Katie Stephens

Introduction

Katie Stephens joined chambers as a tenant in October 2025, following the completion of pupillage under the supervision of Carolyn Jones and Juliet Allen. Katie accepts instructions in financial remedies, private children, care proceedings, and cohabitee disputes.

Since getting on her feet on 1^st April 2025, Katie has been instructed in first directions appointments, financial dispute resolutions, multi-day final hearings, and enforcement proceedings. In one case, she successfully argued against a PODE report, resulting in the court making a pension sharing order in favour of her client. Katie has also provided advice for TOLATA claims, including drafting a particulars of claim and part 36 offer.

Katie has acted at all stages of care proceedings, from interim care order to final hearing, in cases featuring neglect and allegations of abuse. She has also appeared in the High Court in a deprivation of liberty case concerning secure accommodation.

In private children, Katie is frequently instructed at dispute resolution appointments and multi-day final hearings, including in cases with 16.4 guardians and cases featuring allegations of abuse and parental influence. She recently was instructed at an appeal hearing concerning an interim contact decision.

Alongside her practice, Katie contributes to the Financial Remedies Journal, writing case summaries of recent judgments.

Prior to pupillage, Katie worked as a paralegal for a local authority assisting with deprivation of liberty and care proceedings from PLO to final hearing. She also worked as a research assistant to Dr Rob George for his book ‘Wards of Court and the Inherent Jurisdiction’, published in 2024. In 2024, Katie was runner-up in the 2024 Young Association of Lawyers for Children Legal Advice Competition, where she advised on contact and parental responsibility in a sperm donor case. That same year, she won the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn Debate Shield. Katie studied the bar course with scholarships from Lincoln’s Inn, the Family Law Bar Association, and the Leonard Sainer Legal Education Foundation.

In her spare time, Katie enjoys dance lessons, crafting, and spending time with her cat! She also volunteers with Bridging the Bar, an organisation that supports students becoming barristers from underrepresented groups at the bar, and mentors law students at the University of Reading.