Kirstin Beswick

Called: 2001

Kirstin Beswick has practised in family law for over 20 years. She predominantly acts in Public Law cases and represents local authorities, parents, children and interveners in both care proceedings and in applications for Deprivation of Liberty Declarations.

Excellence Through Continuity of Representation

Kirstin is known for her analytical ability and focused forensic cross-examination. She is particularly sought after in cases involving allegations of serious harm that require a specific finding of fact hearing.

She maintained a criminal practice until 2018 dealing with serious offences such as homicide, S18 assault occasioning grievous bodily harm, serious sexual offences, drugs and conspiracy charges. As a result she has extensive experience of work in the criminal jurisdiction.

In care proceedings Kirstin has experience of cases which have involved issues of sexually transmitted disease in a child, sexual abuse, serious physical injury, allegations of witchcraft, jurisdictional issues within Hague Convention and non Convention countries and serious emotional and physical neglect. She also has experience of the grant and the removal of parental responsibility, contested local authority application to withdraw proceedings and the placement of children in regulated, registered and unregulated placements.

Kirstin gives robust and frank advice but takes a sympathetic approach with her clients and is exceptionally skilled at representing vulnerable clients or those with cognitive and/or learning difficulties. She works collaboratively from the outset with those who instruct her.

She has considerable experience of acting for clients in the later stages of complex proceedings where she has not been involved in the interim hearings. Her rigorous approach to case preparation enables her to very quickly identify the issues within a case.

Kirstin has experience both of being led and of representing clients alone against leading counsel in the Family Court and also in the Court of Appeal.

Kirstin takes a keen interest in the Young Bar and in those who hope to join the profession. She has been a qualified Pupil Supervisor for a number of years and was the first supervisor on Circuit to supervise a pupillage under the BSB’s new scheme in 2018. She is a mentor with Middle Temple’s Sponsorship Scheme and is an Ambassador for Manchester Metropolitan University. She frequently offers her time to assist with outreach programmes and regularly volunteers as a speaker at MTYBA events and for talks in colleges and schools. She is an advocacy trainer for the Northern Circuit. In 2018 Kirstin was selected by the BBC as one of 100 women with a connection to Greater Manchester as part of their Suffragette City Project.

Appointments

Schools Appeal Panel Member – 2021

Memberships

Middle Temple
Family Law Bar Association
Northern Circuit

Education

BSc Hons Mathematics (St.Andrews)
PGDL – CPE (Manchester Metropolitan University)
PGDL – BVC (Manchester Metropolitan University)

Notable Cases

Re KR (2022) Mother with Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder caring for a severely physically disabled child. Acting predominantly alone but led by June Venters KC in the final 3 days of the 9 day final hearing (when the local authority changed their care plan to one of placing the child in a facility hundreds of miles away). Successfully demonstrated mother’s EUPD was a disability.
Re B&D (2022) Leading Counsel for the Local Authority against silk in a case involving allegations of rape and grooming. All findings sought at the close of the hearing were made. Case involved difficulties with witness engagement and police liaison and application for disclosure of the medical records of the aggrieved person.
Re J (2022) Led by Jacqueline Thomas QC in 3 week final hearing in a care case involving serious parental alienation with allegations of Domestic violence and involvement with terrorism. Matter resolved with a live with child arrangements order in favour of the father.
Re SJL (2022) High Court application on behalf of a local authority for permission to apply for a looked after child to make application for British citizenship in circumstances where to do so would remove the child’s citizenship of their birth country.
Re H (2021) Representation of a vulnerable mother who had previously killed her younger child. Successfully persuaded the Local Authority not to remove the second child or the then unborn sibling.
Re YW (Adequacy of Reasons) [2021] EWCA Civ 1174 Junior alone against Queen’s Counsel.
Re YW (1st instance) Finding of Fact (2021) before S9 Judge in which the Local Authority sought findings, in addition to identifying the perpetrator of a serious head injury, of running an international sham marriage racket, drug dealing and criminal document offences. The case impacted upon 4 families, involved in 3 separate sets of proceedings and the hearing was conducted over 4 separate countries.
Re K Children Care proceedings and contested finding of fact involving a 3-year-old child with gonorrhea.
Re WS (2021) Final Hearing. Representing one of the parents both of whom had learning and cognitive disabilities contesting the placing of a young baby with a family member.
Re AB&MD (2021) Finding of Fact. Representing one of the fathers. Successfully demonstrated the serious injuries to the injured child were due to the child causing the injury themselves.
Re P Children (2020-21) High Court. Ward of court case involving a mother who had abducted the children to a non-Hague Convention Country
Re the C Children (2020) Composite Final Hearing. Acting for Local Authority with multiple areas of harm alleged to 4 children. Included allegations of sexual abuse, physical assault and high level damage neglect with virtually all areas and aspects of threshold disputed.
Re SP & H children (2019) Instructed by the guardian for the youngest child and acting as the only lone junior against all Queen’s Counsel. Contested final hearing resulting, after the evidence, in opposing the application by the Local Authority to withdraw proceedings.
Re C & S B-N (2019) High Court. Acting for the Local Authority in a case involving a Nigerian mother subject to serious coercive, controlling behaviour and violence who had left her children in the UK in order to and protect them and avoid them being subject to FGM.
Re the K Children (2019) Contested Application to Discharge Care Order. Representing Local Authority. Successfully persuaded the experienced Guardian, in the box, that the Local Authority’s position in regard to contact was correct.
A v O (2019) Cross jurisdictional matter in the High Court, acting for father. Involved allegation of kidnap by the mother.
Re J Children (2018) Contested finding of Fact. Allegations of allowing sexual abuse of her children by the father and a household with skewed sexual boundaries. Allegations of sexual abuse and skewed boundaries found not proved.
Re O (2018) – Final Hearing. Acting for Nigerian mother. Allegations of witchcraft and Physical Abuse including making the children eat faeces. Cross-examination of the Social Worker showed the allegations of witchcraft were unfounded and based upon racist assumptions. Findings of systematic physical abuse and faeces were not found.