St John's Buildings

Family - Children

Stephen specialises in public and private family law cases, appearing mainly for local authorities and parents, although he also represents guardians and other family members.

He has considerable experience of representing local authorities and parents in cases involving allegations of non-accidental injuries, chronic neglect and sexual abuse.

He has represented a number of parents (mothers, in particular) through the Official Solicitor, combining an academic attention to detail with an ability to explain things to clients in straightforward terms.

He has also appeared in a number of cases involving deaf parents and has provided training to other lawyers in the particular legal considerations applying to deaf litigants.

Stephen provides training to local authorities and solicitors on developments in the law.

Stephen studied Law at the Universities of Nottingham and Sheffield, finishing up with a PhD. He then taught Law at the University of Hull for five years before retraining as a barrister in 2003. He was awarded a Diplock scholarship to study the BVC at Nottingham Law School where he was awarded an Outstanding and received the highest overall mark for his year. He was a pupil at Sovereign Chambers in Leeds which later merged with No 6 to become Park Square Barristers. In 2017 he moved to St John’s Buildings, Sheffield.