Lynn has considerable expertise in acting for parents and children in care proceedings and is routinely appointed by Guardians being seen as a vastly experienced practitioner who can be relied upon to act in children’s best interests.  She is a member of the Law Society Children Panel and the Association of Lawyers for Children.  She is an expert on adoption law and has particular interest in issues arising from same sex relationships and surrogacy matters.

Lynn is an accomplished advocate and attends court regularly at all levels. She holds the Higher Rights (civil advocacy) qualification. She has provided Advocacy training for trainee and newly qualified solicitors.

Lynn studied Law/English at Keele University. She was employed as a senior solicitor for two leading legal aid practices before joining Covent Garden Family Law. During her time as a solicitor she has used the negotiating/communication skills she has developed to act as a volunteer Mediator for neighbour disputes in the London Borough of Waltham Forest before then undertaking the necessary training to act as a Bereavement counsellor for over 10 years for a hospital charity. This has enhanced her problem-solving approach.

She believes passionately in de-mystifying the legal process and guiding clients, through what can be a difficult process, in a straightforward way.

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 is a member of the Child Abduction Lawyers Association, Reunite International, Resolution and the Association of Lawyers for Children.

Angela spent several years working for a prominent human rights NGO in the West Bank and is regularly contracted by the European Commission and agencies including UNICEF as an expert consultant on human rights missions, usually in the Islamic world and in West Africa.

Recently she has advised on legal reform in Mauritania, advised on the development of the Ministry of Human Rights in Yemen, advised on child protection in Afghanistan, and has evaluated a child trafficking programme in Ghana, Mali and Niger.

Angela has an LLM in Human Rights and Islamic Law. She is a member of the Law Society Children Panel and has Higher Rights of Audience.

As an experienced family solicitor of 25 years, Haema has seen first hand what a difficult and challenging time it is for separating and divorcing couples and their families when the relationship ends. More and more it seemed like the court led process was unsuited for the majority of couples and families trying to resolve arrangements for their children and also resolving financial arrangements for their long term future.

Haema has felt for a long time that there must be a better way to help families and has chosen to be a ‘peacekeeper’ in her day job. She is a Resolution trained mediator registered with the Family Mediation Council and is also a Resolution accredited specialist solicitor. For several years Haema has been named in the Legal 500 and Chambers directories for her work as a family lawyer. She continues as a Consultant Solicitor and collaborative lawyer for us at Covent Garden Family Law.