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Virtual Pupillage Event 2026
Join us at this free virtual event to hear from a number of speakers about Pupillage at Deka Chambers and get the chance to have your questions answered. A range of barristers, both new and more established, will provide an overview of pupillage at Deka…
Deka Chambers ranked across eight practice areas in Chambers & Partners UK Bar Guide 2027
We are delighted to be recognised in the Chambers & Partners UK Bar Guide 2027, with Deka Chambers ranked across eight practice area sand 65 barristers individually ranked. Chambers is ranked in: The results reflect the breadth of expertise across chambers and the work of…
Case summary: John v Jane [2026] EWHC 415 (Fam)
Much of children law involves the exploration of the facts relating to the child’s care and welfare, often coloured by the complex relationship dynamics between the adult protagonists. Occasionally, however, the facts which need to be established can be more fundamental. In John v Jane…
Special Guardianship at the End of Care Proceedings: Threshold Still Matters
By Laura Hibberd Re E (A Child) (Special Guardianship Order: Public Law Proceedings) [2026] EWCA Civ 1167 Special guardianship orders are often thought of as the “middle ground” of permanence: more secure than a care order, less final than adoption, and with the child’s legal…
Case Summary: Re C (Child Arrangements Orders; Domestic Abuse; Child Focused Court) [2026] EWCA Civ 1216
By Tim Parker KC The President of the Family Division handed down judgment on 29th September 2026 the decision in the first appeal following the introduction of Child-Focused Courts pilot. In Re C (Child Arrangements Orders; Domestic Abuse; Child Focused Court) [2026] EWCA Civ 1216…
Tenancy announcement: Beatrice Fatungase and Charlie Blair
We are delighted to announce that Beatrice Fatungase and Charlie Blair have accepted invitations to join Deka Chambers as tenants following the successful completion of pupillage. During pupillage, both Beatrice and Charlie demonstrated the qualities that make outstanding advocates: intellectual ability, sound judgement, commitment to clients and a strong…
Deka Chambers welcomes three new pupils
Deka Chambers is pleased to announce that Rebecca Argall, Olivia Campbell and Catherine McLean have joined Deka Chambers as pupils. Rebecca, Olivia, and Catherine will be working across all of chambers’ core areas in civil, crime and family law over the coming months. Everyone at…
Re F (Children: Placement Orders: Proportionality) [2026] EWCA Civ 990 – A reminder of the need to properly analyse the ‘nothing else will do’ test
Lucy Lodewyke writes about this recent appeal handed down on 29 July 2026, in which the Court of Appeal allowed a mother’s appeal against care and placement orders made in respect of her two young daughters and set aside those orders as neither necessary nor…
Mustafa (A Child) [2026] EWHC 2159 (Fam): A Robust Approach following “AGNI”
Following Madeleine Miller’s July Dekagram on A Reference by the Attorney General for Northern Ireland of a devolution issue under paragraph 34 of Schedule 10 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 [2026] UKSC 16, [2026] 2 WLR 1087 (“AGNI”), comes the first significant application of…
Tara Vindis and Laura Hibberd appear in reported case concerning placement orders for children in care proceedings
Tara Vindis and Laura Hibberd appeared in the recently reported case of Re C & Ors (Children: Placement or Special Guardianship) [2026] EWFC 231 (B), a complex and challenging decision concerning the court’s approach to placement orders and special guardianship for four siblings in care proceedings. HHJ Willans was…
Outside the Box: Unregulated Donor Conception and LGBTQ+ Parenthood
Meeting your partner online used to be cause for embarrassment and spy-worthy cover stories about “how we met”. Nowadays, it is entirely unremarkable. Similarly, there used to be shame and secrecy attached to use of assisted reproduction methods such as In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF). Again,…
Hair Strand and Nail Testing in Care Proceedings: Where are we, two years on from Re: D?
This article is written by Max Melsa as part of the August 2026 edition of the Family Law Dekagram (newsletter). I had the privilege of being involved in Re D (Children: Interim Care Order: Hair Strand Testing) [2024] EWCA Civ 498 in which the Court…
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