1 Crown Office Row Brighton welcomes Ayisha Robertson - Aug 2025
Ayisha Robertson is a specialist in Family Law.
Her educational background and MSc in Psychodynamics enable her to effectively work with children and vulnerable clients. She is frequently instructed to represent clients with learning difficulties and recognised psychiatric disorders.
Ayisha is acknowledged as an experienced junior in both private and public law children matters. She represents parents and children through their Guardians in both domains. Ayisha is a preferred choice for parents in cases involving sensitive issues related to mental health and learning disabilities. Her approachable manner makes her accessible to clients, who form strong connections with her, while her robust and thorough advocacy ensures clients feel their cases are presented with the utmost force.
Children’s Guardians appreciate her attention to detail and balanced approach. Committed to achieving the best outcomes for children, Ayisha is equally adept at challenging care plans and Local Authority evidence as she is in amplifying Guardians’ analyses in support of proposed final care plans.
Ayisha provides several seminars per year to solicitor clients and organisations such as Resolution.
“Ayisha is fantastic! Her friendly and approachable manner puts clients at ease from the get-go. When representing her clients in Court, her thorough and robust advocacy style, continues to showcase her client’s position in a way that is well received by the Judiciary”
Public Law Children/Care ProceedingsAyisha passionately represents parents and children, through their guardians, across the spectrum of hearings from Emergency Protection Orders (EPOs) and contested Interim Care Orders (ICOs) to final hearings. She is regularly instructed in cases involving non-accidental injury, chronic neglect, physical abuse, substance misuse, mental health issues, and sexual abuse. She is trusted by her clients and is not afraid to provide firm advice when necessary.
Selected Cases
- Represented a father in a six-day fact-finding and six-day final hearing, including the cross-examination of a child witness. Her success at the fact-finding hearing led the Local Authority to change its care plan at the Issues Resolution Hearing (IRH) to one of rehabilitation of the children to her client’s care.
- Represented a mother who was a minor at the time of the Local Authority’s application. The case involved serious issues around parental mental health and cognitive capacity. Litigation lasted for two years in total and in two parts. Following the conclusion of evidence at the end of a four-day final hearing, Ayisha successfully achieved an adjournment for further assessment of the parents.
- Represented a father in a complex matter with eight respondents. The case involved multiple fathers, previous private law proceedings, regular local authority involvement over a nine-year period, and chronic neglect of the children. Proceedings concluded with Ayisha’s client’s biological child being placed in the care of the paternal grandmother under a Special Guardianship Order (SGO), with Ayisha’s client supporting his child’s care.
Ayisha is an accomplished private law advocate and regularly represents parents and 16.4 guardians in a wide range of hearings, including contact, residence, and relocation hearings, as well as contested fact findings, enforcement, appeals, non-molestation, and occupation orders. In private law, Ayisha has successfully negotiated settlements in cases where parties had adopted entrenched positions. On one occasion, she mediated a meeting between two parents who had not spoken for two years, resulting in apologies and a commitment to co-parent respectfully. She frequently appears in complex children matters involving allegations of coercive control, emotional, financial, and physical abuse, sexual assault, and parental alienation. She also hosted a series of podcasts for Family Law Week on the issue of parental alienation.
Selected Cases
- Represented a father facing serious allegations of Honour Based Violence, rape, and serious domestic abuse with an international and cultural element. This case lasted for two years, and by the time of the application, the applicant father had not seen his daughter for half of her life. After protracted litigation, the applicant father was permitted contact with his daughter, and a progression of contact was ordered.
- Successfully dismissed an application for a non-molestation order at the first hearing.
- Represented a mother in a case where the key feature was insidious parental alienation. The respondent father alleged the children had suffered serious physical assault at the hands of their mother, but serious concerns were raised about the children’s mental health and school attendance following their move into their father’s care. A 16.4 Guardian was appointed, and a Section 37 report was undertaken by the Local Authority. Ayisha successfully persuaded the court that a Public Law Order was needed despite a Section 37 report to the contrary.
Ayisha accepts instructions from lay clients via Direct Access.
