Clerking team

Gail Whelan

Family Clerk

David Harrald

Family Clerk

Elisa Clement

Family Clerk

Jonathan read Law at Reading University and was called to the Bar by The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple in 1991.

Children (Public and Private law)

Jonathan is a Family Law specialist and has been so since he started in practice in 1991. He has an interest in all types of family law. He deals with financial remedies and has extensive experience conducting care proceedings acting for Local Authorities, parents, extended family members and Guardians. He frequently acts for children via their Guardian in private law matters.

Cases

D (A Child: Placement Order) [2022]

Jonathan was led by Lorraine Cavanagh KC for the respondent local authority in the Court of Appeal against a placement order. Lord Justice Peter Jackson applied the Supreme Court’s decision in Re H-W to an adoption case – “Adoption can only be approved where it is in the child’s lifelong best interests and where the severe interference with the right to respect for family life is necessary and proportionate.  The court must therefore evaluate the family placement and assess the nature and likelihood of the harm that the child would be likely to suffer in it, the consequences of the harm arising, and the possibilities for reducing the risk of harm or for mitigating its effects.  It must then compare the advantages and disadvantages for the child of that placement with the advantages and disadvantages of adoption and of any other realistic placement outcomes short of adoption.” The appeal against the placement order was allowed. The judgment is available here.

Memberships

  • Family Law Bar Association