1 Hare Court

Nigel retired as an advocate in January 2022 after forty years in practice at the Bar, and he now works exclusively as a judge or evaluator in private Financial Dispute Resolution hearings (FDRs).

He has been conducting private FDRs since 2016 and to date has evaluated over 300 cases. He was described as the “go-to choice as a private FDR judge” in Chambers and Partners Directory 2019, and described by one leading silk as “..providing a Rolls-Royce service”.

In both of the 2024 legal directories (Chambers & Ptnrs and the Legal 500) he is listed in Band 1 of the ‘Private FDR Judge / ADR’ sections.

The settlement rate of the cases he has evaluated over the last eight years has been consistently high; on an informal poll c. 85% – 90% of the claims settle on the day of the hearing or shortly thereafter.

The cases he evaluates range across a broad spectrum of financial claims, viz: financial remedy claims post-divorce, as well as Part III and Schedule 1 claims, and applications under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. The asset classes are varied and include: land and investments in the UK and abroad, company interests and business assets, farming operations, on-shore and off-shore pensions and trusts, and wealth held in deferred remuneration and private equity arrangements.

He works principally in London, although he also travels to hearings held in the major legal centres around the country as well as to the Channel Islands and the Cayman Islands.

Publications:

• Co-editor of ‘Rayden and Jackson on Divorce and Family Matters’ [18th edition]
• Co-author ‘The Detection and Preservation of Assets in Financial Remedy Claims’, (2014).

Called 1982; KC 2006; called to the Bar of the British Virgin Islands 2011; editor ‘Rayden and Jackson on Divorce and Family Matters’ (18th edition).

Member of the Family Law Bar Association. Member of the Money & Property Working Group of the Family Justice Council.

The Oratory School; Durham University.

Away from the Bar he is a green-fingered gardener, enthusiastic runner and tennis player. Nigel also enjoys the theatre, music and opera.