Charissa is a paralegal with several years’ experience of a broad range of family law issues and has worked alongside busy senior solicitors and partners providing executive support. She graduated with a degree in law in 2011 and then worked in business before coming to law. She is an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx), currently assisting and working closely with solicitors on aspects of family law work including separation, divorce, civil partnership dissolution, financial settlements and pre-marital arrangements for overseas and local high-net-worth individuals, litigation relating to financial issues, and contact and residency disputes.
In addition to private children work, Charissa has in-depth understanding of public childcare issues through her involvement with representing the Children’s Guardian.
To complement her family law work in the areas of divorce and separation, she has qualifications and experience in private client work including will drafting and preliminary advice, probate and conveyancing.
Expertise
- Preparation of applications for divorce, financial and Children Act proceedings
- Child arrangement orders and applications
- Public childcare
- Family court procedures and formalities
- Appeals
- Emergency applications
- Preparing and updating financial disclosure
- Analysis of banking evidence
- Working with third-party experts in Part 25-compliant applications and letters of instruction in financial and children proceedings
- Preparation for hearings (including bundles and indexes)
- Supporting advocates at hearings
- Instructions to counsel and conferences with counsel
- Accessing and analysing company and property searches
- Preparing and updating court and counsel bundles
- Court clerking and simple advocacy
- Drafting court documents and statements
- Transfer and pursuit of proceedings in the High Court
- Detailed investigations into international property ownership and documentation
Career
Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2018, Charissa worked at the following firms:
- Hains & Lewis
- W J Williams & Davies