Adeeba Naseem

Solicitor - Director & Solicitor

SRA ID: 318190

I am a Director of Family and Childcare at Duncan Lewis Solicitors. My area of expertise is handling international and domestic family law proceedings at the high court, in particular, I have a niche children law specialism in child abduction, surrogacy and adoption cases. I also regularly deal with separation, divorce and financial proceedings (domestic and international), including pre-nuptial and post nuptial agreements, and cases involving the Queens Proctor which are rare. I have experience in acting for parents and children in care cases and prior to Duncan Lewis, for a number of years, I represented different local authorities within such proceedings. In child abduction matters I regularly issue family proceedings both domestically and in different jurisdiction outside the UK; I liaise with organisations and authorities in other jurisdictions to ensure vulnerable children are successfully returned to their home country. Although I have handled a significant number of cases worldwide, I am presently dealing with the return of children abducted to Pakistan and Jamaica, which can be highly complicated as these are not countries whose accession to the Hague Convention are ratified and there often has to be mirror proceedings in those countries. I have expertise in surrogacy cases when couples have a surrogate mother in England or another country to carry their child and look to secure parental orders to ensure they are legally recognised as the child’s parents. I am presently dealing with a case of an Indian couple resident in the UK who had a child through a surrogate in India, whereby applications are being made to the High Court in England for appropriate orders. I handle both privately funded and publicly funded matters and I have undertaken advocacy at the High Courts and lower courts UK-wide. I act for a significantly broad client base, from vulnerable victims of abuse eligible for legal aid funding, internationally high profile clients to cases with a public interest element due to there being concerns of extremist links or children’s medical conditions. I supervise a team of solicitors, trainees and caseworkers at the firm’s Harrow office that undertake a broad range of family and childcare matters. I work closely with a number of not for profit organisations that support and advise vulnerable members of their communities. These include children centres, foodbanks and charities. I often give talks and pro bono advice at domestic violence organisations and have a particular interest in securing protection through emergency injunctions for victims of abuse. I am recognised as a recommended specialist in my field, and listed as a Recommended Lawyer in the Legal 500 UK directory for my work in Family and Childcare across London and the South East. I am a member of the Law Society's Children Panel which means I have demonstrated the required level of competence and specialist knowledge, as defined by the Law Society in all areas of children law and the representation of children. In addition, I am member of the Association of Lawyers for Children and Reunite International. Although a childcare solicitor, I have past experience practising in both immigration and criminal law. As a result I have experience in undertaking my own advocacy at the Magistrates court and in Bail Applications at the Crown Court. I also represented many clients successfully at the Immigration Tribunals at appeal stage. As a trainee I frequently undertook advocacy including contested cases relating to injunctions, residence and contact applications, interim care order applications, committal to prison applications, before District Judges and Circuit Judges. I am frequently invited to appear on TV, Radio and the press in the UK to advise and comment on legal issues; I recently appeared on Zee TV for their legal segment on adoption and foster care. I speak fluent Urdu and Punjabi.