Family: Beds, Bucks, Herts, Middx

PARTNER

Katherine Rayden set up Rayden Solicitors and built it to become the award-winning firm it is today. Her extensive experience as a family lawyer, business owner and award winning entrepreneur mark her out as a family law expert who provides sensible, commercial advice on a range of family law issues.Katherine has over 20 years’ experience as a specialist family law solicitor. She specialises in the financial disputes that can follow the breakdown of any relationship. Katherine has practical knowledge and experience of working with different business structures and inter-company loans and understands the impact that these can have on financial negotiations or settlement. She is also experienced in cases with complex international or corporate structures, pre-nuptial agreements, expatriate divorces as well as those that require an in-depth analysis of complex income structures and pensions.Katherine also handles almost all aspects of private law children matters including relocation of children, applications for contact with children, fact-finding hearings and surrogacy. Katherine often acts for same-sex parents.

Partner and Practice Group Leader

Partner / Head of Family

Joanna is the Managing Director of Hawkins Family Law.

Amanda is a partner, head of the family team, and group head of the private client group at IBB Solicitors. She deals with family disputes including all financial aspects of divorce, private law Children Act applications, disputes between cohabitees and aspects of wealth protection in the form of cohabitation agreements, prenuptial agreements and generally advising on the protection of family generated wealth on marriage/cohabitation. Amanda also deals with Inheritance Act claims and all family disputes arising on death.

Partner and Resolution accredited specialist, Emily has extensive experience of the many and complex financial issues arising from separation and divorce including those with an international dimension.  Emily routinely advises in relation to disputes concerning children, with a particular success in relocation cases as well as cases involving challenging allegations against a parent. Emily also regularly deals with pre and post nuptial agreements and cohabitation disputes. Clients appreciate Emily’s razor-sharp intellect, supportive manner, her clear explanations of the legal issues and willingness to fight their corner robustly when appropriate. Emily is available to meet clients in both St Albans and London.

Helen is a partner and the head of the family team. Helen undertakes a wide variety of family work for local, UK and international clients including all aspects of divorce work, pre-nuptial agreements, living together deeds and issues involving children of separating couples.  She specialises in financial disputes and settlements between couples.

Family lawyer Ruth is a specialist adviser to individuals and couples going through a divorce, helping to resolve any disputes involving finances or children. In addition to assisting married couples, she also works with unmarried couples going through similar issues. Ruth deals with complex family law matters, many of which have an international element, such as advising on forum disputes in divorce proceedings, international relocation of children, and obtaining and enforcing worldwide freezing orders in financial cases. Her clients include doctors, lawyers, bankers, accountants and other business professionals, entrepreneurs, athletes, and celebrities in the public eye or their partners.

Alia Lewis is a director within the family and child care department at Duncan Lewis Solicitors. Alia’s expertise extends to all aspects of family law and she has a particular specialism in public law care cases and secure accommodation. Alia has extensive experience representing children through their guardian and through separate representation. She also represents parents, extended family members and interveners, and has conducted cases on behalf of the official solicitor. Her cases involve a range of issues including; physical, sexual and emotional abuse; neglect; factitious illness; non-accidental injury; drug and alcohol addiction; domestic abuse; learning difficulties; mental illness; psychological disorders, and physical disability. She conducts numerous cases that have an international element and undertakes the majority of her own advocacy in order to provide a continuity of representation to her clients. She is also experienced in chairing experts meetings.

Adeeba Naseem is a director of family and child care at Duncan Lewis Solicitors.Adeeba’s area of expertise is in handling international and domestic family law proceedings at the high court, in particular child abduction, surrogacy, adoption, and international adoption cases. She regularly deals with separation, divorce, and both domestic and international financial proceedings, including pre and post-nuptial agreements and rare cases involving the Queen’s Proctor. Recent cases include B (A Child : Abduction: Article 13(B)) [2020] EWCA Civ 1057 an international child abduction case, and LC (A Child - Placement Order) [2020] EWCA Civ 787 a child placement order.In child abduction matters, Adeeba regularly issues family proceedings both domestically and in different jurisdictions outside the UK; she liaises with organisations and authorities in other jurisdictions to ensure vulnerable children are successfully returned to their home country. She has handled a significant number of cases worldwide including the return of children abducted to Pakistan and Jamaica, two highly complex cases as neither country’s accession to the Hague Convention is ratified.Adeeba aslo has expertise in surrogacy cases when couples have a surrogate mother in England or another country to carry their child and looks to secure parental orders to ensure the couple are legally recognised as the child’s parents.Adeeba handles both privately and publicly funded matters and has undertaken advocacy at the high courts and lower courts UK-wide. Her broad client base includes vulnerable victims of abuse, international high-profile clients, and cases with a public interest due to concerns of extremist links or children’s medical conditions. She works closely with a number of non-profit organisations that support and advise vulnerable members of their communities. These include children centres, food banks and charities and she often give talks and pro bono advice at domestic violence organisations focussing on securing protection through emergency injunctions for victims of abuse.Adeeba has previous experience practicing both immigration and criminal law and has undertaken her own advocacy at the Magistrates’ Court and at the Crown Court.

I am a partner in the family team and have over 10 years’ experience in all areas of divorce and family law, helping clients who are facing relationship breakdown or other family conflict. I am a passionate lawyer who cares about my clients and the team I work with. I am widely respected for my expertise and handling of very complex matters. I trained as a collaborative lawyer and offer a non-adversarial approach to my clients when appropriate. I have a calm, measured approach and work tirelessly for my clients to resolve family disputes in a constructive, conciliatory and cost-effective way. I have a wealth of experience in dealing with divorce and high value financial cases. If my client has complex family, financial or business arrangements, I will always provide practical advice and clear guidance on achieving the best outcome. I handle complex and challenging private children disputes involving residence, contact, welfare and relocation issues. I will work hard to find the right solution for my client and their children without fuss or legal jargon.

Natalie is a partner in our highly successful divorce and family law team, helping clients on all aspects of family law, particularly, divorce, separation, financial settlements and associated issues concerning children arrangements. Natalie is an accredited Resolution specialist in complex financial remedies and cohabitation which allows her to deal with even the most complicated situations. She is committed to adopting a non-confrontational approach and she aims to resolve issues amicably without going to court. However, if court proceedings are required, Natalie boasts a robust determination to secure the best outcome for her clients so that they can move on with their life. Natalie has extensive experience in the division of assets when couples separate, whether they are married, in a civil partnership or co-habiting. She represents a wide range of clients including, business owners, high profile and wealthy individuals and she regularly deals with mid-high value cases in divorce and financial matters. She also assists individuals at the outset of their relationship and is experienced in preparing pre-nuptial agreements and cohabitation agreements. Natalie specialises in international relocation cases. She supports clients whether they are the parent seeking the court’s permission to permanently relocate the children to another country or the parent opposing relocation. She has a particular interest in representing parents locked into fraught and highly contentious child arrangement disputes.

Javita has established a wide ranging family practice with a particular specialism in complex high value financial matters with multi jurisdictional issues. She has acted on a number of high net worth cases with recent experience including advising on a divorce in which the gross value of the assets were in excess of £30 million.

Senior Associate