Alternative Families, Children, Court of Protection, Domestic Violence, Human Rights, International, Surrogacy and Legal Parenthood
Bianca has a busy and diverse practice in all aspects of children law, as well as applications under Part IV Family Law Act 1996. She regularly acts in public law cases, representing local authorities, parents, grandparents, and guardians. In private children law, Bianca has expertise in cases concerning allegations of rape and domestic violence, as well as those involving intractable contact and residence disputes. She is very experienced in dealing with cases with an international element.
Bianca is the head of the Alternative Families Practice Group in chambers and has a particular expertise in surrogacy law and legal parenthood. She is highly knowledgeable about both the case law and the statutory provisions in this complex area of law, and has lectured and published articles on the subject for Family Law Week. Most recently, she appeared in the reported cases of A & B (No 1 Fact-finding judgment) [2015] EWHC 1059 (Fam) and A & B (No 2 – Parental Order [2015] EWHC 2080 (Fam), which concerned an international surrogacy arrangement in India
Called 2012, prior to practicing at the Bar, Bianca volunteered for a number of years with the Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre and the National Centre for Domestic Violence, as well as The Women’s Institute, a gender think tank in Hong Kong. From 2010-2011, Bianca was a legal intern at the Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where she helped to draft appeals in the reparations proceedings against Thomas Lubanga and monitored sexual violence and related ICC cases in the Cote D’Ivoire, the Central African Republic, and the DRC.
Bianca’s professional and academic experiences have provided her with the skills necessary to be a strong and effective advocate. She is adept at oral advocacy and cross-examination, and her skills in respect of written advocacy have been praised as “excellent” in the High Court.
Bianca prides herself on providing a high level of client care and being accessible to both her professional and lay clients. She tends to take a pragmatic approach to any dispute and seeks to manage her clients’ expectations in a way that is both sensitive and realistic. Bianca is well-liked by her clients and works tirelessly on their behalf.
Recent cases include:
Representing an intended father in a parental order applcation where he and the intended mother were no longer in a relationship and the intended mother had made false allegations of domestic violence against him. Representing a mother in the Court of Appeal where the lower court had ordered no direct contact (and limited indirect contact) between the mother and her child. Representing a parent accused of sexually abusing his child during community contact in private law proceedings. Representing a mother in Hague Convention proceedings where the father allegedly acquiesed to the child being removed from the US to the United Kingdom. Representing a father in a Re W hearing in public law proceedings, where the father’s teenage son had retracted his allegations of serious physical chastisement. Representing a mother where the father alleged that she had subjected their daughters to female genital mutilation (FGM).Since gaining tenancy at Coram in 2014, Bianca has continued to do a substantial amount of work for the Bar Pro Bono Unit, and volunteers with LawWorks, the Big Voice, and the Queen Mary Legal Advice Centre. In 2015, she won the Jordan’s Family Law Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year. She also is a regular contributor to Family Law Week.
French (intermediate).
Middle Temple; Family Law Bar Association; Association of Lawyers for Children; International Surrogacy Forum; Bar Pro Bono Unit; Association of Jewish Lawyers; Rights of Women (Advisory Group)
University of Cambridge, MA – Law 2015; City Law School (Inns of Court School of Law), LLM 2013; City Law School (Inns of Court School of Law); Bar Professional Training Course 2012; University of Cambridge, BA (Hons) – Law 2010; University of Oxford, D.Phil – English Language and Literature 2008; University of Sussex, MA – English Literature 2003; Reed College (US), BA – English Literature 2000