Irena Osborne is a highly skilled and dedicated family law practitioner with a wealth of experience in complex legal matters, particularly those involving children, international elements and domestic abuse. International elements brings another dimension to any family case and having a lawyer with the expertise to navigate those tricky issues is a great advantage for any client. As a founding partner at BH&O, Irena has built a reputation for providing clear and compassionate guidance to clients navigating challenging family situations.
Before launching BH&O in 2018 with Ruth and Emily, Irena spent eight years at Turpin & Miller LLP, where she developed her expertise in family law. She trained at a prominent London firm and gained further experience in a high street firm in Buckinghamshire. Her career spans three years at the T&M LLP Oxford office and several years in Reading, where she led the office and honed her expertise in care proceedings, international family disputes, and relocation cases. She is passionate about cases involving domestic abuse and is skilled in understanding the complexities of domestic abuse and subtleties of how being a survivor of domestic abuse can impact the overall presentation of her clients.
With almost two decades of post-qualification experience, Irena has a proven track record in representing parents in care proceedings and working on complex international family cases. Her practice covers a wide range of family law issues, including abduction, relocation, and cases involving foreign national clients. In addition, Irena has four years of pre-qualification experience in general family litigation, giving her a broad understanding of the field.
Some of 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)
- KD v AM & Ors [2018] EWFC 64 (10 August 2018)
- www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWFC/OJ/2024/101.html
- https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewfc/b/2025/38
Irena has earned recognition for her work with international clients, being the only Slovene-speaking care lawyer in the UK. She is a member of the Family Law Advanced Panel (Abduction & Wardship), Resolution, Association of Lawyers for Children, and LAPG.
For Irena, being a lawyer is more than proving legal advice, it is about giving back to the community using the skills of being a lawyer, a parent and occasional jogger. She contributed to a book published by Only Dads and Only Mums. She is a trustee of Flag DV charity and is also actively involved in the charity providing free legal advice on a monthly basis. She provides free legal advice to clients working with Alana House in Reading. She is passionate about the new generation of family lawyers and is actively involved with the CLOCK project with Oxford Brookes University. She is also a trustee of F&E Memorial Trust. She is regularly involved with charity fundraising events, most recently supporting the Oxfordshire Homeless Charity with Race Across Oxfordshire and running a 10k for Against Breast Cancer.