Emily Boardman

Emily Boardman is a solicitor and one of the founding partners at Boardman, Hawkins & Osborne LLP.

She studied law at The University of London (SOAS) and obtained her professional qualifications from The College of Law (London). She trained in London and spent 12 years as the head of the family department in another Thames Valley firm before leaving to establish BH&O LLP.

She is a member of the Association of Lawyers for Children and The Law Society’s Children Panel.

Emily undertakes any complex family cases involving children but specialises particularly in cases against social services and private adoptions. She advises fostering and adoption agencies as well.

She was rated one of the Top 50 Influential Women in Business by Cotswold Life and was shortlisted by Oxfordshire Business Awards in the category of Young Business Person of the Year 2013. She won Employer of the Year 2014 at the Venus Awards 2014.

Emily can sometimes be found on social media:

 

Legal guides

Emily is recognised by The Legal 500 as a leading individual and is ranked in Band 1  by Chambers & Partners  with published comments over the years such as:

“Emily Boardman is one of the best lawyers of her generation. She is fiercely bright, and has immense emotional intelligence. She is quite rightly very sought after for her work in children cases and adoption.”

“Emily is like an encyclopaedia of family and children law.”

“Emily Boardman is an excellent solicitor. She is brilliant at giving robust advice and just getting the job done.”

“Emily Boardman is very thorough and tenacious. She’s a hugely strong lawyer who is very committed to her clients.”

“Emily Boardman is fiercely bright, standing out for her work involving non-accidental injuries and adoption.”

“Emily is one of the most talented public children and adoption law solicitors in the South East. She is a powerful solicitor to have on board if you are a parent in a case and very good to have on side. She goes above and beyond for her clients.”

“She has a very longstanding expertise in care proceedings and a particularly good legal mind for the work she does. She is not only sympathetic and trying to be a champion for people scrutinised by the state, but she also has good legal ideas and solutions for how to support the client.”

“Emily is dedicated to her work and leaves no stone unturned.”

She is “scrupulously thorough in her preparation of a case”.

She is “a force to be reckoned with”.

She brings considerable experience to her cases and has a no-nonsense, down-to-earth approach which is extremely effective.”

She shows a great deal of precision and compassion for her clients.”

She is absolutely meticulous in her preparation and attentive to every detail of her cases. Her standard of client care is excellent.”

She is a key individual whose “forte lies in public work involving children”. “She is phenomenally hard-working and goes that extra mile”.

She is “very thorough, with very good client skills, and she will fight hard for her client’s corner.”

Emily Boardman is lauded for her work on cases involving complex medical issues, such as non-accidental injury and fabricated illness matters. Sources say that “she’s very client-focused and doesn’t give up without a fight. She’s hands-on and a good tactical thinker.”


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Publicity

In 2024 Emily has had a number of reported cases.

She represents an adoptive mother who applied to revoke an adoption order in the High Court [https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Fam/2024/1059.html] and then appealed to the Court of Appeal [link to follow]. She wrote about this case here:  https://www.bholegal.co.uk/revocation-of-adoption-orders/

She has represented a mother in two sets of reported [links: https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWFC/OJ/2024/303.html and https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWFC/OJ/2024/302.html ] care proceedings brought as a result of a number of serious injuries suffered by her young child. She represented a ftah in care proceedings when his young children were identified to have fractures [link: https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWFC/OJ/2024/247.html]

Emily represented a great-aunt in a successful appeal in the Court of Appeal against a Placement and Care Order for her great-nephew. The great-aunt was also successful in obtaining costs against the Local Authority as a result of their conduct of the case. The case was reported and Emily wrote about it for the BH&O website and for The Transparency Project.

She represented the Mother in the appeal brought by Louise Tickle (a freelance journalist) and the BBC against a Reporting Restriction Order in the reported case of Re R [2019] EWCA 482 Civ (15 February 2019). Emily wrote about the case here and was featured in The Law Society Gazette speaking about it.

Emily has written two published articles on challenging interim threshold as a consequence of two successful challenges in Re C (permission to withdraw: medical evidence: interim threshold not crossed) [2018] EWFC B37 and Re G (interim threshold) [2017] EWFC B34.

She is the Solicitor referred to by EP in Case for legal aid – from a desperate young mother and represented the Father referred to in ‘It was a routine hospital visit. Baby Maddy wasn’t putting on weight… What happens when the state takes your child away?

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Reported cases and articles:

Boardman, Hawkins & Osborne articles:

Revocation of adoption orders: Part two (the Court of Appeal)

January 16, 2025

I have previously written about a High Court decision to refuse to revoke an adoption order under th

Read More >>

Revocation of adoption orders

May 21, 2024

A case has just been published in which I represented the applicant, an adoptive mother, who sought

Read More >>

When can a local authority remove a child placed for adoption?

February 02, 2024

In another article that aims to provide information for prospective adopters Emily Boardman sets out

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When an application is made to oppose an Adoption Order

January 07, 2024

There are a number of circumstances that can call into question the plan for adoption for a child. I

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When an application is made to overturn a placement order

January 07, 2024

There are a number of circumstances that can call into question the plan for adoption for a child. I

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Reflections on National Adoption Week

October 17, 2022

I am a trustee at Adoption UK and I am a family solicitor. I represent birth families and children i

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The Somerset case – Part two

April 14, 2022

In February I wrote an article that summarised the first Judgment in relation to the Somerset cases

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The Somerset case on non-compliant Placement Orders

February 10, 2022

See also: The Somerset case – Part two In November 2021 a case went to court that has sent shock w

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Applying for a Child Arrangements Order without a lawyer

April 09, 2021

A Child Arrangements Order is an order that sets out arrangements for a child – that is most commo

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Two years in
(aka ‘Lawyers in Lockdown’)

August 24, 2020

2020 has been an odd year for us all but on 1 September BH&O LLP turns two years old. Like other

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Re W – a successful appeal against a placement and care order (and a costs order against the LA)

February 25, 2020

Article originally published on transparencyproject.org.uk The background  The appellant is the

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Appeal, revoke or discharge? How to get your child back after care proceedings conclude.

November 17, 2022

One of the most common enquiries we get is from birth parents who want to challenge a decision to re

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Why are we excited about in-house therapeutic services?

June 11, 2019

I remember many years ago hearing about a firm who were offering clients therapy alongside their div

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What to do if you are accused of causing injuries to your child

November 16, 2022

I first wrote this article in 2018 and I am updating it because parents still need this advice, and

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Two months in…

November 06, 2018

On 3 September 2018 Ruth, Irena and I opened this new firm – Boardman, Hawkins & Osborne LLP.

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A new family law firm for Oxfordshire

August 06, 2018

On 3 September 2018 Emily Boardman, Ruth Hawkins and Irena Osborne are opening a new family law firm

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