Top ranked specialist family law firm Dawson Cornwell has announced the appointment of Hilka Hollmann, a family law expert specialising in children, adoption, and surrogacy law, who joins as partner.
Hilka is an expert in all facets of domestic and international children law, including complex cases frequently involving extremely serious allegations. Hilka has expertise in adoption and surrogacy matters, as well as representing children in complex care proceedings with an international dimension. Hilka also has extensive experience in cases relating to sexual abuse and radicalisation. She joins from Freemans, where she was a partner.
With nearly two decades of family law experience, Hilka has been involved in some of the most high-profile and important cases before the High Court and Court of Appeal. Hilka is on the Law Society’s Children Panel, is an accredited Resolution specialist lawyer for Child Abduction and Adoptions and co-authored Resolution’s response to the Law Commission’s consultation on proposed changes to surrogacy law in England and Wales. Hilka has been ranked in Chambers for the past six years for her expertise in children matters.
Hilka’s appointment builds on the recent addition of partner Amy Rowe, a leading specialist on international children law and cross-border disputes, who joined Dawson Cornwell’s internationally renowned Children Department in 2021. Amy has extensive experience across the full range of family law matters, including child abduction, jurisdictional disputes, international relocation of children, and complex proceedings on behalf of overseas public authorities in relation to cross border disputes and child protection. Amy also specialises in complex domestic disputes about child arrangements and cross border adoption cases, surrogacy and fertility law - in November 2022, she acted for the adopters in a complex Hague Convention adoption from an Asian Country into the UK before the High Court (A & Anor v B & Anor [2022] EWHC 2962 (Fam)).
Hilka’s intricate knowledge of adoption, fertility and surrogacy law and her wealth of experience in the field bolsters Dawson Cornwell’s surrogacy and alternative families’ practice, building on the Children Department’s years of experience and involvement in shaping the development of surrogacy law.
Hilka commented: 'I am excited to join Dawson Cornwell’s internationally renowned Children Department. I look forward to bringing my experience in children law, adoptions, and surrogacy matters to the Firm’s well-regarded and growing practice. The success and growth of Dawson Cornwell’s Children Department is extremely impressive, and the knowledge and expertise in family law across the Firm is second to none.'
Head of Dawson Cornwell’s Children Department Carolina Marín Pedreño commented: 'I am thrilled to welcome Hilka as partner in our specialist Children Department. Her knowledge and experience will be an invaluable asset as we continue to develop and strengthen our successful practice.'
Dawson Cornwell’s Children Department is instructed regularly on the most serious and complex domestic and international children law cases – they continue to have more than 20 reported cases each year at appellate level, including before the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court, the European Court of Human Rights and, this year, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
Dawson Cornwell, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary now comprises 13 partners and over 30 members. The Firm’s specialist departments provide an internationally renowned service to clients across a broad range of family, property and probate law.
Dawson Cornwell is particularly renowned for its children law work, and the firm sits on the Ministry of Justice’s International Child Abduction & Contact Unit’s panel of specialist solicitors. Partner Amy Rowe was invited to meet with the Law Commission to provide recommendations on surrogacy law reforms. The Children Department is frequently instructed on the most complex cases across a range of serious and complex children law cases including abduction, forced marriage, honour-based violence and international custody disputes.
The firm is ranked Band 1 by Chambers & Partners’ 2023 guide and is ranked Tier 1 for Family Law by The Legal 500 2023. Dawson Cornwell is ranked as a Leading Firm in Chambers’ High Net Worth guide and has consistently been highly ranked across the leading legal directories for the past decade.
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