Family Law

Rhona takes instructions across all areas of public and private children law matters.

Rhona has represented parents, children and local authorities in care proceedings, undertaking cases from beginning to end including multi-day final hearings. She has also undertaken matters concerning designation of local authorities, DOLs applications, and applications to discharge care orders.

Rhona has represented parents and s.16.4 guardians in private law matters, from FHDRA and DRA hearings, enforcement proceedings and injunctive applications, through to multi-day finding of fact and final hearings. She has undertaken private law cases with complex issues including parental alienation and s.91(14) orders as well as representing clients who have significant vulnerabilities and mental health issues.

Rhona has a particular interest in cases involving FGM or forced marriage due to her experience of working with a pro bono organisation at law school which aimed to disseminate information about the law on FGM.

Prison Law

Rhona takes instructions in all prison law matters. She has extensive experience representing prisoners at parole and recall hearings, category A and pre-tariff reviews, and providing written advice and representations on behalf of clients. This includes all areas of prison law, including; parole and recall matters, return to closed conditions, recategorization, HDC, reconsideration applications and appeals. She has provided advice on the merits of and been involved in successfully judicial reviewing decisions of the Parole Board not to grant prisoners an oral hearing. This is an area in which she is keen to expand her practice.

Prior to coming to the Bar Rhona worked as a prison law adviser representing prisoners across England and Wales. This provided her with a thorough grounding in all aspects of prison law and gave her a particular expertise in representing indeterminate sentence prisoners and vulnerable prisoners with mental health issues. She has provided advice to prisoners who have needed to be transferred to secure mental health facilities and has cross-over experience of Mental Health Tribunals and Hospital Managers hearings. Her knowledge of these areas is complemented in this regard by her experience of volunteering as a DoLS Relevant Person’s Representative.

She has experience of prison law cases involving immigration issues as well as those with complex psychological or psychiatric elements and has frequently cross examined such expert witnesses within parole hearings.

Public Law

Rhona has had a long-time interest in human rights and, in 2017, received the Peter Duffy Human Rights Award which allowed her to spend three months working within the Research Division at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. She has written on various human rights matters as a freelance journalist and, whilst at law school, was part of a pro bono organisation which raised awareness of the law on FGM. She continues to work as a freelance journalist when time allows; her work can be viewed here.

Due to her long-time interest in human rights and her experience in prison law and mental health Rhona has a particular interest in human rights work encompassing actions against public bodies with an emphasis on cases involving detaining authorities, particularly police forces and prisons.

Education

• Nottingham Law School; Bar Professional Training Course; Very Competent
• Nottingham Law School; Graduate Diploma in Law; Distinction (highest aggregate mark in the year)
• University of St Andrews: MA Joint Hons English and Modern History; 2:1

Scholarships and Awards

• Peter Duffy Human Rights Award 2017
• Lord Denning Scholarship 2016
• Nottingham Law School Prize for Best GDL Student 2016

Memberships

• The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn
• Association of Prison Lawyers
• Human Rights Lawyers Association
• The Constitutional and Administrative Law Bar Association
• Environmental Law Foundation

Away from the Bar

• In her spare time, Rhona loves to travel and to experiment – to varying degrees of success – with vegan cooking and different forms of yoga.