Meet the team: Robyn Jones, legal team

What is your role at Brilliant Beginnings?

I joined in mid-2022 working on the legal team at NGA law and am based at our London office, which offers the added bonus of working alongside our esteemed associate, Henry (our co-founder Helen’s dog), as well as my lovely colleagues of course!

My work is collaborative with the rest of the legal team. Essentially, I help to manage the legal processes, often as part of surrogacy journeys, for example drafting documents and liaising with the courts and clients.

I’ve worked on surrogacy cases in the UK and US, and in the Ukraine, where we have been helping intended parents and babies to get home and surrogates to get to safety following the conflict.

Although I am still quite new to the team, I am thoroughly enjoying getting stuck in and seeing the impact of the work we do here supporting families through their surrogacy journeys!

What brought you to work for us?

I’ve always had a real interest in the law relating to surrogacy, as well as how the law applies to the human body specifically. I studied law at University and wrote my dissertation on surrogacy law. I enjoy working with individuals in complex and sensitive circumstances, so working within surrogacy was very appealing.

I’ve had a number of previous roles, with the common thread throughout being working with people in difficult and emotive situations. I’ve been a Crown Court-based paralegal at the CPS, working with victims and witnesses, and supporting barristers. I’ve also been an investigator and family liaison manager, and immediately before joining NGA Law, I worked in donor information at the HFEA, helping with the exchange of contact information between donor-conceived individuals and donors.

What drew me to the team was the magnitude of experience along with the active stance taken in seeking to create legal change to better accommodate the realities of the lives of individuals participating in surrogacy/donor conception as well as those affected by it. I feel privileged to work in an inclusive and open environment, and to have the opportunity to help individuals in being respected for who they are and having equal access and opportunities to create families in all forms!

Who are you outside of Brilliant Beginnings?

Outside of the office, I’m a traveller at heart and love to try new things, especially new foods wherever possible. I’ve been lucky enough to be able to travel to South East Asia and would like to explore more, particularly the Philippines and northern Thailand. I like to keep active, and recently took on the Tough Mudder on one of the hottest days of the year! I’ve been scuba diving in a couple of places around the world (and hope to do more!), I play netball weekly and do pilates as often as I can.

By Robyn Jones