Family Justice Council: Student Seminar Panel on Neurodiversity in the Family Justice System

The panel will be chaired by Sir Andrew McFarlane, President of the Family Division and Chair of the Family Justice Council. The panel will include award-winning family lawyer Jenny Beck and  Child Protection Subject Matter Expert Vinice Cowell, Co-Chairs of the Family Justice Council Neurodiversity Working Group, and Durham Law School academics Dr Dafni Lima and Dr Kat Langley.

This event is open to undergraduate and postgraduate students across England and Wales and will offer an invaluable opportunity for students to hear from members about the work of the Family Justice Council, what it’s like to be a member of the Council and the recent work on neurodiversity in the family justice system. There will be an opportunity for a Q&A with the panel and, for those in person, a chance to network with the speakers at the drink’s reception following the event.

This is a great opportunity for students with an interest in family law, psychology or social work.

Please note that this event is hybrid, with the panel being hosted at Durham Law School. In-person places are highly limited, and priority will be given to students in the local area. Those joining virtually will be able to contribute to the Q&A.

To register to attend the event please complete the following form no later than 12PM Monday 19^th January 2026: Registration Form.

You will be asked to indicate whether you wish to attend in-person or online via MS teams.

As spaces at the venue are limited, we will inform those who have requested to attend in-person whether they have been successful by Thursday 22^nd January 2026.

An MS Teams link will be sent to those wishing to attend online shortly before the event.

To learn more about the Family Justice Council, please visit Family Justice Council - Courts and Tribunals Judiciary.

FJC Outreach Event – Speaker Biographies

Sir Andrew McFarlane

Andrew McFarlane was called to the Bar in 1977 and practiced in chambers in Birmingham until 1993 when he moved to specialist family law chambers in London. He appeared at all levels of court including the House of Lords and the European Court of Human Rights. He was appointed as a QC in 1998. In April 2005 he was appointed to the High Court, Family Division and was, for five years, the Family Division Liaison Judge for the Midland Circuit. He was the legal member of the Government ‘Family Justice Review’ Panel.

In July 2011 he was appointed to be a Lord Justice of Appeal sitting full time in the Court of Appeal in London. On 28 July 2018 Sir Andrew succeeded Sir James Munby as President of the Family Division and Head of Family Justice. Together with the late David Hershman he is the co-author of a loose-leaf legal textbook entitled “Children: Law and Practice”. In addition, he has contributed to other publications and lectured throughout the UK and abroad. Sir Andrew has been a trustee of YoungMinds (the national young person’s mental health charity) and is Patron of HOPE Family Centre (Bromyard).

Sir Andrew is an alumnus of Durham and studied law at Collingwood College.

Jenny Beck KC (Hon)

Jenny is an award-winning family lawyer and founding director of Beck Fitzgerald, a niche central London family practice. She is committed to accessible justice and the rights of the individual. She specialises in complex disputes relating to finance and children and regularly speaks on issues relating to access to justice and the family justice system. Jenny is the Private Law representative on the Family Justice Council and Chair of the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory Board. She is a current member and former chair of the Law Society’s Access to Justice Committee, member of the Family Law Committee and Co-Chair of the Legal Aid Practitioners Group. In 2021, Jenny was made an Honorary King’s Counsel (KC Honoris Causa) for her contribution to changes in the law relating to accessible justice and domestic abuse.

Vinice Cowell

Vinice Cowell is a neurodivergent Child Protection Subject Matter Expert who has worked within the Children and Families sector of Local Authority Social care for over 10 years. Vinice has dual experience of the children and families’ courts in both professional and personal private family law matters. Vinice is the parents and families’ member of the Family Justice Council and is committed to changing the way services interact with families with a strong emphasis on delivering equality for all within statutory service structures.

Dr Dafni Lima

Dr Dafni Lima is an Assistant Professor in Family Law at Durham Law School and Deputy Director of the Centre for Ethics and Law in the Life Sciences (CELLS). Dafni has written extensively on topics in family law and human rights, including comparative family law, multiple parenthood, surrogacy and assisted reproduction, public health, LGBT+ families, and non-marital relationships. Dafni is the Co-Convenor of the Family Law subject section of the Society of Legal Scholars and a member of the ECR Committee of the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing.

Dr Katherine Langley

Dr Katherine Langley is an Assistant Professor in Criminal Law at Durham Law School and a trained court advocate and non-practising barrister. She has extensive experience teaching family law across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and has supervised students in family law clinical settings. Katherine’s research focuses on legal education, access to justice, and neurodiversity within the justice system, with a particular interest in inclusive practice and the impact of legal processes on neurodivergent individuals. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and an editor for The Law Teacher, where her work contributes to national conversations on inclusive legal education and practice.