John called to the Bar in 2022 and practises in all areas of family law.
John is instructed in matters involving financial provision on divorce and financial issues arising in respect of cohabitation claims, including reduction and setting aside of Minutes of Agreement. He is regularly instructed as junior counsel in cases which involve high net worth individuals.
In child related matters, he has experience in relocation, proceedings under the Hague Conventions, in children’s referrals, permanence, adoption and surrogacy. He has been involved in novel cases including potential end of life treatment for an infant child and witness anonymity in family proceedings. He was regularly instructed in children related proceedings involving complex issues of facts such as sexual abuse, female genital mutilation, forced marriage and non-accidental injuries of children. He is a regularly appointed as a Child Welfare Reporter and as Curator ad Litem in the Court of Session.
John has expertise in cross-border issues involving children. As a solicitor he was involved in several cases relating to the transfer of children from England to Scotland in the exercise of the nobile officium. Since calling to the Bar, he has acted for several local authorities in Scotland, England and Wales. He continues to act for local authorities in permanence proceedings, judicial reviews and for the recovery of evidence in Letters of Request procedure. He has experience in dealing with the recognition and enforcement of non-Scottish orders in the Court of Session.
In an advisory role, John advised a charity in relation to the then Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill as it passed through the second and third stages in the Scottish Parliament. He also provided expert evidence to the Family Court in England in relation to Scottish private and public law orders. He advised an English local authority in relation to a cross-border issue involving the children’s hearing system.
John was a tutor in Child Law and Family Law at the University of Edinburgh.
In 2025, he addressed the Lancashire Family Justice Conference on Scottish Child Protection Procedures and cross border issues between Scotland and England.
John was ranked as a recommended Junior Counsel in Doyle’s Guide for leading family law advocates for Scotland in 2025.
In 2025, John was appointed as a committee member of the Advocates Family Law Association.
Selected Cases
- Statement of Reasons in application for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom by A v Principal Reporter, 7th August 2025 – acted for Safeguarder/Curator ad Litem in relation to a father’s status as a relevant person. Appeared for the Curator ad Litem as junior counsel acting alone in the Inner House in an application for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court in terms of s.40A of the Court of Session Act 1988. The court considered their obligations under section s.6 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024 and article 3(1) of the UNCRC in assessing to what extent the child’s interests required to be consider when applying section 40A(3). Permission to appeal was successfully opposed.
- Petition of DBH 2025 CSOH 67; 2025 7 WLUK 627 – conducted Hague proceedings as junior counsel against senior counsel in the Outer House. This case sets out the contemporary application of the ‘settlement’ and ‘objection’ defences and addressed the ‘intolerable situation’ part of the article 13 defence.
- Petition of SK, July 2025 – conducted article 21 Hague proceedings in relation to access rights in the Outer House. Case involved cross border issues which involved Ukraine and Scotland where the Kyiv District Court made orders for contact/access between a parent and children. Obtained contact orders under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995.
- CO v TL 2025 SAC (Civ) 20; 2025 GWD 31-292 – acted as junior counsel to senior counsel – successfully resisted six grounds of appeal in relation to an order which permitted a child to relocate to Denmark.
- CO v TL 2025 SCED – obtained orders which changed residence from one parent to another and allowed a 7 year old child to relocate to Denmark. A feature of the case was the issue of co-operation between the parents in terms of s.11(7D) in the context cross-border parent.
- A v Principal Reporter 2025 CSIH 9; 2025 SLT 537 – acted for Safeguarder/Curator ad Litem who reclaimed a decision of the Lord Ordinary in relation to a father’s status as a relevant person. Subordinate legislation, which regulated relevant person status, was entitled to be disregarded under s.6(1) of the Human Rights Act 1998. In the exceptional circumstances of the case, the children’s hearing had not erred in excluding the father to protect the article 8 rights of the child and their mother. The Inner House held that the children’s hearing had not acted unlawfully by determining the father was not a relevant person and the reclaiming motion was granted.
- Application for a permanence order by City of Edinburgh Council 2024 (unreported) – acted for a local authority who sought a permanence order and ancillary provisions in the Sheriff Court in circumstances where several competence points were raised. Orders obtained.
- Application for a permanence order by South Lanarkshire Council 2024 (unreported) – acted for a respondent in a permanence proof over several weeks which involved protected characteristics, alleged direct and indirect discrimination and the interrelationship between those and the article 8 right to family life.
- A v Principal Reporter 2024 CSOH 106; 2024 SLT 1345 – acted for Safeguarder who was appointed as Curator ad Litem in judicial review proceedings in the Outer House. Case concerned the lawfulness of a determination of the children’s hearing that a father with no PRRs or established family life with a child, was not a relevant person. The Lord Ordinary held that the children’s hearing was not entitled to determine the petitioner was not a relevant person. Subsequently acted for the Curator in a reclaiming motion.
- Petition of an English Local Authority for the production of documents under Letter of Request issued by the Central Family Court in England, November 2024 – acted for an English local authority in the Inner House where orders were obtained for production of documents from public authorities in Scotland.
- R v S 2024 CSOH 21; 2024 GWD 24-223 – acted for defender in relocation proceedings in the Outer House. Lady Wise considered the issue of domestic abuse and the application of s.11(7B) in the context of international relocation. Relocation of the children was granted.
- Application for orders under the court’s exercise of its parens patriae jurisdiction to authorise medical treatment 2023 – acted as junior counsel for a respondent in the Inner House in a novel case which involved potential end of life medical treatment of an infant.
- MP, Petitioner 2023 CSOH 58; 2023 GWD 33-272 – obtained a non-return order in Hague proceedings on the basis of the ‘grave risk’ defence and on the objection of two children aged 8 and 13.
- AD v SD 2023 CSIH 17; 2025 SLT 439 – acted as junior counsel to senior counsel in the Inner House in this case which is now the leading authority for the application of the ‘grave risk’ defence in proceedings under the Hague Convention.
- AD v SD 2023 CSOH – obtained a return order in Hague proceedings in which the ‘grave risk’, ‘consent’ and ‘acquiescence’ defences arose.
- Bryce v Bryce 2023 SAC (Civ) 36; 2024 SLT (SAC) 128 – acted for respondent in an appeal before the Sheriff Appeal Court. The case addressed the ‘Gillon’ principles in relation to setting aside a minute of agreement in the context of financial provision on divorce.
- M v A 2023 CSOH 80; 2023 GWD 47-392 – relocation case which involved a potential return to Latvia after a finding under the Hague Convention that the children were unlawfully retained there, preservation of the children’s status quo in Aberdeen or an intra-Scottish relocation from Aberdeen to Glasgow.
- O v H 2023 CSOH, 7th November 2023 – acted in a ‘dual relocation’ case in the Outer House. Both parents wished the children to relocate with them from Scotland to different countries (China and Netherlands). Obtained orders which permitted the children to reside with the then non-resident parent and to relocate to Netherlands.
Areas of Practice
- Family Law
- Human Rights Law
- Public & Administrative Law
Contact Details:
- Tel: 07538948199
- Email: [email protected]