Legal 500 Recognises Machins Expertise Across the Firm
Machins Solicitors continues to set the standard for legal excellence, securing its place as a leading firm in family law for the seventh year running in The Legal 500 2026 rankings.
Sorcha Monaghan
Family, Children & Separation
Solicitor, Public Family Law Team
Contact Information
Testimonials
I have worked with Sorcha on a number of tribunal claims and it has been a pleasure. She has a complete handle of all the matters and understands the law well. The work she does is well beyond the standards I would expect of someone of her experience. The cases she manages are well-maintained and properly, commercially pleaded.
Legal 500 2023
Despite my redundancy being such a horrid situation, it’s really been a pleasure working with you on the Settlement Agreement. You’ve been very patient and extremely helpful and I really do appreciate that. I’d like to use this opportunity to reiterate my thanks to you for all the excellent help and advice you gave me, making an awful situation much easier for me to get through!
As far as employment law advice is concerned I would wholeheartedly recommend Sorcha to anyone I know who finds themselves in similar circumstances to mine. News of my redundancy hit me like a wrecking ball and consequently I was feeling extremely vulnerable at our first meeting but quite apart from the excellent legal and professional advice she gave, I felt genuinely supported by her throughout the whole process. She was empathic, patient and beyond understanding. I couldn't have hoped for a better representative to support me during that awful period.
Excellent service from a very professional solicitor Sorcha Monaghan.
Google 5* Review
About Sorcha
Sorcha joined the Employment Department at Machins on qualification in 2018 and represented and advised individuals and commercial clients in employment disputes and tribunal claims. In 2023, Sorcha transferred temporarily to our Public Family Team and was quickly inspired by the combination of working on the frontlines of social justice, seeing real-world outcomes for the most vulnerable in society, legal advocacy, and personal fulfilment that comes with working in this sector, and decided to make the move permanent.
Sorcha represents parents in Care Proceedings and the Public Law Outline Process and assists members of the Children’s Panel in representing children through their Children’s Guardians.
Sorcha is described as a “breath of fresh air” by clients. She is known for her warm and supportive approach but is a robust advocate when required. Sorcha strives to be someone her clients can rely on during their most challenging times. She provides unwavering support throughout their cases and handles sensitive matters with the utmost care and professionalism. Her advice is pragmatic and concise, and always with the welfare of her clients and their families in mind.
In addition to her legal work, Sorcha enjoys assisting the firm with their corporate fundraising from organising a firm ‘sleep out’ to raise money for the homeless, undertaking an 18 mile hike along the Jurassic Coast for a charity who assists families to overcome the cost of education, and undertaking maintenance work for a local hospice.
Specialist practice areas
- Care proceedings
- Public law outline
- Contact with a child in care
- Discharge of care orders
- Contested adoption
- Child protection
- Domestic violence
- Alcohol and drug dependency
- Special guardianship
Latest news by Sorcha Monaghan
Unmarried Fathers and Parental Responsibility: Court of Appeal Ruling Explained
This year the Court of Appeal handed down judgment in a landmark parentage and parental responsibility case, ruling that a person wrongly named as a child’s father on a birth certificate who is not married to the birth mother does not automatically gain parental responsibility if they are not the child’s biological father.