Bio

Sonya Bruen is a Partner is our Health & Prosecutions team and has been with the firm for over 10 years. During that time, Sonya has developed particular experience in child protection law, acting for a number of public bodies including TUSLA and HSE at District, Circuit and High Court level. Sonya is a skilled advocate who represents social workers and their teams in Court on a day to day basis. Before she qualified as a Solicitor, Sonya practiced as a social worker in the area of child protection and welfare for 6 years. She has used this experience to develop a unique understanding of the legal framework for proceedings to place children in state care with a particular focus on the balance of parental and children’s rights. Sonya has also developed a unique model of legal training for those working in child protection and related areas, which can be tailored for different professionals, with focus on case examples and preparation for court proceedings. Sonya and her colleagues have developed a legal training programme with Trinity College Dublin and other Irish Universities, which has been running since 2016. The training forms part of the undergraduate, masters and post graduate courses with the School of Social Work and Social Policy in Trinity College Dublin, which focusses on anonymous case examples to help students apply the legislation to practice. Sonya launched a new online course in 2021 with Trinity College for those working in the area of domestic violence and child protection. It has been completed by over 500 practitioners, including social workers, domestic violence support workers and garda with support from TUSLA, Safe Ireland and other stakeholders.