how these applications need to be marked as ‘urgent’ to avoid delay for the child.

H-D-H (children) and C (a child) [2021] EWCA Civ 1192 The court of appeal hears 2 appeals on the issue of what allegations should be litigated in care proceedings. They reject the arguments of leading silks in the first case, but allow the appeal in the case of C (a child) for the reasons given by counsel, Reagan Persaud. In delivering Judgment, the court of appeal confirms that the test to be applied when the court decides what allegations need to be litigated remains as set out in Oxfordshire County Council v DP, RS and BS [2005].

Re F (Assessment of birth family) [2021] EWFC 31 An application by the local authority to explore a mother’s birth family as possible carers for her child, even though the mother had been adopted and so this family had no legal tie to the child. Cobb J sets down/reiterates the guidance to be applied in cases where assessment of wider family members is opposed by the respondent parents in care cases.

• Deputy District Judge 2024
• Bar Council Sub-Committee member – Remuneration 2024
• The Association of Lawyers for children 2022 to present
• Committee member - National Family Law Bar Association – 2021 to present
• Sub-Committee member - Family Law Bar Association – Children – 2021 to present
• Bar Council committee member – 2021 to present
• Bar Council Sub-Committee member Equality, Diversity & Social Inclusion – 2021 to present
• Visiting Lecturer at BPP University, teaching on the Bar Professional Training Course – 2020
• Examiner/Assessor for the Bar Professional Training Course – 2019
• Public Access Accredited – 2017
• Bar Pro Bono Unit
• Inner Temple Society
• Bar North Eastern Circuit

Publications in Family Law Journal:

• Let the child speak: forgotten considerations around children giving evidence in care proceedings [2024] Fam Law 777
• Practical guidance: how social care should work with a family whilst potential non-accidental injuries are being investigated. Part 1. [2021] Fam Law 1322
• Practical guidance on how social care should work with a family whilst potential non-accidental/inflicted injuries are being investigated. Part 2. [2021] Fam Law 1553
• The treatment of transgender individuals in the Family Court – good practice – [2023] Fam Law 97
• Supporting parents with learning difficulties in care proceedings: Part one –good practice in the first few weeks of proceedings. October 2023. [2023] Fam Law 1251
• Supporting parents with learning difficulties in care proceedings: Part Two – the process of assessment and teaching. [2023] Fam Law 1496
• Supporting parents with learning difficulties in care proceedings: Part Three – the final hearing challenge.  [2024] Fam Law 129

• How to effectively interact with trans people throughout the justice system? Reagan Persaud’s guide for fellow practitioners. May 2023

Publications in Family Law Week (website):

• The family court’s jurisdiction in care proceedings involving children who have come to the United Kingdom following the commencement of the war in Ukraine (April 2023)

Publication for Young Citizens

• • A history of LGBTQ+ rights in the UK: remembering the past to inform the future, Feb 2024