Teertha Gupta, QC
Teertha has been a barrister for 23 years and was appointed Queen's Counsel in March 2012 as a specialist Family practitioner in International Family Law, namely the international relocation of children, cross-border parental abduction, and representing adults where there are allegations of forced marriage or of being stranded abroad by the other spouse. International jurisdictional instruments and treaties (such as The Human Trafficking Convention 2005, The Hague Conventions and Brussels II Revised) as well as 'fact finding' in hotly contested domestic private and public law matters are also his forte. Teertha's work is mainly in the Royal Courts of Justice in London: in the High Court and in the Court of Appeal. He has been involved in 6 full appeals in the UKSC/House of Lords and counting and has also made oral submissions in the ECJ.
Before he took silk, Teertha won two of the most prestigious awards at the Family Bar namely Chambers and Partners Family Junior of the Year in 2008 and in 2011 he won the Jordan's Family Law Barrister of the Year Award 2011 (at the time he was the only junior to be shortlisted in a field of Queen's Counsel).
In his first year of silk Teertha has already successfully led in the UK Supreme Court (Re T Children [201] UKSC 36 for CAFCASS). He is a senior trial advocate. Because of the confidential nature of his work he cannot name his private clients but he advises and represents people and children from all different walks of life, as well as institutions and charities (the latter pro bono). Advising in consultation on the law, the likely outcomes (which sometimes involves robust advice) and tactics are his routine work. Many of his private law cases involve parties of high net worth and hence a general understanding of the financial issues is vital but this is not Teertha's established specialism - he is often brought in to conduct the litigation and orchestrate decisions over the children or jurisdiction in such cases and to 'dovetail' with the ancillary relief teams.
Teertha has trained as a mediator and a collaborative lawyer. His aims are to be cost effective; to provide knowledgeable, unstuffy, straight forward advice; to try avoid litigation where possible and finally but most importantly in Court: to represent his clients persuasively and fearlessly.