Poonam Bhari appears in Court of Appeal in pivotal FPR case

24th January 2022

3PB’s specialist family law barrister, Poonam Bhari (pictured here) recently appeared in the Court of Appeal on behalf of the second respondent in Re S (vulnerable party: fairness of proceedings); A v A local authority and others  [2022] EWCA Civ 8, a case in which they considered Part 3A of the Family Procedure Rules (FPR).

Part 3A of the Family Procedure Rules "Vulnerable Persons: Participation in Proceedings and Giving Evidence", supplemented by Practice Direction 3AA ("PD3AA") was introduced in 2017 as in recent years, courts and tribunals across the English and Welsh legal system recognised the need to make due provision for vulnerable persons to participate in proceedings. More information on Part 3A of the Family Procedure Rules can be found here.

In this case, the Court of Appeal allowed the appeal ‘‘on the basis that the decision was unjust because there are strong reasons to suspect that A did not have a fair opportunity to present her case’’ and therefore Judgment from the previous fact finding hearing was set aside.

Read the full Judgment on Re S (vulnerable party: fairness of proceedings); A v A local authority and others  [2022] EWCA Civ 8.

Poonam Bhari was called to the bar in 1999 and is a specialist family law barrister with experience in complex public law proceedings, private law applications, international child law and financial remedy applications. Poonam regularly appears at all levels of the family court including the High Court and Court of appeal and in June 2021, she was appointed to the Family Procedure Rules Committee (FPRC).

To instruct Poonam on a family law matter, please contact her clerks Robert Leonard on [email protected] or Ian Charlton on [email protected] or call them on 0330 332 2633.