Appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2012 with over 20 years experience in the field of family law. Taryn was appointed a Recorder in 2008 and hears both private and public law family cases. Her practice encompasses all courts but she has an extensive practice in High Court public children matters. Taryn is also a trained Family Mediator and Public Access accredited barrister since 2010, which allows her to take instructions direct from members of the public.
Taryn’s particular expertise is in contentious and highly complex cases which involve allegations of severe child abuse including fabricated and induced illness, serious sexual abuse, poisoning including case of hypernatraemia and hyponatraemia, catastophic brain injury cases (TRIAD/NAHI/Shaken baby allegations), fractures, burn injuries, failure to thrive and death.
Taryn’s expertise also covers all aspects of adoption law and private law, particularly child abduction / removal from the jurisdiction/ internal relocation cases, paternity disputes, cases involving transsexual issues, same sex parenting, findings of fact in relation to sexual abuse, physical and emotional abuse within the private law arena and also complex cases involving issues such as the disclosure of HIV status and/or HIV testing and treatment of both adults and children.
Taryn also undertakes Court of Protection work and has most recently been involved in a case that is considering the issue of enforced medical treatment for a child.
Taryn has been regularly involved in cases that have required child witnesses to provide oral evidence to the court and is therefore au fait both with representing children and cross examining children within this context.
Taryn is known for her formidable cross examination and her ability to ‘pull together’ the evidence in the most complex and unwieldy cases and cut through complex medical evidence.
Taryn has been instructed in some high profile cases which have attracted national press attention and have required contra mundum press injunctions to be obtained from the court.
– Successfully representing two sisters who had been subjected to years of sexual abuse by their father, undectected by all professional agencies, despite enduring 19 pregnancies between them. The children who had been removed were successfully returned and Press injunctions were sought and successfully obtained.
– Sucessfully representing a father against whom the LA sought findings that he had murdered an elderly neighbour.
– Successfully representing a young mother, who became pregnant whilst on day release from prison, whilst serving a term of imprisonment for a murder she committed as a child, mother successfully retained the care of her child.
Taryn appears on behalf of local authorities, parents & step-parents, extended family members including grandparents, foster parents, interveners and guardians-ad-litem and often represents parents with mental health problems, severly learning- disabled parents and child parents.
Taryn previously served on the Lincoln Women’s Refuge Committee.