Charlotte Wilce

Called 2009

Charlotte is an extremely well prepared and knowledgeable advocate. She has a friendly manner with clients, offering support and guidance whilst presenting realistic and robust advice. A junior who leaves no stone unturned.

Legal 500 (2024)

About

Charlotte is a specialist in family law children matters.  She has a wealth of experience in calmly navigating clients through stressful and difficult cases in all levels of the Family Court, from Magistrates to the Court of Appeal.  She is known for her meticulous preparation, sound advice and approachability.  She prides herself on securing the best achievable outcome for her clients.

Charlotte accepts instructions in both public law and private law cases, having a strong reputation in both fields.  More recently, Charlotte has focussed on complex private law cases, particularly those involving allegations of serious domestic abuse, coercive controlling behaviour and parental alienation.  Charlotte’s strong public law background is particularly useful in private law cases which straddle public law issues, involve medical evidence, require fact-finding hearings, involve expert witnesses and in the representation of children/their rule 16.4 children’s guardians.

Areas of Expertise

Accolades

Charlotte regularly acts for all parties, extended family members and intervenors in public and private law cases.

Her practice includes all areas of children cases including:

  • Care proceedings
  • Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards
  • Placement outside the jurisdiction
  • Allegations of domestic abuse including coercive controlling behaviour
  • Allegations of sexual abuse
  • Allegations of inflicted injury
  • Parental alienation
  • Transfer of residence
  • Internal and international relocation
  • Rule 16.4 children’s guardians
  • Separate representation of children
  • Enforcement
  • Adoption

Legal 500 (2024) - Family, Children and Domestic Violence (Tier 3) - "Charlotte is an extremely well prepared and knowledgeable advocate. She has a friendly manner with clients, offering support and guidance whilst presenting realistic and robust advice. A junior who leaves no stone unturned."

Legal 500 (2023) Child Law, Public and Private (Tier 3) "Charlotte is extremely personable. She gets to grips with cases very quickly and has an amazing, calming manner with children."

Legal 500 (2022) Child Law, Public and Private (Tier 3) “A barrister who sits down with the papers and really puts the time into knowing her case.”

Legal 500 (2021) Child Law, Public and Private (Tier 4) "Charlotte for children's matters is excellent and clients have preferred her over more senior counsel."

Middle Temple – J.B. Montagu Award, 2008

  • B v B [2022] (unreported) - represented the mother and victim of significant domestic abuse and coercive controlling behaviour, securing serious against the father in a complex finding of fact hearing and went on to successfully limit child arrangements to indirect contact only.
  • W v F [2002] (unreported) - secured extensive unsupervised child arrangements for her client, which was against the recommendations of CAFCASS and notwithstanding findings of coercive controlling behaviour having been made by the Court against her client.
  • B v L [2022] (unreported) - complex private law proceedings representing the children through their rule 16.4 children’s guardian in which the Judge praised Charlotte for “her assistance and careful comprehensive analysis in this difficult case”,
  • U v U [2021] (unreported) - successfully defended a vulnerable party against multiple serious allegations of sexual, physical and emotional abuse of the parties’ children.  No findings were made against the client, findings of emotional abuse were made against the other party.
  • A, B And C (Adoption: Notification of Fathers and Relatives) [2020] EWCA Civ 41 https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2020/41.html
  • Re A (Relinquished baby Risk of domestic abuse) [2018] EWHC 1981 (Fam) https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Fam/2018/1981.html

LLB (Hons) Law, University of Nottingham, 2008 Bar Vocational Course, Nottingham Law School, 2009