Mary Richardson > Miles & Partners LLP > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Mary Richardson

mary.richardson@milesandpartners.com

Work Department

Family

Position

Associate

Career

Mary is a Resolution Accredited Specialist children law solicitor specialising in local authority care proceedings and other public law matters.

Mary advises and represents parents and family members at all levels of the family court, including the Court of Appeal and the High Court of the Family Division

The types of cases that Mary has been involved in include:

• Where there is contested evidence of a medical or scientific nature, including metabolic bone disease, fabricated or induced illness, disputed hair strand testing, bone fragility linked to rare chromosomal abnormalities and connective tissue or haematological disorders linked to unexplained bleeding and/or bruising.
• Challenging local authorities in cases of unexplained injury to a child, securing the early withdrawal of proceedings and ensuring the children remained in or were rehabilitated to their parents care.
• Representing parents who are accused of Fabricated or Induced Illness (FII). Mary has advised many parents, often mothers, accused of FII and has developed a specialism in this area.
• Representing parents of children with life threatening or life limiting conditions where there is a disagreement over provision of medical care and where the children should live.
• Representing parties in care proceedings where a child or parent has died and the death is the subject of a parallel criminal investigation.
• Successfully securing the prompt return of a very young child to his mother’s primary care after the father had unilaterally taken him and restricted all contact.
• Successfully challenging negative viability assessments carried out by local authorities on relatives of children who cannot be cared for by their parents. Mary assists family members to obtain orders, such as special guardianship orders, that allow children to be raised within their families instead of being placed for adoption or in long term foster care.
• Representing parents of children with additional and/or complex needs, often including Autistic Spectrum Disorder, and helping the parents secure a higher level of support from the local authority.

Languages

English

Memberships

Member of Association of Lawyers for Children

Member of Child Abduction Lawyers Association

Resolution Accredited Specialist