Naomi Wiseman is ranked Band 4 for both Children Law and Matrimonial Finance in the Chambers UK Bar Guide 2019 (and has been ranked since 2015). Shortlisted at the Family Law Awards 2016, Naomi has gained a reputation as a highly effective and committed advocate.
CROSS-BORDER FAMILY CASES
Naomi has particular expertise in care proceedings with an international element, family and immigration cross-over cases and inter-country adoptions. She is regularly led by Kathryn Cronin, the pre-eminent lawyer in this area, and has been instructed to appear in the Family Division of the High Court in adoption recognition cases involving Home Office interventions.
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FAMILY LAW: CHILDREN'S LAW
Public
Regularly instructed in care and adoption proceedings, Naomi acts for children, parents and Local Authorities and appears in courts of all levels including the High Court, frequently against senior juniors and silks.
Private
Naomi undertakes a full range of private law cases including internal and international relocation, child arrangements applications and has been led by Deborah Eaton QC, who is considered a leader in this field.
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FAMILY LAW: FINANCIAL DISPUTES AND SOLUTIONS
Naomi trained at QEB, a chambers specialising in Family Law and Matrimonial Finance in 2011, and accepted tenancy at that chambers before moving to Garden Court in 2016. Naomi has a wide experience of financial remedies and appears in courts of all levels including the High Court. Naomi has been led by and assisted silks in complex and high net worth financial cases.
Naomi has also been instructed in applications under Schedule 1 Children Act 1989 and Trust of Land and Appointment of Trustees act (ToLATA). Naomi is ranked Band 4 in the UK Bar Guide.
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Community Care Law
Naomi is a member of the Community Care Team. Naomi has always been committed to representing vulnerable adults and children and is developing her practice in this area.
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Court of Protection
Naomi is a member of the Court of Protection Team, drawing on her experience in children and family law and is developing a practice in this area. Naomi is a member of the Mental Health Lawyers Association.
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Pro Bono Work
Naomi has been legal adviser at Toynbee Hall's Free Legal Advice Centre (FLAC) in London's East End for a number of years. Between 2009-10 Naomi was a residential volunteer and lived at the Toynbee Hall settlement. As part of this program Naomi volunteered at FLAC, the housing team at Tower Hamlets Law Centre and taught English via the Deesha Literacy Project. Naomi was Highly Commended in the Attorney-General's Pro Bono Awards 2010 for her work at Toynbee Hall and was married at the hall in September 2015.
Naomi now provides in-house training on family law issues to law firms who support the FLAC and was recently invited to speak at the Cleary Gottlieb Women's Working Group. Naomi is also advising the Head of Development at Toynbee Hall in relation to the launch of the FLAC campaign in April 2017.
Naomi has frequently represented people unable to obtain public funding through the Bar Pro Bono Unit and volunteers as a duty barrister at the Central Family Court through the Citizens Advice Bureau.
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Background
Prior to practising as a barrister, Naomi worked in a range of roles in Westminster and spent time on the Obama campaign in North Carolina in 2008. As a political aide Naomi worked for MPs in the last Labour Government, as well as assisting in the management of the All Party Parliamentary Group for the African Great Lakes. As part of her work with the APPG for the Great Lakes, Naomi worked alongside the Congolese diaspora.
Naomi worked as a policy advisor for a leading children's charity, the National Children's Bureau and ran the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Children. Naomi continues to brief both MPs and peers in relation to relevant family law issues and has recently taken up a research post with the Centre for Child and Family Law Reform.
Naomi frequently gives lectures on a diverse range of family law topics including child maintenance, forced marriage, stranded spouse and civil law relevant for family practitioners. Naomi co-wrote the Practical Law Company chapter on maintenance in 2013.
During the summer of 2011, Naomi spent three months with Malawi's Legal Aid Department (supported by the Centre for Capital Punishment Studies), helping to defend people accused of capital crimes. Naomi also co-founded a project training and supporting Malawian law students to prepare bail applications and mitigation for prisoners on death row - many of whom have spent years in pre-trial detention.
Naomi was awarded a Pegasus Scholarship by the Inner Temple in 2015 and spent two months on a placement in Hong Kong, attending the Third Children's Issues Forum examining children's rights and child poverty in the context of a proposed Children's Bill. Naomi was seconded to the firm Hampton, Winter and Glynn and assisted on a range of cases including international relocation of children, domestic violence and financial remedies.
Publications
'Preventing deportation of a child at risk of FGM: can the Family Court injunct the Home Secretary? Part One' (Family Law, April 2019), Naomi co-authored this with James Holmes, also of Garden Court Chambers.
Education
- BA History, Trinity College, University of Cambridge
- MA International Relations and International Law, University of Sussex
- GDL and BVC at BPP, London
- Astbury Scholar of Middle Temple
- Pegasus Scholar (placement in Hong Kong)
Professional Membership
- Family Law Bar Association (FLBA)
- Mental Health Lawyers Association (MHLA)
- Bar Human Rights Committee
- Liberty
- Society of Labour Lawyers