Toby has practised exclusively in family law since being called to the bar in 2015 and has established himself as a talented childcare practitioner.

Toby is recognised as a Leading Junior in the Legal 500 and is frequently instructed on behalf of local authorities, parents, and children at all stages of proceedings — in both the Family Court and Family Division of the High Court. 

Feedback from professional and lay clients acknowledges Toby’s meticulous preparation, reassuring manner and robust advocacy across the full spectrum of cases he undertakes. 

These involve issues of non-accidental injury, fabricated or induced illness, sexual abuse, deprivation of liberty, alienating behaviours, surrogacy arrangements, and donor conception. 

Toby is also accredited to cross-examine children having successfully completed the FLBA’s ‘Advocacy and the Vulnerable’ training programme. 

Outside Court, Toby is the secretary to Greater Manchester’s Family Law Bar Association and provides court skills training in partnership with the University of Manchester.

Public Children Law

Toby has considerable experience at all stages of care proceedings – from advice at the pre-proceedings stage through to representation at fully-contested final hearings. 

Toby’s reputation and conscientious approach has made him a popular choice for local authorities wanting to defend their position, vulnerable parents who wish to challenge professional recommendations, and children’s guardians who are driven to protect the young people they represent. His written advocacy is characterised by its fluency and is deployed best when drafting schedules of findings, chronologies, and skeleton arguments. 

Recently, Toby’s caseload has included:

  • Representing a young person where the interplay between gender dysphoria and fabricated or induced illness falls to be determined by the Court.
  • Representing two children at a 13-day finding of fact hearing where allegations of sexual harm were being pursued by the local authority. Toby was led by Timothy Bowe KC.
  • Representing a father who was in the pool of perpetrators for inflicting a medically complex skull fracture. At the conclusion of the 11-day hearing, no adverse findings were made against the father.
  • Representing a sibling group of four at a 10-day finding of fact hearing where the local authority contended that each of the children had been the victim of fabricated or induced illness. Toby was led by Peter Rothery at the fact-find and then continued to act for the children at the welfare stage. 
Private Children Law

Toby’s pragmatism shines through in the private law sphere. He is solution-focussed when helping his clients devise the best arrangements for their children, and when representing the children themselves by their r16.4 guardian. 

Toby has considerable experience where safeguarding concerns have been raised as a bar to contact, and where there are concurrent proceedings under the Family Law Act 1996. His familiarity with public children’s law inevitably assists in such cases; especially when evaluating the evidence and scrutinising the decisions made by safeguarding partners. 

Having appeared on behalf of the child in the case of Re X – Toby is frequently asked to advise parents who are attempting to negotiate safe, foreign travel arrangements for their children. 

The judgment in Re X can be accessed here: https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Fam/2021/3778.html

 

 

Toby always knows the papers inside out and can point to any particular reference immediately. He is knowledgeable, thorough and approachable, providing a easy forum for case discussion, particularly in unusual and complex cases.

Legal 500, 2027

Notable Cases

  • Re X (Temporary Removal: Non-Hague Country) [2021] EWHC 3778 (Fam)

    Family Law

    Instructed to represent the child by their children’s guardian before Russell J. Successfully opposed the father’s application for permission to temporarily remove the child from this jurisdiction to Saudi Arabia. 

  • Parental Responsibility and the Falsehood of Paternity: Interpreting s 4(2A) of the Children Act 1989

    Publication

    Published in the Family Law Journal, November 2023. 

Professional Associations

  • Northern Circuit
  • Family Law Bar Association
  • Advocate Volunteer
  • Association of Lawyers for Children
  • Child Concern

Education

  • Bacup & Rawtenstall Grammar School
  • University of Exeter, Law LLB (Hons)
  • BPP University Manchester, BPTC (Very Competent)
  • Middle Temple Jules Thorn Scholar

Articles by Toby