Public Law

Zoe represents local authorities, parents, other family members and children on all aspects of public law proceedings, such as care proceedings, adoption, special guardianship proceedings and deprivation of liberty proceedings. 

With a great communication style Zoe is as effective when representing a teenager who has suffered a trauma or who has severe learning difficulties as with professional clients such as social workers and Guardians. Having completed vulnerable witness training, Zoe is very live to issues around access to justice and special measures that enable all parties to be fairly represented and crucially to give their best evidence.

Zoe is able to get to the heart of any proceedings whether that is understanding the emotional dynamics involved within the family the proceedings concern or deciphering key medical or other expert evidence. 

Some of Zoe’s most notable recent cases have involved the following issues: 

• Representing a father accused of fracturing his 4 month old babies arm. No findings were made, and the children were immediately returned to the parent’s care.
• Representing a child minder as an intervenor to proceedings within which the child minder was accused of causing a non-accidental injury to an 8 week old baby. No findings were made against the child minder, and she was discharged as a party to the proceedings. 
• Representing a father whose daughter suffered from a rare life changing auto-immune condition. The father lived in the middle east. After many years of having no contact with his daughter, an order was made for this to take place regularly in his country of origin. 
• Representing a local authority as junior counsel, seeking numerous findings in respect of inter-sibling sexual abuse and failure to protect. All findings were made. 
• Representing a mother in adoption proceedings where she sought to have contact with her children post adoption. Contact was agreed and will take place in person each year in addition to indirect contact. 

Court of Appeal

• Zoe was instructed to represent a competent child on her own instructions to appeal a decision for a care and placement order in respect of her baby sibling. The appeal was granted. 

Private Law

Zoe is regularly instructed to act on behalf of parents involved in complex private law cases including cases where there has been very serious allegations of domestic abuse, sexual abuse, substance misuse and parental alienation. Zoe is also often instructed to act on behalf of the children in these cases through their Children’s Guardian. 

Zoe also has extensive experience in representing parents where there have been no allegations of abuse but are simply unable to agree on how to co-parent their children including parents in same sex relationships who are sharing the care of children with birth parents and or others.

Zoe is often instructed on cases where one parent is seeking permission to remove children permanently from the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom.

Care Standards Regulatory Law

Zoe also has specialist expertise in the law relating to the regulation of Children’s Services, in respect of childminders and daycare providers.  She has extensive experience of representing clients before the First-tier Tribunal (Health, Education and Social Care Chamber).