England - South East • Private client
1

Family: Beds, Bucks, Herts, Middx

Debenhams Ottaway

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The ‘gifted’ team at Debenhams Ottaway handles the full scope of family law issues for parents, grandparents and other individuals. Praised by clients for her ‘excellent forensic eye’, Helen Young heads up the St Albans-based practice, frequently advising on high-value divorces involving overseas assets, in addition to pre and post-nuptial agreements, and the capitalisation of maintenance. Senior associate Natalie Lester has substantial expertise in financial settlements and children arrangements, taking a ‘thoughtful and unflappable approach’ when assisting clients with co-habitation agreements and child arrangement disputes, while senior associate Helen Clyne primarily handles children issues arising from the separation of both married and unmarried couples. Stacey St Clair joined the practice from Hawkins Family Law, contributing her knowledge of private children disputes, including welfare and residence matters.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘The team at Debenhams Ottaway is very strong indeed. They have an enigmatic leader in Helen Young who is always spot on with her approach. They have a great team ethic.’

  • ‘Helen Young works like a Trojan, has an excellent forensic eye and thinks several strategic moves ahead at all stages. She has incredibly good client care; delivering no-nonsense but empathetic advice.'

  • 'Natalie Lester is excellent. She understands the psychology of cases very well and uses this to shape cases in ways that optimises client outcomes. It also helps her maintain excellent trusting relationships with difficult clients in difficult cases whilst at the same time ensuring that they are able to make fully-informed strategic decisions.'
  • 'Annabel Andreou is excellent. Her grasp of financial matters is deep and well-beyond her years. Annabel very swiftly laid my fears to rest. Not only was she highly professional, but very courteous, friendly, empathetic. Her legal work is impressive, she is very clear about our aims and next steps, and handled the other party with diplomacy and tact. I would never have gotten anywhere without her help.'

  • ‘Natalie Lester is incredibly dedicated, she listens to my points of view and provides sound and fair advice She is always calm and kind even under pressure and in difficult circumstances. I have no hesitation in recommending her to others seeking a family law solicitor.’

  • ‘Natalie Lester is exceptional at looking at the bigger picture, linking seemingly separate matters together to ensure we have a holistic strategy to move forward with. I cannot recommend her highly enough.'

  • ‘Helen Young heads a gifted team of highly motivated, client-focused and pragmatic lawyers at Debenhams Ottaway.'

  • ‘I am impressed with Natalie Lester's thoughtful and unflappable approach, her willingness to seek advice on difficult matters and her pragmatism. Natalie is intelligent, resourceful, practical and very able. Natalie deals with mediation professionally, carefully, calmly and ably and brings about a sensible compromise.'

Lawyers

Leading associates
Rising stars with regular involvement in their team's key work, and recognition from peers or clients as being ones to watch.
Natalie Lester
Debenhams Ottaway
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.
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Helen Young
Debenhams Ottaway
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.
Next Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.
Stacey St Clair
Debenhams Ottaway
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.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Helen Young

Other key lawyers

Natalie Lester, Helen Clyne, Annabel Andreou, Stacey St Clair

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