Aoife Devereaux

2025: Court of Appeal decision of Re M (A Child: Intermediaries) [2025] EWCA Civ 440. Sarah Williams and Aoife Devereaux were instructed pro bono by the Family Law Bar Association to intervene in a Court of Appeal case of significant public interest concerning the use of intermediaries for vulnerable parties within family proceedings. The appeal, by a vulnerable mother with processing difficulties and an autistic spectrum diagnosis, followed a pre-trial decision of Mr Justice Williams, where he refused her an intermediary at a fact-finding hearing within serious care proceedings. Lord Justice Peter Jackson, Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Snowden allowed the mother’s appeal. Their judgment provides essential guidance around the principles to be applied when a court is considering an application for an intermediary in family proceedings.