New Park Court Chambers

Family

Valerie Sterling is Head of the Family Team and has a strong reputation for representing her clients with skill, determination, and sensitivity.

Valerie is a qualified legal representative for the purpose of conducting cross examination on behalf of prohibited parties in family proceedings – see sections 65 and 66 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. She attends specialised domestic abuse training for Family Lawyers.

Valerie has participated in a meeting convened by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Get Refusal and religious divorce – an area of particular interest.

Valerie is a member of Resolution and is on the local Resolution committee, as well as being on the local committee of the Family Law Bar Association.

Matrimonial Finance

Valerie represents clients from diverse backgrounds in medium to high net worth cases. She has broad experience of business, property and pensions, profit and loss accounts, third party interests, appeals and making successful applications for costs.

Valerie takes care in thorough and insightful preparation of complex material. In particular, she has wide experience of representing professional parties including consultant physicians and surgeons, as well as members of the teaching and accountancy professions and members of the Armed Forces.

Care Proceedings

Valerie represents local authorities, guardians and parents in the most complex of care proceedings. Having worked for 16 years for Leeds City Council, she had acquired a profound understanding of public law work and attended many case conferences and adoption panels as a legal advisor.

She has an excellent understanding of medical evidence and how to prepare effective cross-examination of expert witnesses. For example, Valerie has represented parents alleged to have sexually abused their own children and where their children are expressing extreme sexualised behaviours.

Valerie handles with appropriate sensitivity cases involving personality and mental heath issues.

Children Act & Private Law

Valerie has a broad experience of private law Children Act proceedings involving residence, contact, Prohibited Steps Orders, Specific Issue Orders, applications to relocate both internally and internationally and Article 15 Brussels ii.

She able to represent her client’s case in a persuasive manner and achieve the optimum outcome.

She has particular experience in the most complex cases involving a Rule 16.4 appointment of a Children’s Guardian or NYAS worker.

Child Abduction & International Relocation

Valerie is currently in demand to deal with cases of child abduction and international relocation. These often involve a parent taking a child abroad without the agreement of the other parent. Valerie is skilled in acting rapidly to get a child back – or to defend a parent raising the answers of acquiescence or grave risk or intolerable circumstances should the parent and child return.

French, German

Head of the Family Team, New Park Court Chambers Family Law Bar Association Resolution