Pro Bono Week profile: Joanna Thom and Harrison Engler

In celebration of Pro Bono Week, they discuss a pro bono case from the past year in which they acted as co-counsel: Re A(Appeal: Findings of Fact) [2025] EWHC 1279 (Fam) [2025] 4WLR 72

Please tell us about the pro bono work you did

We acted as co-counsel for the appellant father in Re A (Appeal: Findings of Fact) [2025] EWHC 1279 (Fam) [2025] 4 WLR 72. It was an appeal in the High Court against a finding made by a Family Court recorder in Children Act 1989 proceedings that the father had raped the mother.

Rather unusually, the fact-finding hearing at which the rape finding had been made concluded 3 years previously. (The court was responsible for the significant delay in hearing the appeal.) And a final welfare hearing concerning the 3 children had occurred in the meantime.

The High Court overturned the finding of rape - noting the difficulty of overturning findings of fact on appeal.

Mr Justice Hayden concluded that the recorder’s analysis on that allegation was “abstruse, inconsistent, and ambiguous”. In his judgment he also gave important guidance on procedural and substantive aspects of private law fact-finding hearings, including case management, judicial continuity, and the proper selection of allegations to be considered.

The father received late notice that he had permission to appeal against the 2022 decision and was ineligible for legal aid.

Advocate referred the case to us in early April for the High Court hearing on Tuesday 8 April. We had only a few days to prepare the case, so had to quickly get to grips with proceedings that had been running for many years and analysing submissions the father had prepared when acting as a litigant in person.

What impact did the pro bono work have on the people you worked with?

The rape finding was highly significant to the father: although it was not a criminal finding, a civil court had in effect labelled him a ‘rapist’. He strongly disputed this.

The judgment of the High Court, in overturning that finding, indicated that he had been wrongly labelled because of flawed and insufficient analysis.

The findings in the Family Court had seriously affected the amount and type of contact he could have with his children. Although the successful appeal did not affect this directly, it was important for him that an injustice against him was corrected.

The judge also noted during the hearing that it was beneficial for the mother (a victim of domestic abuse) that we were representing the father in this appeal - avoiding the need for him to represent himself in front of her.

Did your pro bono work have an impact on your professional career? If so, in what ways?

In his judgment, Mr Justice Hayden praised us for our pro bono representation of the father:

The father is very fortunate to have their services. They described themselves as co-counsel, dividing submissions between them, which were presented succinctly and effectively. In this area of work, where legal aid is no longer broadly available, the Bar makes a critical contribution to access to justice, through its pro bono work. This hearing is an example of the importance of that contribution. Mr Engler and Ms Thom have filleted F’s own discursive and frequently misconceived written arguments and recrafted them skilfully. I have found their help to be invaluable.

We think that this case has contributed in part to Joanna being shortlisted for a Lexis Nexis Family law award  as pro bono work is one of the award criteria considered by the judging panel.

It has also been an important opportunity for us demonstrate the skills that appellant work brings.

As we were against very experienced counsel for the mother, we had the chance to really test our submissions during the proceedings.

Any final comments

Pro bono work  allows junior barristers at the outset of their career to act in more complex and significant cases.

This is the first reported judgment in which either of us have appeared as counsel.