The solicitor who helped Sally Clark to clear her name after being wrongly jailed for the double murder of her two babies has moved to North Yorkshire.

Marilyn Stow, one of Britain's best known divorce and family lawyers, has relocated her family law unit from Graham Stowe Bateson in Leeds to bigger offices in the former Court House in Harrogate.

With 12 specialist and highly experienced family lawyers and a further 15 support staff, the family law unit is the largest in Yorkshire and the north-east and one of the busiest in the country.

The move to Harrogate is the second relocation in recent years driven by significant growth in the unit.

Mrs Stowe has established a national reputation in the complex area of divorce and family law, particularly in the handling of cases involving wealthy individuals. She is renowned for tracking down and uncovering hidden financial assets.

But her most high-profile success came as a defence lawyer with the freeing of Sally Clark in January.

It was Mrs Stowe's determination which led to the discovery of vital evidence proving that the babies had died of natural causes and not as a result of smothering or shaking as had been previously recorded.

She has also been the chief assessor and chief examiner of the Law Society's Family Law Panel since its inception in 1999.

Mrs Stowe said: "Although we predominantly handle cases in the north of England, we do have clients throughout the country, in Europe and the United States. We also see tremendous potential in developing our client base in Harrogate and surrounding areas.

"Everyone has heard of the so-called 'golden triangle' covering the area between Harrogate, Wetherby and York where statistics show a high percentage of high net wealth families.

"When those kind of relationships break down they need the very specialised skills we have developed in dealing with many such cases over the years."

Along with her husband Grahame, she was one of the founders of Grahame Stowe Bateson more than 20 years ago.

Updated: 11:22 Wednesday, May 05, 2004