Education CV
Biography:
Rob is a doctoral student in Law at St John’s College, University of Cambridge.
Rob started his legal career at the Law Commission of England and Wales where he was a research assistant on the ‘Building Families Through Surrogacy’ project. He has since developed a particular interest in surrogacy law and policy, and has published on this area in the Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law and the Modern Law Review. Rob is also interested in the family justice system more broadly, and has co-authored two pieces on the family courts’ response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
After working at the Law Commission, Rob qualified as a barrister, undertook pupillage and practised at Coram Chambers, London where he remains a door tenant. During his time at the Bar, Rob volunteered with the UCL Legal Advice Clinic and supervised students providing legal advice at the Queen Mary Legal Advice Centre.
Coming from a state-educated, working class background in Northern England, Rob also has a keen interest in reducing educational inequality, and has previously worked and volunteered with organisations to raise the confidence and aspirations of underprivileged school children.
Education:
PhD Candidate, St John’s College, University of Cambridge (2024-present)
Bar Practice Course, University of Law (Outstanding) (2021-2022)
LLM Law and Social Justice, University College London (Distinction) (2019-2020)
BA (Hons) Jurisprudence, University College, University of Oxford (First Class) (2016-2019)
Scholarships and Prizes:
PhD Studentship, Open-Oxford-Cambridge Arts and Humanities Research Council – St John’s College
Pupillage ‘Ann Goddard’ Scholarship, The Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn (2023)
Bar Course ‘Wilfred Watson’ Scholarship, The Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn (2020)
LLM Dean’s Scholarship, University College London (2019)
Alan Urbach Prize, University College, University of Oxford (2019)
Finalists’ Scholarship, University College, University of Oxford (2019)
Fields of research
Family law, children's rights, human rights
PhD Research: Child welfare and human rights in the balance: A critical appraisal of shifting judicial approaches to parent-child separation in England, 1991-present
Summary
If a child is at risk of harm in their parents’ care, how should a judge decide whether or not to separate them? Understanding and evaluating how judges make these decisions is important: they affect thousands of children every year, are made at all levels of the judiciary - including by legally untrained magistrates - and represent the sharpest state interferences in family life.
My PhD research explores how judicial approaches to this question have changed in the last 35 years due to the emerging human rights culture in the UK. I am looking into how judges have juggled two different value systems - child welfare and human rights - in reported case law, 1991 to present, and how the changed emphasis, away from just considering child welfare to also necessarily considering human rights, has impacted children. My research will appraise different approaches to judicial reasoning in these cases, and address unanswered but important questions about the relationship between child welfare and human rights in domestic law: for example, against what legitimate aim should parent-child separation be assessed? What are the respective roles of human rights and child welfare in decision-making? What should judges do if child welfare seems to require one thing and human rights another? Ultimately, my project aims to promote fuller, more transparent and more convincing judicial reasoning in cases involving possible parent-child separation.
Supervisors
Professor Stephen Gilmore
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