‘Mani is very committed and passionate about assisting clients. He is always willing to go the extra mile to ensure that the client receives the best possible advice and service. He is reliable and extremely knowledgeable in respect of private children’s cases. He has excellent advocacy skills, particularly in cross-examination.’
Legal 500, 2024
Experience
Year of Call: 2014
Qualifications
Law LLB: First Class Honours
Joint LLM (Employment Law and Sports Law): First Class Distinction
BPTC: Very Competent
Languages
Conversational Punjabi and Hindi
Appointments
Elected Member on the Family Law Bar Association Committee [2019 – 2022] and committee member on the Child Abduction Lawyers Association.
Profile
Mani has a broad practice covering all areas of family law with a particular focus on disputes relating to children. He regularly appears in the High Court has appeared up to the Court of Appeal.
International Child Law
Mani is a specialist in cases that have an international element relating to child abduction. Mani deals with cases concerning applications for summary return under the Hague Convention 1980, the recognition and enforcement of foreign orders relating to the Hague Convention 1996, applications concerning wardship / the inherent jurisdiction and forced marriage. Mani is known for his experience in ‘stranded spouse’ cases and is the author of ‘A Practical Guide to Stranded Spouses in Family Law’ which is available for purchase here. He also co-authored an article in The Times about this topic. Further, Mani has published a book in respect of ‘A Practical Guide to Exercising the Inherent Jurisdiction’ which can be purchased here.
Further, Mani is regularly instructed in cases where there are jurisdictional issues, applications for relocation and cases concerning surrogacy.
Mani regularly writes on the topic of international child abduction and has featured in the International Family Law Journal, the Family Law Journal and New Law Journal.
Mani has appeared in a number of published cases such as:
- K v E [2023] EWHC 2890 (Fam)
- Re Z (A Child) (1980 Hague Convention) [2023] EWHC 2696
- NM v SM [2023] EWHC 2209
- Re B (A Child) (Consent; Acquiescence, Intolerability) [2023] EWHC 2162
- Re K & S (Article 13 (b)) [2023] EWHC 1883
- Re H (A Child) (Recusal) [2023] 4 WLR 64
- C v M & Anor (No 1 Hague Abduction: Application for Re-hearing)
- Re Y (A Child) (Abduction: Romania Article 13(b) [2023] EWHC 1676
- Z v Z [2023] EWHC 1673
- Addou v Bennabi [2023] EWHC 2469
- Allami v Fakher (Court of Appeal) [2023] EWCA 532
- C v M & Anor [2023] EWHC 1182
- R v P [2023] EWHC 914
- Allami v Fakher [2023] EWFC 59
- Re DQ (A Child) (Abduction: Defence of Consent) [2023] EWHC 891
- Re Child E [2023] EWHC 584
- Re T (A Child: Application to Permanently Relocate) [2023] EWHC 545
- FB v MG [2023] 1 FLR 1151
- Addou v Bennabi (committal) [2022] EWHC 3465
- Re N (Abduction) [2022] EWHC 3146
- J v R [2022] EWFC 104
- ADK v ASI [2022] EWHC 2610
- YP v HP [2022] EWHC 1954
- F and S (Special Guardianship Order with Supervision Order) [2021] EWFC B19
- London Borough of Southwark v A Family [2020] EWHC 3117
- A City Council v A Mother & Ors (Care Proceedings Radicalisation) [2019] EWHC 3076, [2020] 1 FLR 515
Private Law Children and Domestic Abuse
Mani acts in all areas of private law disputes concerning children that involve applications for child arrangement orders and enforcement proceedings. He is frequently instructed in cases considering contentious residence and contact disputes where the issues involve allegations of domestic abuse, psychological harm, parental alienation and he appears in cases involving domestic and international relocation. Mani is particularly known for his experience in private law cases where there are reported safeguarding issues and local authority input and he has produced a number of articles on this area which have been published by the Family Law Journal (LexisNexis).
Mani has extensive experience relating to applications under the Family Law Act 1996 for non-molestation and occupation orders.
Personal Information
Mani has assisted with the expert witness training of paediatricians at the Royal College of Paediatrics and regularly delivers training and seminars to legal professionals. Mani was awarded the LexisNexis Family Law Commentator of the Year Award 2022 and in 2022 he was also nominated and shortlisted for the Rising Star award at the Asian Lawyer Awards 2022. In 2023, he has been nominated for Family Junior Barrister of the Year, Legal Commentator of the Year and International Lawyer of the Year and nominated for Civil (Family) Lawyer of the Year at the 2023 Asian Lawyer Awards.
He is on the scholarship and diversity panel for the FLBA and is also a pupil supervisor at 4PB.
Mani is often invited to speak at a number of high profile events and recently he spoke at:
- White Paper Conference on the issue of fact-findings in private law disputes, alongside Barbara Mills KC;
- JUSTICE Human Rights Conference alongside Teertha Gupta KC;
- LexisNexis 2022 Family Law Round Up, speaking on developments in international family law.
- LexisNexis 2023 Private Law Round Up
Professional Memberships
The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn
Family Law Bar Association
Child Abduction Lawyers Association
Directories
‘Mani is very committed and passionate about assisting clients. He is always willing to go the extra mile to ensure that the client receives the best possible advice and service. He is reliable and extremely knowledgeable in respect of private children’s cases. He has excellent advocacy skills, particularly in cross-examination.’
Legal 500, 2024