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Court of Protection Practice 2025
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Authors
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Siobhan Simpson is a paralegal at Irwin Mitchell.
Author
Julien practises across three main areas: public law, private law children cases and Court of Protection cases. His areas of expertise and specialisation include care proceedings, wardship, and international child abduction. His practice also encompasses civil and administrative law disputes in the family context. Among his strengths, he would include the ability to strike up a rapport quickly with lay clients and to press witnesses firmly but sensitively in emotive cases.

He has extensive experience of care proceedings (acting for local authorities, parents, members of the extended family and children) and has appeared in many sensitive and factually complex disputes. He also represents clients in public law areas arising from family disputes including inquests, child protection and local authorities’ duties towards children and vulnerable adults.

Julien has a particular interest in publicity and reporting in the context of family proceedings. He has acted for the father of the child known as "Baby P" in a number of different cases including civil proceedings brought, unusually, on an anonymised basis, and in proceedings in the Family Division when reporting restrictions were imposed.

Julien is also regularly instructed by parents in private law children cases and by local authorities and interested adults in the Court of Protection. He also believes strongly in dispute resolution by mediation and is a former Chairman of Tower Hamlets Mediation Service. He accepts Public Access instructions.
Latest articlesrss feeds
From awareness to action: embedding trauma-informed responses in care proceedings
Trisan Hyatt, Family Law Barrister, 5 Pump Court ChambersThis article examines the growing recognition of the impact of trauma and the ability to engage and make meaningful changes on parents involved...
Liberty, capacity and the age boundary: section 20 and deprivation of liberty for 16- and 17-year-olds
James Dove, Harcourt Chambers This article examines the increasingly fraught boundary between child welfare powers and capacity law when local authorities seek to restrict the liberty of 16- and...
The impact of the Norgrove Review on care proceedings and what needs to happen next?
Shiva Ancliffe KC, BarristerCaroline Croft, Barrister In this article Shiva Ancliffe KC and Caroline Croft of Coram Chambers reflect on the aims, findings and recommendations of the Norgrove...
Open justice in/action in the Family Courts– are we nearly there yet? Lessons learnt at the sharp end of A Local Authority v X and others [2025] EWFC 126
Jo Delahunty KC, Barrister, 4PBFiona Holloran, Barrister, 18 St John Street ChambersJames Nottage, Barrister, 4PBThe article considers five judgments in A Local Authority v X and Y, a child protection...
The Family Justice Review at 15: missed opportunities and the child’s voice(lessness) in decision-making when parents separate
Dr Jan Ewing, Assistant Prof in Law, University of Cambridge, and member of the Family Solutions GroupThis article reflects on the Family Justice Review 15 years after its publication,...
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