Melanie frequently undertakes advocacy in Public Children law cases at all levels, enabling her to provide continuous representation from the start of your case to its conclusion.
Melanie has extensive experience working on international child abduction cases. She successfully represented the defendant Mother in the case of Re E (Abduction: Intolerable Situation) 2008] EWHC 2112 (Fam); [2009] 2 FLR 485 in her request to prevent the summary return of her 11 year old son from England to the USA under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980. The court took account of the child’s objection to a return; his settled life in the United Kingdom with his mother, stepfather and half-sibling; and the fact that his return would break up that family unit.
Melanie regularly represents children both in public law and international cases. She acted in the case of R v E [2016] EWHC 3113 (Fam) (28 November 2016) where she successfully made an application to join a 13 year old to high court proceedings in relation to her father’s application for enforcement to seek the young person’s return to Spain against her wishes. She also acted in the case of FE v MR and others [2017] EWHC 2298 (Fam), 14 September 2017 for the children when the high court made an Article 15 transfer request despite a first instance decision and ongoing appeal in Spain to request that the court proceedings be transferred from Spain to England.
Melanie completed her undergraduate degree at Loughborough University and studied law at the College of Law in York obtaining a distinction. She sits on the Law Society Children Law Sub-Committee and is a member of the Child Abduction Lawyers Association, Reunite International, Resolution and the Association of Lawyers for Children.