Lawyer in the news

Who? Helen Broughton, 43-year-old head of the family law department at 12-partner Liverpool firm Morecroft Urquhart.Why is she in the news? Acted for Tranda Wecker, the birth mother of the so-called Internet twins, who were alleged to have been bought for adoption through a Web site.

The case reached a conclusion last week when they were returned to the US, much to the disappointment of the prospective adopters, British couple Judith and Alan Kilshaw, the latter a solicitor.

Background: Law degree from Exeter University 1975-1978, followed by Law Society Finals at the College of Law in Chester.

Qualified in 1981 with Liverpool-based Hill Dickinson, then spent two years with Bremner Sons & Corlett.

Left with two colleagues to set up Urquhart Knight and Broughton, which became Morecroft Urquhart in 1992.

Route to the case: 'A lawyer from Philadelphia had been given the name of several solicitors, and he telephoned me.

I thought it was a wind-up at first, but then I was asked to go to Birmingham the next day to represent Tranda in court.

I thought: "Why not?"'Thoughts on the case: 'As an adoption specialist, the commercial nature of adoptions in the US stunned me.

We have nothing like that here.

I'm pleased that this case has kept adoption high on the agenda; I think it highlights the fact that there is a need to make checks on people who are going to be adoptive parents.'Dealing with the media: 'In family work, you don't tend to get many high-profile cases, and I'll never forget the banks of press outside the court in Birmingham.

Nobody was interested in me at first - they were all after the Kilshaws.

It all became surreal when the local press found out it was me acting, and I had to be careful not to say something that wasn't in the public domain.' Paula Rohan