4PB

Private Children Law; Modern Families; Public Children Law; International Children Law

Overview

Deirdre Fottrell KC specialises in the law relating to children.

She is a leading practitioner in HNW private law work and is also regularly instructed in appellate work and cases in which there are complex legal arguments.

Deirdre is a leading practitioner in the field of surrogacy and assisted reproduction cases and those in which issues of legal parentage arise. She is a qualified arbitrator and sat as a Deputy High Court Judge from 2018-2024. She has appeared at all levels of court in the UK including the Supreme Court and the Privy Council and has litigated cases before the European Court of Human Rights.

Deirdre has particular expertise as appellate counsel in all areas of children law and surrogacy and she has appeared in the Court of Appeal on over 40 occasions between 2018 and 2025.

She has broad experience in complex public law cases in which allegations of sexual abuse, or fatal injury arise and appears in these matters in the High Court and in the Court of Appeal.

Deirdre was a university lecturer before coming to the bar. She has taught and published in the area of children’s rights, European human rights and international law. She held academic posts at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London and the University of Essex. From 2002-2012 she was a visiting professor in human rights law at the School of International Affairs at Columbia University in New York. She has acted as a Council of Europe expert on the ECHR and in an advisory capacity to UNIFEM.

Awards

Bar Pro Bono Award For Silk of the Year (2018) Chambers and Partners Family Silk of the Year (2019)

Appointments

Deputy High Court Judge (2018) Co-chair of the Association of Lawyers for Children (2017-2020) Honorary Lifetime Vice President ALC (2023)

Spoken and written Irish

Professional Memberships

Family Law Bar Association Association of Lawyers for Children Human Rights Lawyers Association Middle Temple

Education & Qualifications

BA LLB, University College Galway, National University of Ireland MA Dublin City University LLM in International Law, London School of Economics