Julie Stather

Specialising in care proceedings, Julie has particular expertise in cases involving complex medical evidence (especially serious head injuries), chronic neglect and sexual abuse cases. Julie has an invaluable inside understanding of how local authority child care departments operate which gives her clients a considerable advantage, whether she is acting for or against a local authority.

Selected Cases

• A local authority v B [2015]: Representing local authority in a case of infant death and application for placement order for sibling. Complex case involving examination of medical records and post mortem results, with outcome changing expert evidence being obtained from the USA.
• A local authority v C [2015]: Representing the children in case of multi-generational sexual and physical abuse in a 10 day case involving several experts and three generations of family witnesses. Additional findings sought on behalf of the guardian and made.
• A local authority v H [2016]: Representing mother with chronic alcohol and substance abuse problems. Successfully argued that court should not rely on testing results of the last six months and that mother should be given a chance to prove abstinence using the innovative SCRAM device. Application for placement order (adoption) withdrawn and child remained with mother.
• A local authority v D [2016]: Representing father in case where child had a number of additional needs and father had not had the opportunity to learn properly how to meet those needs. Argued successfully that local authority evidence did not meet the new evidential requirements and adjournment and further investigation required. Case concluded with child being placed with father under a Supervision Order.
• A local authority v G [2017]: Representing local authority in case of multi-generational sexual, physical and emotional abuse with both historic and current allegations. This was a complex case requiring forensic analysis of multiple sources of evidence and questioning of several family members. Findings made on all threshold issues and care and placement orders made.

Julie is very experienced in child arrangements disputes and international relocation cases, as well as issues regarding medical treatment and schooling. She has particular expertise in difficult parental alienation cases. She is frequently instructed to represent children through their guardian in complex private law matters. Julie has a particular interest in the important relationship between grandparents and their grandchildren and has written extensively on the topic (see publications below).

Selected Cases

• A v A [2017]: Successfully represented grandfather on his application for contact in a case of parental alienation.
• D v D [2018]: Successfully represented mother in an application for contact at the conclusion of which an application was made for costs of £48,000. That application was successfully defended on the basis that the applicant for costs had been conducting the case unreasonably meaning that a final hearing was likely in any event, that the applicant’s solicitors had incurred unreasonable expense, and that it would be impossible to quantify which costs should be apportioned to whichever element of the case the Court found to have been unreasonably pursued or defended.

Julie is qualified as an Arbitrator under the IFLA scheme and arbitrates in relation to Children Act matters. She has been a qualified arbitrator since 2014 and was co-author of the paper to IFLA which assisted in the extension of the scheme to cover children’s matters. She trains pupils in arbitration practice and writes for Family Law Week on the topic (see publications below). She has presented seminars to solicitors, barristers and to CAFCASS about this important scheme.

Julie is keen to encourage parents to investigate this method of dispute resolution because of the benefits of speed and convenience as well as the significant savings in costs. She is a calm presence in an arbitration, putting parents at their case and gives fully reasoned written Determinations in a timely manner.

Julie accepts work from lay clients via Direct Access. You can view her profile here.