Charlotte McDonald

Charlotte commenced pupillage on Monday 2 October 2023 and is currently under the supervision of Kelan McHugh.

Before pupillage, Charlotte was the Senior Personal Assistant to the President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane. During this year, she managed the diary of the President whilst travelling with him, attending committees and working groups and getting valuable exposure to the work of the Family Division of the High Court.

Prior to this, Charlotte was a family paralegal in high net worth finance and private child cases at two top London firms. This gave a valuable foundation prior to pupillage, including in cases in the High Court.

During the Bar Course, Charlotte completed an LLM in Clinical Legal Education, specialising in Domestic Abuse. She has since published articles focusing on financial abuse and has twice presented at the International Symposium on Economic Crime on the wider impact of economic abuse. After completing her LLM, she worked as a Research Officer for the National Commission on Forced Marriage, headed by Baroness Butler-Sloss, assisting in the production of their report.

Charlotte is the producer and host of “Disability’s Not A Bar”, a podcast aimed at encouraging those with disabilities to pursue a career at the Bar by interviewing aspiring barristers, barristers and judges with disabilities on their education and careers. This podcast has been featured in the Times and in the Secret Barrister’s book.

Outside of law, Charlotte is a keen artist, specialising in miniature acrylics, as well as enjoying musical theatre. She was President of the Inner Temple Drama Society and participated in five productions, including writing an original play and performing in their sold-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.