Dawson Cornwell

We're delighted to welcome our Partner, Amy Rowe, back from maternity leave. Amy has extensive experience of the many different aspects of international family law, as well as expertise in complex private law children disputes and cross border adoption, surrogacy and fertility law. Additionally, she is a Resolution trained “all issues” mediator with particular expertise in cross border children disputes.

Amy Rowe • Dawson Cornwell • Family Solicitors Described by sources as “truly outstanding” and "a leading expert in international children’s law” whose “legal knowledge is second to

Dawson Cornwell family law partners Carolina Marín Pedreño and Hilka Hollmann feature in the Advisory section of the Tatler Address Book 2024. Carolina is listed in the Family Law section, offering advice on every aspect of children law and disputes between parents, and Hilka is listed in the Pathways to Parenthood section, to assist those expanding their family via surrogacy, adoption or fertility treatment.

All of the elite practitioners included are part of Tatler’s trusted network of influential experts, who are at the pinnacle of their profession and are some of the UK’s leading family and surrogacy lawyers.

Congratulations to Carolina, Hilka and all who have been included in this excellent guide for UHNW and HNW individuals.

https://addressbook.tatler.com/high-net-worth

Congratulations to Floriane Laruelle on her promotion to Senior Associate!
Floriane advises on all aspects of children law including international and domestic child relocation and child arrangements, child abduction and public law and care proceedings involving issues of severe child abuse.

Floriane Laruelle • Dawson Cornwell • Family Solicitors Floriane is a Senior Associate in the Children Department who qualified in 2020; she is recognised as a “Recommended

Congratulations to Aysel Akhundova on her promotion to Senior Associate and we're delighted to welcome her back from maternity leave!
Aysel advises on all aspects of children law including international & domestic child relocation, child abduction and has a growing practice specialising in surrogacy, assisted reproduction & same-sex families. She is also a qualified Solicitor Advocate (High Courts Civil Proceedings).

Aysel Akhundova • Dawson Cornwell • Family Solicitors Aysel is a Senior Associate in the Children Department who trained at Dawson Cornwell and qualified as a solicitor in 2020; she is recognised as

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to an incredible year at Dawson Cornwell, which includes highlights such as being named Family Law Firm of the Year - London, acting in 40 reported cases and working with families from over 45 countries. We wish all of our clients, friends and colleagues a happy festive period and a wonderful 2024.

Earlier this year an intrepid team from Dawson Cornwell successfully completed the Welsh 3 Peaks Challenge and raised £20,128 for ChallengeAid!

The money raised will help build and maintain Schools of Hope in Kenya, which can give pupils an opportunity to succeed and escape a life of poverty.

Read more about the challenge, charity and children here:

Dawson Cornwell/ChallengeAid - Welsh Three Peaks Challenge • Dawson Cornwell • Family Solicitors On 7th July 2023, a team of 10 intrepid participants from Dawson Cornwell undertook the Welsh Three Peaks Challenge to raise funds for the charity

We were thrilled to win three awards at the Family Law Awards 2023 last night!
Congratulations to our whole team for being named Family Law Firm of the Year - London, to Forum Shah for winning Family Law Associate Solicitor of the Year and to Jeremy Abraham, Anna Shadbolt and Philippa Davies for acting in the Case of the Year (Unger and another (in substitution for Hasan) v Ul-Hasan (deceased and another)) with 36 Family, Coram Chambers and Expatriate Law Ltd
Thank you to LexisNexis UK and all of the sponsors for a great evening and well done to all of the nominees and winners.

Many congratulations to our Partner, Sarah Jane Lenihan, who won the Family Lawyer of the Year - Partner award at the Citywealth Future Leader Awards last night! Well done to all of the nominees and winners.

Congratulations to Sacha Lee who has been promoted to Associate! Sacha specialises in children law cases, especially those that have international elements, and is a very valuable and popular member of our team.

Sacha’s practice encompasses the whole spectrum of legal cases pertaining to private children matters. At present, this includes helping parents reach arrangements for their children after separation, international contact, international relocation of children, international child abduction (Hague and non-Hague), recognition and enforcement of foreign orders, international adoption, domestic abuse cases, cases involving very serious allegations and Fact-Finding Hearings.

Sacha Lee • Dawson Cornwell • Family Solicitors Having trained at a top boutique London family law firm, predominantly in their Children Department, Sacha qualified in November 2021. She specialises

The Eighth Meeting of the Special Commission on the Practical Operation of the 1980 Child Abduction Convention and the 1996 Child Protection Convention is taking place in The Peace Palace, The Hague from 10 to 17 October. Our Partner and Head of Children Department, Carolina Marín Pedreño has been invited to attend as an observer.
We are looking forward to reading the conclusions of the work.
HCCH - Hague Conference on Private International Law

We are delighted to retain our ranking as a Legal 500 Top Tier firm and to have 15 members of our accomplished team recognised in the 2024 guide. Well done to all and thank you to our referees, clients and peers for providing such lovely and positive comments.

Yesterday we attended the Inns of Court Alliance for Women - Black Women Barristers: The Challenges Faced and a Fairer Future panel discussion, about the challenges posed by structural discrimination impacting upon entry to the Bar, retention and career progression.
This is relevant to the legal profession as a whole and we want to continue to be part of the change.
Thank you to the speakers for an inspirational and thought provoking evening.

Carolina Marin Pedreño will be speaking about International Parental Child Abduction as a Keynote Speaker at the iStand Parent Network Conference in Washington D.C. this week.

Our Senior Associate, Charlotte Image-Flower's article 'The Family Courts are failing domestic abuse survivors' for Today's Family Lawyer, explains how reintroducing Legal Aid for both sides could be effective.

The Family Courts are failing domestic abuse survivors In July, Nicole Jacobs, the Domestic Abuse Commissioner, released her report on the need for change in the way domestic abuse is understood and dealt with in the Family Court system, entitled “The Family Court and domestic abuse: achieving cultural change”. In the 77-page document, Ms Jacobs set...

Carolina Marin Pedreño and Hilka Hollmann provide advice about educational disagreements in UHNW families in Tatler

Why educational disagreements in UHNW families are more common than you think When parents don't see eye-to-eye on schooling

Shabina Begum's insightful interview in The Times explains her path to becoming a solicitor, how her career was shaped by the late Anne-Marie Hutchinson OBE QC (Hon), why she has been recognised as one of The Law Society Legal Heroes 2023 and her work and dedication to protecting disadvantaged women and girls.

‘Legal hero’ was determined to protect children from forced marriage Legislation to increase the legal age of marriage to 18 came into force in England and Wales this year and was the culmination of a five-year campaign to help p

Wishing the best of luck to our Partner, Sarah Jane Lenihan and Associate, Lina Khanom who are both nominees at the Resolution awards tonight. We hope everyone has a great time and well done to all who are nominated!

Many congratulations to our Senior Associate, Kate Brett who has been named one of the 2023 eprivateclient NextGen Leaders.

Kate advises on all issues relating to relationship breakdown; divorce, cohabitation and applications for financial remedy, as well as complex children related matters including domestic child arrangements and international and domestic relocation.

We're delighted to be shortlisted in four categories for the Family Law Awards 2023.
Carolina Marín Pedreño is a finalist for Partner of the Year, Forum Shah for Associate of the Year and Dawson Cornwell for Family Law Firm of the Year: London and also Family Law Legal Support of the Year.
Congratulations to all of the finalists!

Forum Shah advises what steps should be taken if a child has been retained in another country after the summer holidays.

This can be an extremely stressful time for parents as it can seem like a hopeless situation, waiting and watching what might happen next. It is important that swift action is taken and we set out 5 steps that should be taken at the earliest opportunity.

Read more by following the link below:

Forum Shah advises what swift steps should be taken if a child has been retained in another country after the summer holidays. • Dawson Cornwell • Family Solicitors Summer has been and gone in a flash. Minds are now turning to the back to school rush and preparing children for this. Sadly, there are cases when a

Congratulations to Abigail Reading and Rebecca Taylor who have been admitted as Solicitors of the Senior Courts of England and Wales. We're very happy that they are staying on with us in our Matrimonial Department, where they will continue to be valued members of the team and brilliant family lawyers.

My Legal Life: Our Partner, Hilka Hollmann explains her interesting route to becoming a family lawyer who specialises in complex care proceedings, adoptions, surrogacy and international children cases in an article for the Law Society Gazette

My legal life: Hilka Hollmann, Dawson Cornwell Partner, London.

Many congratulations to Wendy Ramus who was awarded an Unsung Heroes 2023 Award.
The London Harmful Practices Working Group (LHPWG) and DC awards celebrate unsung heroes who work tirelessly and show leadership and unity towards tackling all forms of harmful practices.

A very warm welcome to our new Trainee Solicitor, Kandice Phillips. Kandice has experience working in a family law department and we’re confident she will have a bright future ahead at DC.

Kandice Phillips • Dawson Cornwell • Family Solicitors Kandice joined Dawson Cornwell as a trainee solicitor in July 2023. She graduated from Nottingham Trent University with a 2:1 degree in law. As part of

Many congratulations to our Senior Associate, Shabina Begum who has made the The Law Society Legal Heroes shortlist!

Legal Hereos is an opportunity to recognise the solicitors who have made the biggest difference to the lives of others, their local communities and society over the last two years and the Legal Heroes will be announced in September 2023.

https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/campaigns/legal-heroes

Congratulations to our Associate, Lina Khanom who is a winner of a WeAreTheCity Rising Star in Law Award (The Lynne Freeman Award) 2023!

3rd & final peak complete and beaming smiles from Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon)!
Huge congratulations to the DC team for completing the Welsh 3 Peaks Challenge.

Further details and how to donate to ChallengeAid can be found here https://www.justgiving.com/page/dawson-cornwell-1686732934108

1st peak complete! Our team taking on the Welsh 3 Peaks Challenge reached Pen y Fan early this morning and we’re wishing them all the best for the rest of today.

Further details and how to donate to ChallengeAid can be found here https://www.justgiving.com/page/dawson-cornwell-1686732934108

A team of 10 brave DC people are taking on the Wales 3 Peak Challenge on 7th July in support of ChallengeAid! The money raised will help build and maintain "Schools of Hope" for aspirational young slum dwellers in East Africa, which can give them an opportunity to succeed and escape a life of poverty. Any donations for this great cause will be greatly appreciated. https://www.justgiving.com/page/dawson-cornwell-1686732934108

Best of luck to Russell Bywater, Stephen Harker, Jessica Reid, Simon Bruce, Kate Brett, Floriane Laruelle, Amelia Alston, Sacha Lee, Nina Hunjan and Lucy Fisher and well done for committing to such an impressive challenge!

DC's 3 Peaks Challenge for ChallengeAid - JustGiving DC's 3 Peaks Challenge for ChallengeAid - JustGiving

We had a great time doing the yesterday! Well done to London Legal Support Trust for another fantastic event, and to all who participated and showed their support to help raise awareness and funds to ensure everyone has fair access to justice.