Nicholas Stonor KC
Year of call
1993
Silk
2015
Instructing Nicholas Stonor KC
For more information please contact our clerks by calling +44 (0)20 7242 3555.
Nick is an approachable and dedicated silk specialising in cases concerning children (private and public law) and vulnerable adults. He sits as a Deputy High Court Judge, lectures at the Judicial College and is a Bencher at Middle Temple. He is an approved facilitator of vulnerable witness advocacy training.
Legal Expertise
Family: Children Law
Family Law Week Case Summary >
Family Law Week case summary >
Transparency Project article on the case >
Family: Children Law
Private Law Children – Nick represents family members across the spectrum of private law disputes including complex relocation cases (domestic and international) and cases involving serious allegations of abuse (sexual abuse, domestic abuse, parental alienation and other forms of emotional abuse).
Public Law Children – Nick represents local authorities, adult family members and children in complex care proceedings, including cases involving suspicious death, sexual abuse, radicalisation, factitious and induced illness, shaking. He has a particular interest in cases involving cultural/religious issues, the inherent jurisdiction and interfaces between the Family Court and the Court of Protection.
Notable Family: Children Law cases
Re A, B and C (Fact-Finding: Gonorrhoea) [2023] EWCA Civ 437 (leading judgment: Baker LJ).
Represented the mother in appeal to the Court of Appeal against finding that her daughter had been sexually abused by the mother’s partner acting either alone or together with the mother. The trial judge had “gone off-piste” in making the “acting together” finding which went beyond the parameters of the local authority’s case.
Judgment >Re R (A Child) [2021] EWCA Civ 1019 (leading judgment: Moylan LJ)
Represented the local authority in appeal to the Court of Appeal against refusal to make care order with plan of adoption. The trial judge had used “nothing else will do” as a short-cut to judgment.
Judgment >Family Law Week Case Summary >
Re F (A Child) (Fact-Finding Appeal) [2019] EWCA Civ 1244 (leading judgment: Moylan LJ)
Represented the father in appeal to the Court of Appeal against findings that he had smothered his child. The case highlighted points of wider interest in relation to the role of treating and independent experts in family cases. Represented the father at the subsequent rehearing before Williams J (Sunderland CC v. A, B, C (Re-hearing: Fact-finding: Expert or Professional Evidence) [2019] EWHC 3887) (in which Barbara Connolly KC represented the mother) where the court concluded that the child had not suffered inflicted harm.
Judgment >Family Law Week case summary >
Transparency Project article on the case >
Re GP (A Child) [2019 EWCA Civ 56 (leading judgment: Peter Jackson LJ)
Represented the mother in opposition to an appeal to the Court of Appeal which had been brought by her former childminder. The trial judge had made FII findings against the mother (which were not the subject of appeal) but had found the childminder responsible for inflicted head injuries. The childminder’s appeal was dismissed.
Judgment >Re AB (A Child) (2018)
Represented Romanian parents of child with life-limiting condition in appeal to the Court of Appeal against the making of a care order. The appeal raised fundamental jurisdictional issues in cases where local authorities and “unimpeachable parents” are in dispute over medical treatment, and the Court of Appeal referred those issues for consideration by the then President (Sir James Munby) who conducted the subsequent rehearing (Re AB (A Child) (Medical Treatment: Care Proceedings) [2018] EWFC 3).
Re A and Others (Children: Scottish adoptions) [2017] EWHC 35
Represented children from different local authorities who were all the subject of Scottish ‘permanency orders’ but were placed for adoption with families in England. Hearing before the then President (Sir James Munby) where guidance given in relation to cross-border issues and the seemingly irreconcilable differences between relevant Scots law and English law.
Judgment >
Medical Treatment and ‘End of Life’
Medical Treatment and ‘End of Life’
Nick provides advice and representation, often at short notice, for NHS Trusts, local authorities and family members where the treatment plan for a child or vulnerable adult is in dispute.
Notable Medical Treatment and ‘End of Life’ cases
A Hospital Trust v. P & Ors [2024] EWHC 313 (Fam) (Knowles J)
Represented the mother, where inherent jurisdiction declarations were made in respect of the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment for her 2 year old child.
Re AB (A Child) (2018)
Represented Romanian parents of child with life-limiting condition in appeal to the Court of Appeal against the making of a care order. The appeal raised fundamental jurisdictional issues in cases where local authorities and “unimpeachable parents” are in dispute over medical treatment, and the Court of Appeal referred those issues for consideration by the then President (Sir James Munby) who conducted the subsequent rehearing (Re AB (A Child) (Medical Treatment: Care Proceedings) [2018] EWFC 3).
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust v. SS [2016] EWHC 535 (Cobb J)
Represented NHS Trust where declarations made in respect of a severely disabled child at risk of sudden death.
Court of Protection
Court of Protection
Nick represents vulnerable adults (by litigation friends including the Official Solicitor), local authorities and family members. He has a particular interest in cases where the Court of Protection jurisdiction overlaps with the care or forced marriage jurisdictions. In 2015, Nick chaired the annual conference for the COPPA (Court of Protection Practitioners Association).
Notable Court of Protection cases
North Yorkshire CC v. MAG [2016] EWCOP 5 (Cobb J)
Represented the local authority in appeal against refusal of DOL authorisation for a 35-year-old man with complex difficulties. The case concerned the proper limitations on the powers of the Court of Protection.
Safeguarding and Policy
Nick is regularly instructed by local authorities and other public authorities to advise on safeguarding and policy issues in connection with the discharge of responsibilities towards children and vulnerable adults.
Instructing Nicholas Stonor KC
For more information please contact our clerks by calling +44 (0)20 7242 3555.
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