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Child Care Solicitors

Duncan Lewis Welcome New Director of Family and Childcare Sara Upton (14 June 2018)

Date: 14/06/2018
Duncan Lewis, Child Care Solicitors, Duncan Lewis Welcome New Director of Family and Childcare Sara Upton

We are pleased to announce that Sara Upton has joined Duncan Lewis as a Director in the Family and Childcare department. She will supervise a team of solicitors, trainees and caseworkers alongside Director Sheena Donlon based at our office in Barnet.

Sara has more than 10 years PQE having been admitted as a solicitor in 2006. Most recently she functioned as a Senior Associate at Hodge Jones & Allen where she developed a broad practice in a range of family and childcare matters. Her specialisms include Care Orders, Supervision Orders, Emergency Protection Orders, Adoption matters and Special Guardianship Orders. As a member of the Law Society’s Children Panel and with responsibility for conducting the majority of her own advocacy, Sara is passionate about delivering the best possible results for her client.

Sara regularly represents parents, family members and Children’s Guardians in care proceedings, having dealt with a number of complex and sensitive matters throughout her career. Whether the case concerns non-accidental injury, sexual abuse, domestic abuse, alcohol or drug misuse or Female Genital Mutilation, Sara is “diligent” in her approach, as described by the Legal 500 2017 edition. She is particularly adept at representing children in cases where they have been separated from their Guardians, engaging the child in the Court process and making sure they feel confident in their participation.

As Duncan Lewis is the largest provider of legal aid in the UK, Sara has joined a highly skilled team of Directors leading the way in publicly funded Legal Aid Family law. We have 20 Family and Childcare Directors in our London based offices and nationwide providing assistance across the UK. At our Head Office in Harrow, Adeeba Naseem, Alia Lewis and Ravi Kaur Mahey head the department, Kathy Walker and Sarah Jopling lead in Croydon, with Sheena and Sara based in Barnet. Our Hackney/ Dalston office sits Family Childcare Directors Emine Mehmet, Forida Hakim and Vanket Appalakondiah, whilst Annette Hinds, Laila Bhunnoo, Misbah Ali and Sophie Fretten lead at the New Cross Gate and Shepherd’s Bush offices. Directors Abbid Majeed and Meena Kumari are based in our Bradford office, Idnan Deen in our Leicester office and Krina Parmar, Richard Gray and Shazia Saliheen head our Birmingham branch.

Duncan Lewis Family & Childcare team continues to be recognised by Legal 500 for our large team which ‘covers a broad range of family cases and excels in children’s cases’. The 2017 edition applauded Duncan Lewis for its expertise in representing vulnerable clients under legal aid and we have been recognised for our niche experience in Islamic divorce.

Our Family Childcare teams now have 51 specialist solicitors / Law Society accredited Children Law Panel Members authorised to act for children in all children public law proceedings. Many of our Children Public Law Solicitors also specialise in Children Cross border disputes. Our specialism is illustrative by the fact that Duncan Lewis is one of only a small number of firms in the UK that are on the Lord Chancellor’s Child Abduction & Contact Panel.


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