Children’s Rights

The Garden Court Children's Rights team is at the forefront of protecting and upholding children's rights domestically and internationally, from child victims of trafficking and criminal exploitation to children's rights in education and climate security.

To contact the Public Law Clerks, please email Gavin John (gavinj@gclaw.co.uk)

+44 (0)20 7993 7600

Our multi-disciplinary expertise enables us to offer children holistic legal advice to ensure we are at the cutting edge of developing children’s rights.

We have considerable expertise in working with key domestic and international laws and Conventions including the Children’s Act 1989, Human Rights Act 1998 and United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Our team have authored leading textbooks and has worked with leading children’s rights organisations such as Alliance for Youth Justice, Children’s Rights Alliance England, Coram, ECPAT, Just for Kids Law, JUSTICE, Save the Children and the Youth Justice Legal Centre.

Many of our team have first-hand experience working with children and are committed to upholding their rights, from unaccompanied asylum seekers to children facing deprivation of liberty, whether in the family courts or as a child defendant. We strive for the highest standards for children and provide seminars, training and guidance to continually improve legal knowledge and expertise on children’s rights.

 

KEY AIMS

  • Ensure every child is represented by a barrister with specialist knowledge of children’s rights.
  • Offer holistic representation to children by providing a multi-disciplinary approach in our casework.
  • Develop and strengthen children’s rights through litigation, policy work and education guided by children’s lived experience and collaborating with NGOs and grassroots organisations.

WHAT WE DO

  • We are at the forefront of strategic litigation in the children’s rights field.
  • We offer consultancy expertise on legislative development, policy and guidance.
  • We provide high-quality training and resources on cutting-edge children’s rights issues.
  • We have unparalleled cross-jurisdictional, multi-disciplinary expertise.

How we work

  • We deliver ongoing internal training on children’s rights to ensure we are the leading experts at the forefront of best practice.
  • We foster multi-disciplinary practice within chambers and generate interdisciplinary casework.
  • We collaborate effectively with our child rights partners in NGOs and grassroots organisations.
  • We affect change using our depth of experience working directly with children and young people in the community and institutional settings.
  • We aim to be trauma-responsive, neurodiverse-friendly and anti-racist.

OUR EXPERTISE

The Children’s Rights Team draws on the multidisciplinary strength of chambers. As such, our work covers a diverse field, including:

  • Right to health, housing and welfare services.
  • Protection of vulnerable children, including Looked-after Children.
  • Rights of child victims of trafficking and criminal exploitation (modern slavery).
  • Rights of Black and racialised children including Romani, Gypsy & Traveller children.
  • Right to education including children with Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND).
  • Rights of children and conflict with the law (youth justice).
  • Rights of children detained of their liberty.
  • Rights of migrant and asylum-seeking children.
  • Rights of girls including child marriage and FGM.
  • Protection from climate harm at domestic and international levels.
  • Reparation for breach of children’s rights.
  • Policy, research and guidance on children’s rights.

Children’s Rights

Recent Notable Cases & News

Garden Court Chambers celebrates 50th Anniversary

This year marks 50 years of Garden Court Chambers winning ground-breaking cases of constitutional importance.

Friday 31 May 2024

‘Child Migration: Family and Immigration Laws’ by Kathryn Cronin, Claudia Neale and Jemma Dally out now

Child migration and child movement cases are now more frequent and increasingly complex. In these cases, international and national cross border rules and regulations, and family and immigration laws and proceedings often intersect. This book explains these and associated international family treaties, regulations, rules, cases, guidance and policies.

Monday 23 Dec 2024

‘Unlocking potential: Lawyers Who Care’ published in Counsel Magazine

The article is co-authored by Kate Aubrey-Johnson of Garden Court Chambers and Lucy Barnes of Lawyers Who Care CIC, for the December issue of Counsel Magazine.

Monday 16 Dec 2024

Kinship Care – Statutory Guidance

In October 2024, the Department for Education published statutory guidance for local authorities on kinship care. In this article, Laura Williams has highlighted the parts of the guidance which are likely to come in handy when advising and representing kinship carers.

Monday 16 Dec 2024

Best Practice in Respect of Adoption

On 7 November 2024, the Public Law Working Group published its report, ‘Recommendations for Best Practice in Respect of Adoption’. In this article, Rachel Schon focuses on two out of the five areas the report covers, contact and consensual adoption.

Monday 16 Dec 2024

New enhanced Youth Court fee scheme

Joanne Cecil KC and Kate Aubrey-Johnson were independent expert advisers to the Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review (CLAIR).

Monday 18 Nov 2024

The Team

Rajiv Menon KC

Year of Call: 1993

Year of Silk: 2011

Henry Blaxland KC

Year of Call: 1978

Year of Silk: 2002

Stephanie Harrison KC

Year of Call: 1991

Year of Silk: 2013

Sonali Naik KC

Year of Call: 1991

Year of Silk: 2018

Amanda Weston KC

Year of Call: 1995

Year of Silk: 2018

Keir Monteith KC

Year of Call: 1994

Year of Silk: 2019

David Emanuel KC

Year of Call: 1996

Year of Silk: 2019

Anya Lewis KC

Year of Call: 1997

Year of Silk: 2021

Irena Sabic KC

Year of Call: 2002

Year of Silk: 2023

Joanne Cecil KC

Year of Call: 2005

Year of Silk: 2024

Patrick Roche

Year of Call: 1977

Kathryn Cronin

Year of Call: 1980

Stephen Cottle

Year of Call: 1984

Alistair Polson

Year of Call: 1989

Navita Atreya

Year of Call: 1994

David Jones

Year of Call: 1994

Hannah Rought-Brooks

Year of Call: 1999

Helen Butcher

Year of Call: 1999

Sam Parham

Year of Call: 2000

Felicity Williams

Year of Call: 2000

Kate Aubrey-Johnson

Year of Call: 2001

Stella Harris

Year of Call: 2002

Tom Wainwright

Year of Call: 2003

Jodie Blackstock

Year of Call: 2003

Olamide Ogunrinade

Year of Call: 2004

Victoria Burgess

Year of Call: 2006

Sarah Hemingway

Year of Call: 2006

Stephen Lue

Year of Call: 2006

Jennifer Twite

Year of Call: 2006

Giles Newell

Year of Call: 2007

Lee Sergent

Year of Call: 2016

Shahida Begum

Year of Call: 2008

Helen Foot

Year of Call: 2008

Jacob Bindman

Year of Call: 2010

Emma Fenn

Year of Call: 2010

Michael Goold

Year of Call: 2010

Owen Greenhall

Year of Call: 2010

Gráinne Mellon

Year of Call: 2010

Gerwyn Wise

Year of Call: 2010

Emma Fitzsimons

Year of Call: 2011

Maria Moodie

Year of Call: 2011

Una Morris

Year of Call: 2012

Michael Etienne

Year of Call: 2012

Susan Wright

Year of Call: 2013

Tom Copeland

Year of Call: 2013

Audrey Cherryl Mogan

Year of Call: 2014

Meredoc McMinn

Year of Call: 2015

Shina Animashaun

Year of Call: 2015

Fatima Jichi

Year of Call: 2019

Ollie Persey

Year of Call: 2017

Steven Galliver-Andrew

Year of Call: 2018

Elena Papamichael

Year of Call: 2021

Acland Bryant

Year of Call: 2019

Will Hanson

Year of Call: 2021

Brenda Campbell KC

Year of Call: 2002

Year of Silk: 2018

We are top ranked by independent legal directories and consistently win awards.

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