Family Lawyers 2018

One of Farrer’s leading lights, William Massey remains involved in cutting-edge cases. In a November 2016 re-hearing of Goddard-Watts v Goddard-Watts – where non-disclosure of assets had unravelled the original consent order – Massey’s client was awarded an additional £6.42 million. While Massey has undoubtedly played a significant role in shaping the future of family law, his demeanour is understated. ‘An awful lot of the skill in what we do is being able to manage the expectations of clients,’ he says. ‘We have to win their trust and reassure them that our aim is to obtain the best outcome in the least litigious way possible.’

‘You can’t be a family lawyer if you recoil from the messiness of human life,’ says Renato Labi. Divorces with offshore elements form part of his caseload, as do prenups ‘in the hundreds of millions’ and child relocation matters. He says family lawyers need an aptitude to become ‘temporarily expert’ on different facets of the financial and tech worlds. But he adds that there’s ‘a fine balance’ between the technical and emotional challenges of the work: ‘We’re very expensive and completely unqualified therapists,’ he suggests with humour. Labi, a partner at HFC since 2005, is highly regarded, with one peer hailing him as ‘sharp, smart and always on the front foot’.

William Longrigg joined Charles Russell as an articled clerk in 1985 and simply never left. ‘There was never anywhere better to go,’ he says. Longrigg predicts Brexit will have a ‘very significant’ impact on family law: ‘For the past decade or so, EU states have had quite an efficient system. Of course, now, that’s going to be completely swept under the table.’ Although the UK’s current system is very thorough and ‘has to be commended for that’, it’s ‘too cumbersome, too expensive and too uncertain’. If he had his way, Brexit might present an opportunity for ‘significant streamlining and simplification’. But will it happen? ‘Alas, that’s extremely unlikely.’

A previous Spear’s Family Lawyer of the Year, Suzanne Kingston has spent much of the year advising trustees on ‘divorce-proofing’, stress-testing and fine-tuning their asset-holding structures against drastic circumstances. She recently advised one UHNW private equity principal with ‘really complex international tax issues’, and remains busy with a wide range of global prenups. Kingston highlights an ‘evolution’ out of court, as more HNWs sign up to a ‘hybrid’ model of mediation where the lawyers are usually present and more contiguous negotiations are encouraged. ‘It’s going to be a really interesting model for family – and it’s great to be at the cutting edge of that,’ she says.

This year Levison Meltzer Pigott celebrates its 20th anniversary, and when Spear’s catches up with Jeremy Levison, the founding partner is in celebratory mood. ‘I can’t imagine we won’t have a little wine with lunch,’ he says. Levison has been very busy with a number of UHNW divorces with ‘significant international trust issues’. He’s also wise about the course of family law. He refers to the Owens case as ‘an unedifying spectacle’ and is sympathetic about the need for ‘greater recognition for cohabiting couples’, adding: ‘Family law needs to reflect modern family life.’ Other stand-out solicitors at the firm are Simon Pigott, Julian Ribet and Alison Hayes.