Irena Osborne

Irena Osborne is an experienced family practitioner. Before becoming a founding partner of BH&O Irena worked in the care department at Turpin & Miller LLP for 8 years, having trained in a large firm in London and spent some time in a high street firm in Buckinghamshire. She spent three years in the Oxford office before moving to the Reading office taking over running it. She has eight years post qualification experience representing parents in care proceedings and dealing with international family matters. She has further four years pre-qualification experience dealing with family litigation in general.

Irena’s notable cases include:

• Re L (2015) Re L (A Child) [2015] EWFC 15
• Re A and B (Children Brussels II Revised Article 15 (2014) A and B (Children – Brussels II Revised – Art 15) [2014] EWHC 3516 (Fam)

Irena regularly undertakes work including clients of foreign nationalities and clients based abroad involved in care proceedings, relocation cases, abduction cases and other family cases with international element. She is a member of the Family Law Advanced Panel (Abduction & Wardship), member of Resolution, Association of Lawyers for Children and Child Abduction Lawyers’ Association. She is the only Slovene speaking care lawyer in the UK.

She is a member of The Family Law Panel and regularly provides pro bono advice to parents that contact her through Only Dads or Only Mums.

Irena is committed to work with the local community and has done so whilst being in the Reading office through extensive involvement with local charitable organisations and pro-bono work that the staff at the Reading Office undertook under Irena’s leadership. This included extensive involvement with Flag DV, Alana House, and BWA – Crossing Bridges. Irena herself undertakes pro-bono work with all the above organisations and has been a trustee of Flag DV charity since 2016.