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Piers Pressdee KC
A Rolls-Royce silk in children’s work. He is engaging, incredibly persuasive, and always on top of his brief… Provides a razor-sharp strategy to every case he touches and leaves no stone unturned to achieve the right outcome.
Legal 500 2025 – Top Tier
Shortlisted as 2024 Family Law Silk of the Year at the Legal 500 Awards and 2024 Family Law KC of the Year at the Family Law Awards and consistently ranked in the top tier for children law by the Legal 500, Piers is considered one of the foremost children law barristers in the country.
He practises exclusively in the field of children law, undertaking significant and complex cases at first instance and appellate level.
He has a predominantly private children law practice and is particularly well-known for his expertise in relocation cases (international and domestic) and in disputes over child arrangements and related issues (including those involving allegations of domestic abuse and alienating behaviours).
In the public children law field, Piers has vast experience of undertaking cases entailing allegations of the most serious physical, sexual or emotional abuse. His practice also includes cross-border abduction and jurisdictional disputes.
Piers is typically brought in from the outset of cases to strategise and run them from start to finish. He regularly acts for high-profile, UHNW and HNW individuals and his recent clients have included leading figures from the worlds of sport, business, finance and entertainment.
Piers has appeared in numerous reported cases and has for almost 20 years been recommended for children law by the major guides to the legal profession. A former co-chair of the Association of Lawyers for Children, he co-authors the leading practitioner work, Dictionary of Private Children Law, published annually. He took silk in 2010 and joined 4PB in 2021.
Professional Memberships > >
Association of Lawyers for Children
FLBA
Private Children Law > >
Piers is particularly well-known for his expertise in relocation cases (international and domestic), in child arrangements disputes (including those involving allegations of domestic abuse and alienating behaviours) and in proceedings over schooling and other parenting issues.
He has appeared in numerous reported cases, including recently in the private children law field GM & Anor v EB & Anor (Rules of Evidence) [2024] EWHC 288 (Fam), MG v AR (Security for Costs) [2022] 2 FLR 583, MY v FY (Contact) [2021] 1 FLR 883 and AY v AS and another (Relocation) [2020] 1 FLR 536.
Public Children Law > >
Piers has vast experience of appearing at first instance for local authorities, parents, other family members and guardians in cases entailing allegations of the most serious physical, sexual or emotional abuse and has been instructed in a number of appeals involving important points of law and practice.
He has appeared in numerous reported cases, including recently in the public children law field R (Care Proceedings: Joinder of Foster Carers) [2022] 1 FLR 395, CTD (A Child: Rehearing) [2021] 1 FLR 868, EF, GH, IJ (care proceedings) [2019] EWFC 75 and M (A Child) (Secure Accommodation) [2018] EWCA Civ 2707.
International Children Law > >
Piers is particularly well-known for his expertise in international relocation cases and his practice also includes cross-border abduction and jurisdictional disputes.
He has appeared in numerous reported cases, including the international relocation cases AY v AS and another (Relocation) [2020] 1 FLR 536 [2020] and Re F and H (Children: Relocation) [2008] 2 FLR 1667.
Non-court dispute resolution > >
Piers is trained in collaborative law and provides early neutral evaluation across the full range of private children law disputes.
Publications/Training > >
Co-author, Dictionary of Private Children Law (Class Legal, annual).
Revised and updated the ‘Children and Young Persons’ volumes of Halsbury’s Laws of England (5th edition, 2012).
Co-author, The Public Law Outline: The Court Companion (Family Law, 2008).
Co-author, Contact: The New Deal (Family Law, 2006).
Contributor to Family Law journal and Family Law Week.
Regular lecturer on children law topics – most recently on implacable hostility and serial non-compliance for the 2024 White Paper Children Law Conference, relocation for the 2024 Family Law Week Children Law Conference and challenging section 7 reports for the 2024 4PB Private Children Law Seminar.
Interviews on children law and practice to The Times, The Observer, The Independent, BBC and Sky News.
Cases > >
- Shortlisted – Family Law Silk of the Year (Legal 500 Awards 2024)
- Shortlisted – Family Law KC of the Year (Family Law Awards 2024)
- Astbury Scholar – Middle Temple
- Hutton Prizewinner – St John’s College, Cambridge
- St John’s College, Cambridge (MA)
- Inns of Court School of Law
- Co-chair, Association of Lawyers for Children, 2008-2010
- National Family Justice Board, 2008-2010
- President, Cambridge Union, 1988
