Louisa Ghevaert

“The fertility lawyer and leading surrogacy expert” – BBC Radio London

“Leading expert in UK fertility law” – BBC World Service ‘Have Your Say’

“Leading expert in UK fertility and family law” – BBC Radio 5 Live

“Leading expert in surrogacy and fertility law” – Times Radio

“Leading UK surrogacy lawyer and family law expert” – The Independent

“Leading UK fertility and family law expert” – Daily Mail

Louisa won a place on The Lawyer Hot 100 List 2018 (litigators section) for her ground-breaking legal work on milestone cases spanning the family, fertility and medical sectors, starting with the first UK case for overseas surrogacy in 2008, Re X and Y (Foreign Surrogacy) and in 2017 the first case to award damages for surrogacy following medical negligence, XX v Whittington Hospital NHS Trust [2017].

The Lawyer Hot 100 List 2018 recognised the national and international nature of Louisa’s legal practice, describing her ‘as an influential figure when it comes to ensuring fertility laws are fit for purpose in the 21st century’.

The Lawyer Hot 100 List “celebrates the UK’s top lawyers: the ones acting on the most significant matters, disrupting the industry with their creative flair. It tracks exceptional individuals from private practice, in-house and the Bar”.

Louisa’s law and policy work includes:

• Expert adviser to the HFEA’s Ethics and Law Advisory Committee, providing detailed legal comment to the Department of Health’s 2009 consultation on proposed draft surrogacy regulations, which won changes to the law on nationality in international surrogacy cases.
• Member of the stakeholders’ Parliamentary strategy group concerned with the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 and its associated regulations.
• Provided expert evidence to The Nuffield Council on donor conception law and policy in 2012.
• Provided expert evidence to The Hague on UK and international surrogacy law and policy in 2013.
• Member of the SUK Working Party on Surrogacy Law Reform 2014-2018.
• Provided expert evidence on surrogacy law reform to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Surrogacy (APPG on Surrogacy) led by Andrew Percy MP (November 2018).
• Joined the Expert UK Surrogacy Consultation to help develop international Principles for the protection of the rights of the child in the context of surrogacy organised by Children and Families Across Borders (CFAB), British Association of Social Workers (BASW), the BASW Project Group on Assisted Reproduction (PROGAR) and International Social Service (ISS), (13 and 14 September 2019).
• Delivered a lecture at LaingBuisson’s Fertility Forum in London (1 November 2019) on the future legal and regulatory landscape of the fertility sector, its intersection with genomic technology and need for enlightened law reform.
• Member of the International Egg Donation Stakeholder Advisory Group led by De Montfort University funded by the Economic & Social Research Council (2017 – 2022).
• Member of the Advisory Board for the International Expanded Carrier Screening Research Project led by Dr Cathy Herbrand at De Montfort University, Leicester together with Professor Nicky Hudson at De Montfort University, Professor Pascal Borry at the University of Leuven, Professor Bronwyn Parry at King’s College London and Professor Zosia Miedzybrodzka at the University of Aberdeen entitled, “Reproduction in the age of genomic medicine: the emergence , commercialisation and implications of preconception expanded carrier screening (ECS)” funded by the Economic & Social Research Council (February 2023 – ongoing).

For more information visit our Law and Policy section.

• A co-author of medico-legal reference book Reducing Risk in Fertility Treatment (First Edition, April 2015). This is an essential resource for fertility clinicians, embryologists, nurses, counsellors and administrators. Louisa’s specialist chapter entitled “Legal and Regulatory Risks to Patients: The UK Context” addresses legal and regulatory pitfalls faced by fertility patients seeking various forms of fertility treatment in the UK.

Louisa lectures nationally and internationally on fertility and modern family law.

Click here to find out more about Louisa Ghevaert’s publications and articles.

• Providing advice to the BBC television producers of Holby City on surrogacy law and practice (2010).
• Interview on BBC Breakfast TV (January 2011) about UK surrogacy law and policy.
• Interview on Ukrainian television (July 2012) about international surrogacy law and policy.
• Featuring in a National Geographic television documentary series TABOO (August 2012) about private sperm donation law, policy and practice.
• Article in BioNews (2 July 2012), calling for national reform of law and policy for IVF funding on the NHS.
• Featuring in a television documentary series on Chinese state television entitled “What You Didn’t Know About The West: Healthcare” about fertility treatment, medical and family law (broadcast spring 2013).
• Interview on BBC World Service ‘Have Your Say’ on international surrogacy, policy and law reform (20 February 2015).
• Article in The Times entitled “Surrogacy in the UK; time for legal reform?” (26 November 2015).
• Interview on BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour on Indian Surrogacy Law Reform and surrogacy policy (20 September 2016).
• Article in The Times on posthumous conception law and policy in the UK entitled “Was it legal to create a grandson with a dead man’s sperm?” (13 September 2018).
• Article entitled “Law Commission: reforming surrogacy law” in the July/August 2019 edition of Resolution’s The Review Magazine.
• Article in BioNews entitled “Why we need root and branch fertility law reform” (25 November 2019).
• Interview on BBC Radio 5 Live on whether law in the UK should be changed to enable the harvesting of dead men’s sperm for posthumous conception by strangers (21 January 2020).
• Interview on BBC Radio 5 Live on proposals to lift UK advertising restrictions on surrogacy and wider surrogacy law reform (29 January 2020).
• Apple podcast on Speak From The Body with Avni Touch “Fertility law for modern families with Louisa Ghevaert” (26 February 2020).
• Article in BioNews entitled “The UK Supreme Court awards damages for commercial surrogacy” (6 April 2020).
• Podcast on the “Intricacies of Fertility Preservation” with Louisa Ghevaert and Eloise Edington founder of Fertility Help Hub (17 December 2020).
• Times Radio Interview on single parent surrogacy and law reform with John Pienaar (28 January 2021).
• Quoted in The Daily Mail on fertility treatment and IVF in the workplace (5 August 2021).
• Featured in BBC World Service: Business Daily broadcast “The economics of older mums” with Zoe Kleinman (12 October 2021).