Sara McIlroy > Harcourt Chambers > London, England > Barrister Profile

Sara McIlroy

0844 561 7135 smcilroy@harcourtchambers.co.uk View profile View profile

Position

Sara’s practice focuses on the financial consequences of divorce, financial disputes relating to children, disputes concerning living or other specific arrangements for children, and cases concerning issues of domestic abuse.

Sara has particular expertise at dealing with financial disputes. She advises and acts in all areas of matrimonial finance, including cases involving assets held outside of the jurisdiction, business valuations, pension disputes, dissipation of assets and trust assets. Sara is adept at dealing with cases where the finances are genuinely limited or have become so due to the action of another party. Sara has experience in cases involving third party interests and has acted on behalf of interveners.

In private law child work Sara is regularly instructed in cases involving issues of domestic abuse, cases concerning alleged parental alienation and intractable contact disputes. She also has experience of dealing with cases with an international dimension where parents are seeking to relocate to another jurisdiction or opposing an application to permanently remove a child from this jurisdiction.

Sara was appointed to the Family Justice Council (FJC) as the Parents and Families’ Representative in 2015 and is particularly interested in improving the transparency and understanding of the family justice system for all litigants. She is committed to the work of the FJC namely to promote an inter-disciplinary approach to family justice and to monitor the system.

Sara is known for proving direct, practical and pragmatic advice to clients and for seeking to enable an early resolution to cases where possible. She is a tenacious advocate with a keen eye for detail and a thorough understanding the complexities of modern family life.

Career

Called 2008.

Memberships

Family Law Bar Association

Lincoln’s Inn, The Denning Society

Education

The Queen’s College, Oxford University.