Private Children Law; Public Children Law

Jo specializes in contentious and highly complex cases at High Court level and above involving: • The death of/catastrophic injuries to a child • Non Accidental Head Injury (NAHI)/ Shaken baby allegations ( TRIAD cases) • Vitamin D/Rickets/EDS/genetic disorders and congenital malformations which can mimic child abuse • Fabricated Induced Illness (FII) allegations • ISIS cases: alleged radicalisation of children/ risk of flight to Syria • Sexual abuse (Intergenerational/ Inter sibling/ maternal rape/ genital mutilation/ internet exploitation) • Ritualized child abuse/cultural practices such as Kndoki • Child protection cases involving concurrent criminal prosecution for attempted murder/ child cruelty and neglect/ sex offences • Parent or subject child with disabilities (with a particular interest in Child in Need issues, learning disability issues and the rights of, and services for, a disabled child and/or adult parent within care proceedings) • Cases involving cross examination of a child or vulnerable adult • Re-litigation/challenge to historic findings of abuse based on emerging science/ fresh factual evidence.

Complex private law proceedings involving allegations of domestic abuse and coercive, controlling behaviour, physical, sexual and emotional abuse and neglect of a child or alleged parental/partner abuse). Transfer of residence applications and contact disputes. Jo has delivered training to the judiciary and social care professionals on DA/CCB and Vulnerability following her work in RE HN.

Alongside her practice in the Family Division, Jo Delahunty KC worked alongside Mike Mansfield KC and Barristers from Garden Court Chambers and Doughty Street to represent 77 families at the Hillsborough inquests. On 26.4.16 the longest running Inquest in English legal history came to an end and the jury found that the 96 victims of the disaster who died on 15.4.89 were unlawfully killed and that no fan behaviour caused or contributed to the deaths. Jo Delahunty KC was responsible for leading the team on behalf of 77 families that successfully exposed the failures of the South Yorkshire Ambulance Service to respond to the disaster and the jury found that those failings were so fundamental that they led to or caused loss of life.

Jo has been ranked as a ‘Band 1, Leading Silk’ by Chambers and Partners in successive editions including the most current She has been named a ‘Tier 1, Leading Silk by The Legal 500 in successive editions including the most current Jo has been selected by her peers to be included in the Eighth Edition of The Best Lawyers in the United Kingdom for her work in Family Law.

Jo has been included as one of 100   ‘Women of Distinction’ in Middle Temple’s exhibition ‘Celebrating a Century of Women in Law‘

Professional speaking and publications

Jo will be speaking at the Cumberland Lodge on 10 May 2024 with Vice Chair Leslie Samuels KC, Prof Owen Arthurs and Dr Patrick Cartlidge on ‘Experts in the Family Court Room, a follow up to a Gresham lecture ‘Medical Experts in the Family Court’ talk she gave last year. In June, she will join ITT and the Bridging The Bar Graduation Day. She has also been invited to Jersey by the Family Division to speak and deliver training to their judiciary and court services on the court’s management of domestic abuse and ccb in October.

Jo has had numerous articles published in legal journals (Family Law, Counsel, Law Soc Gazette etc.) and has also gained acclaim for her talks delivered to Barristers, Solicitors, social workers, medical professionals and the public not just on the detail of child protection law but on wider issues affecting the profession such as harassment and bullying, (in)equality at the Bar, work place pressures at The Bar.

Jo has spoken on joint platforms with speakers who are as passionate about child protection and fairness and equality issues as she is. Notably:

Resolution keynote speech (2022) Justice (2022) Bar Council ( 2021) FLBA (Multiple) The Bar and Young Bar Conference (2021) Australian NSW Annual Child Protection Conference (2020 and 2021)

She has delivered training to the judiciary on domestic abuse and ccb and vulnerable parties.

She lectured on Coercive Control to the Sussex Family Justice Board Annual Training event 2021.

Jo sat on the Bar Council Bullying and Wellbeing Summit in 2022

Jo sat on the panel for the Bar Council Race Summit roundtable discussions in Sept 2021

Jo is on the Nuffield Research Project on disability and the child protection system .

Jo actively supports the MT, MTYBA & MTSA ; eg, the International Women’s Day Event where speakers discussed intersectionality, diversity, equality and current topical issues within the profession, Middle Temple ‘Survive & Thrive – Judge: Friend or Foe’ on the relationship between Advocates and Members of the Judiciary.

Jo has been interviewed by BBC Radio 4 for ‘The World Tonight’ where she discussed the significance and importance of the Bar Councils Judicial Bullying Guidance.

Jo was on national TV  interviewed by NewsNight (Dec 2021) on the issue of children on the child protection register killed by parents.

Her interviews for the Advocacy Podcast Brief 15 on ‘Winning the Unwinnable Cases’ (Feb 22) and Brief 16 ‘Understanding the Unfamiliar’ (June 22) have over 1000 + downloads.

Jo’s podcast for Resolution No 6  “The Right Thing to Do” hosted by Anita Mehta and Simon Blain (Oct 21) led to an invitation to give the keynote speech at the Resolution Conference in March 2022 and a follow up Resolution interview with Jo is to be published by Counsel on March 2023

Jo gave the keynote speech at the Young Lawyers Making Change Conference 2021. The conference is aimed at junior and aspiring social welfare lawyers practising legal aid.

“The most destructive thought” interview can be viewed here.

Jo’s interview for episode 9 ‘The Leaky Pipeline’ of the ‘First 100 Years’ podcast is available online.

Publications and Teaching

Jo Delahunty KC was appointed Professorship of Law to Gresham College (Est 1597) in 2016-2020.

She was appointed Emeritus Professor of Law Gresham College (for life) and made a Fellow of Gresham College in 2020; She has also been appointed to sit on Council and has been made a Trustee of Gresham College. This role is taken up alongside her full time silk practice and Recorder Duties. https://www.gresham.ac.uk/news/jo-delahunty-appointed-emeritus-professor-of-law

As Emeritus Professor of Law Jo will continue to give public lectures for Gresham periodically. Her most recent lecture took place on 19th January 2023 with Professor Owen Arthurs on the interface between medicine and law in family cases; `Medical Experts in the Family Court: where two worlds collide’

This continues the 421-year-old tradition of delivering free public lectures within the City of London at Bernard’s Inn and via live streamed web to the UK and internationally.

Jo’s previous lectures and notes are available to download via the Gresham website.

Her final lecture for Gresham College as their Professor of Law was delivered, on 1st April 2021, ‘Diversity in the Legal Profession’. With invited guests, Derek Sweeting KC, Chair of the Bar Council, Brie Stevens- Hoare KC, Mass Ndow Njie (creator of Bridging The Bar) and Toby Stevens.

The Practice of Law (2019-2020)

1. Have Women Achieved Professional Equality? 100 Years since the Sex Disqualification (Removal)

2. 100 Years of Women in Law

3. Can the Law Keep Up With Changes in Society?

4. The Insider’s Guide to Becoming a Barrister

5. The Law is Broken: The Future of Legal Aid

6. Diversity in the Legal Profession

Challenges in the Family Justice System (2018-19) 

1. Ethics In and Out of the Court Room

2. Sexual Harassment at the Bar

3. The 30th Anniversary of The Children Act 1989: Is It Still Fit For Purpose?

4. Politics and the Legal Profession

5. The Child and Medical Treatment: The Chance to Live, or to Die with Dignity?

6. Wellbeing at the Bar? Is a Family Lawyer’s Work all Stress and Distress?

Transparency in the Family Justice System (2017-18)

1. Women Lawyers: Equals At The Bar?

2. What Do Judges Do in the Family Court?

3. Vulnerable Clients and The Family Justice System

4. Dealing with Sex Abuse: How Does the Family Court Assess Risk?

5. The Child in the Family Court Room: Whose Child is it Anyway?

6. Transparency in the Family Court: What Goes On Behind Closed Doors?

When Worlds Collide: The Family and the Law (2016-17)

1. Sex Death and Witchcraft: What Goes On In the Family Court Room?

2. Is One Individual’s Radicalism another’s Right to Free Speech?

3. When Legal Worlds Collide

4. Guilty Until Proven Innocent

5. Expert Witness: a Zero Sum Game?

6. ‘Two Point One Children’: Why There Is No Typical Family in The Family Court

Corporate Speaking Profile

Alongside her public speaking engagements for lawyers, Jo is in demand for talks to the business community and corporate industry on issues such as leadership and teamwork, coping under pressure and transferable skills please see: https://harveythorneycroft.co.uk/speakers/professor-jo-delahunty-qc/

Organisations she has been invited to deliver talks to include;

International Trade and Tourism (ITT), Croatia 2020/MSC Cruises 2021/Istanbul 2022 Quadranture Amadeus (Malaga) AFC Bournmouth Australia NSW Child Protection Conference (Sydney; 2019 & 2020) Brilliant Minds Showcase MKM Builders Opex Leaders Europe Conference – ‘Big Ideas’ invited speaker

Typical subjects include- ‘The importance of transparent and effective communication within the company and with the public.’; ‘Change and Challenge; how to make it work for you and your customers.’; ‘Risk taking and strategic thinking.’

Articles

Jo writes for specialist legal journals – including ‘Counsel’ Magazine and ‘The Barrister’ and is a regular invited contributor to the Jordan’s Family Law monthly periodical.For Counsel, examples include ‘the Day in the life…of a child protection silk’  where she discusses the exhilaration and endurance challenge of working to the max as a child abuse public lawyer; ‘PTSD and working in an underfunded sector’; ‘On the shoulder of giants’ discussing gender equality in the Bar. Jo wrote for ‘The Barrister’ on ‘Wellbeing at the Bar? Is a Legal Aid Lawyer’s Work All Stress and Distress?’ and on ‘Politics and the law: Where do we draw the line?’;

Articles for Jordans Family Law cover the wide spectrum of her cases; ie a 3 part series on the Rights of Parents with Disabilities in the Family Justice System , ‘The 30th anniversary of the Children Act 1989: is it still fit for purpose?’;

‘The child and medical treatment: the chance to live, or to die with dignity?’ Previous articles published by Jordan’s have sought to explain the ramifications of emerging research on childhood disease and suspected child abuse and natural disease mimicking inflicted injury, the role of experts in family proceedings, and issues arising within alleged Radicalism cases confronting family practitioners and the Family Division.

In April 2024, Jo’s article on why ‘Children must stay the focus when parental contact breaks down’ was published in The Times. Her article ‘Public Law and private law: two sides of the same coin?’ was published in the Solicitors Gazette.

Year of Call: 1986 Year of Silk: 2006 Recorder (South Eastern Circuit) Family: Public and Private Law 2009 Bencher the Honorable Society of Middle Temple 2011 Professor of Law Gresham College, London, 2016-2020 Freedom of the City of London 2019 Emeritus Gresham Professor Law 2020 Fellow Gresham College 2020 Lexis Nexis Awards Judge 2021-Present Jo sits on the Diversity and Inclusion Committee of Middle Temple Centre for Child and Family Reform (CCFLR) committee 2012–present

Association of Women Barristers (AWB) Association of Women Judges (AWI) Family Law Bar Association United Kingdom Association of Part Time Judges (UKAPTJ)

Patron Patron of the Association of Women Barristers (AWB) Ambassador for Bridging the Bar Patron of AMEND (The Association for Multiple Endocrine Disorders) Patron AADR

MA (Oxon) Jurisprudence Questioning Vulnerable Witnesses in Proceedings – Bar Council and FLBA