A-Z Family Law

As part of our ongoing podcast series, we are pleased to offer you a unique opportunity to have your family law questions answered directly by our experienced family law practitioners, Amanda Jepson and Zoe McGrath.

Whether you have queries about divorce, child arrangement orders, ADR, or any other family law topics, Amanda and Zoe are here to share their knowledge. They bring a wealth of expertise and experiences from their combined 46 years in the legal profession.

Examples of questions may include:

• "How would you deal with a difficult opponent?"
• "How do you switch off after a particularly emotionally draining case?"
• "What are your top tips for an effective submission?"

Please submit any questions you may have by reaching out to us at events@42br.com. Amanda and Zoe will be addressing your queries in a dedicated Q&A podcast which will be recorded and released in the Autumn.

We look forward to receiving your questions and providing you with insights and answers.

About Amanda

Amanda is a senior junior and specialist family law practitioner with extensive experience in all aspects of the law relating to children.  She has a wealth of representing local authorities, children, parents, extended family members and intervenors.

The primary focus of Amanda’s practice is public law children cases. She has dealt with cases involving allegations of non-accidental injury, allegations of abuse and neglect, cases with an international element such as placement overseas, or with linked criminal proceedings, selective mutism, fabricated illness, radicalisation, Secure Accommodation Orders, and cases involving the Official Solicitor, or in the Family Drug and Alcohol Courts.

As well as care proceedings, she is regularly instructed in cases involving adoption, relinquished babies, wardship, Female Genital Mutilation, and forced marriage.

Amanda develops an easy rapport with her clients which enables her to give them robust advice. She will argue persuasively for her clients to achieve the best outcome, at all levels of court.

In her spare time, of which there is little, she tries, mostly unsuccessfully, to prize her three teenagers away from their devices. She enjoys paddleboarding, kayaking, and walking along the North Norfolk coastline – but only if the weather is clement. Being from the Southern Hemisphere, she is not a fan of English summers despite enduring them for 25+ years.

About Zoe

I have been practising family law, but most specifically child law for approximately 27 years. My route to the bar was far from conventional.  I was employed as a Trainee Legal Executive straight from 6th Form college.  I then qualified as a Solicitor.  As my passion was always for advocacy, I transferred to the Bar in 2022.

This gives me a fairly unique perspective on all aspects of being a child law practitioner.  I know what it‘s like to have a huge caseload and I know what it’s like to receive a complex brief at the last minute and have to be ready to make submissions.

The most important thing I would like people to know about me is that I love my work and I feel very privileged to be able to do what I do every day.

At 15 I was offered work experience with a children panel solicitor.  I have never forgotten meeting a fellow 15 year old who was the subject of care proceedings and had already had a child of her own.  The mirror of what my life could have been if I had been born to different parents in a different place wasn’t lost on me even at that young age. That is when my devotion started for this work.

My current practice is predominantly public law children, representing all parities but more often parents and children.  I also represent parties in private law proceedings, and of course, on domestic abuse issues as the link between domestic abuse and child law is often sadly inseparable.

I am fascinated by everything linked with what I do but am particularly intrigued by adoption and its role in our society with a particular interest in post adoption sibling contact….I am also interested in how vulnerable parties are protected within court proceedings; the role of intermediaries and the potential conflict between a fair trial and available resources; as a person that really enjoys representing young people, Deprivation of Liberty Orders are also an issue I find thought provoking.

I have shared all of this information about me with you to encourage you to please ask me and Amanda anything at all about the whole spectrum of child law.  You might have a specific question about the law; you might have an ethics question or how to cope with a difficult Judge or Opponent…Amanda and I will have the answers for you and probably some examples of when we have had to put the answer to your question into action.  We aim to make this podcast as informative, interesting and entertaining as possible, but we need interaction from you to be able to achieve that.

15th Oct 2024

Amanda Jepson

Call 2005

Zoe McGrath

Call 2022 | FILEX: 2003 | Admitted as a Solicitor: 2010