Amy Stout

"Amy is unflappable. She is calm and focused in court but also tenacious when she needs to be. She delivers the best possible submissions for her clients and is persuasive."

Legal 500

Amy has a busy practice in all areas of Family Law, including Care Proceedings, Private Children Proceedings and Financial Remedy Proceedings.

Amy is a fearless advocate who fights hard for her clients. She has strong client care skills and is well liked by solicitors and clients. Amy has experience beyond her years, particularly in relation to appeals, and is frequently instructed on complex cases.

Amy has appeared in the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court and accepts instructions at all levels of the Family Court. 

Public Children Law

Amy is regularly instructed in Care Proceedings on behalf of parents, Local Authorities and Children. She has been instructed in a broad variety of proceedings including those involving:

• Non-Accidental Injury;
• Sexual abuse;
• Physical abuse;
• Parties with significant mental health difficulties, including the loss of litigation capacity;
• Parties with learning disabilities;
• Deprivation of Liberty;
• Addiction difficulties;
• Domestic abuse;
• Neglect.

Amy is praised for her ability to put nervous clients at ease and for being able to deal sensitively with clients who are particularly vulnerable.  

Amy has appeared on a number of cases in the Court of Appeal, including successfully appealing Care and Placement Orders where the children were returned to their parents at the conclusion of proceedings. Amy has appeared both led and unled in the Court of Appeal.

Amy was involved in the case Re H-W which was awarded Case of the Year at the Family Law Awards 2023. 

Other cases that Amy has been involved in are:

Re EY [2023] EWCA Civ 1241

Amy Stout appeared unled in the Court of Appeal on behalf of the Respondent Father. The Local Authority had appealed a final hearing where the Judge had found that threshold wasn’t crossed where a Local Authority had, amongst other matters, been raising concerns in respect of exposing a child to inappropriate sexual boundaries.

Re H-W [2022] UKSC 17

Amy Stout and Emily Beer successfully represented an Appellant Father in the Supreme Court, led by Will Tyler KC. The case concerned long running care proceedings that centred on the parents’ ability to protect their children from a risk of sexual harm and neglect. The Supreme Court were concerned with the proportionality of making care orders and the cases provides extensive guidance.   

Re S (Adequacy of Reasoning) [2019] EWCA Civ 1845  

Amy Stout and Victoria Teggin were successful in appealing a judgment in the Court of Appeal concerning the non-accidental injury of a child.

Amy Stout later represented the Mother unled in the re-hearing of the fact-finding hearing.

In the Matter of S(A Child) [2015] UKSC 20

Amy Stout was led by Andrew Bainham in the Supreme Court in a case concerning costs in appellate care proceedings. The case provides an extensive overview of the law in respect of costs in public and private children proceedings and guidance on the relevance of a parties’ means when making a costs order in a Children Act case.

Re P (A Child) [2018] EWCA Civ 1483

Amy Stout and Ayesha Hasan were successful in the Court of Appeal in appealing care and placement orders in a case that concerned a Mother’s recovery from alcoholism and the likelihood of relapse. The case provides important guidance on when it is appropriate to grant an adjournment to allow a parent more time to show improvements.

Amy Stout represented the Mother in the re-hearing of the care case and was successful in obtaining a supervision order for the child to live with her Mother.

Re F (A Child: Proportionality) [2018] EWCA Civ 2761

Amy Stout and Will Tyler KC were successful in the Court of Appeal in appealing care and placement orders in a case that concerned a Mother’s relationship with alcohol and exposure of the child to domestic abuse perpetrated by the Father. The Court of Appeal provided key guidance on the factors to be considered by any Judge when making a placement order and the importance of conducting a proportionality analysis to ensure that care and placement orders are a necessary and proportionate intereference with a family’s Article 8 rights to a private life.

Private Children

Amy is regularly instructed in a wide range of private law disputes about children and is particularly experienced at representing victims of the most serious and pernicious domestic abuse. She has an in-depth understanding of the dynamics of abusive relationships and how this can impact the litigation of private children cases.

Amy often deals with cases of alleged parental alienation, allegations of domestic abuse, allegations of sexual abuse and cases with international issues. Amy has been instructed on cases involving allegations of international abduction under the Hague Convention.

Amy has successfully appealed private children decisions, including a decision made by a Recorder to allow contact between a child and her Father where there was an outstanding risk of sexual abuse.

Amy has particular experience in respect of costs in family cases and has successfully obtained a number of costs orders at the conclusion of fact-finding hearings.

SR v MA [2019] EWHC 435 (Fam) 

Amy Stout represented a Father in the High Court in a case under the Hague Convention concerning child arrangements for a child whose Mother lived in Brazil where there were allegations that the Father had wrongfully retained him in England. 

Financial Remedy Proceedings

Amy acts in a wide range of Financial Remedy proceedings, including cases involving non-disclosure of assets, arguments about pre and post-matrimonial accrual, cases with an international element and arguments in respect of trusts of property where intervenors are joined to proceedings.  

Amy is skilled at combining a rigorous analysis of legal arguments with a pragmatic family law approach.

Amy sits as a Deputy District Judge on the South Eastern Circuit in civil, private children and financial remedy proceedings.