Damian Garrido KC > Harcourt Chambers > London, England > Barrister Profile

Damian Garrido KC

0844 561 7135 dgarrido@harcourtchambers.co.uk View profile View profile

Position

Damian Garrido is recognised as a leading family law specialist. His appointment as King’s Counsel is a recognition of excellence in written and oral advocacy in the higher courts. He provides sound, practical advice in all aspects of family law, conducting skilful negotiations to achieve consensual outcomes and undertaking robust advocacy in court when necessary. He is known for his devastating cross-examination and focused submissions. The breadth of his experience in both child and financial family law applications is welcomed by clients seeking a holistic solution to the problems of relationship breakdown.
Damian has particular expertise in applications for financial remedy following divorce, notably where complexities arise due to the nature and value of the parties’ assets and sources of income (e.g. private businesses or family trusts) and/or difficulties caused by bankruptcy, third-party intervention and/or an international element. He is similarly experienced in cases involving nuptial agreements, cohabitation, child maintenance and civil partnerships.
He also often represents parties in parental disputes about children, particularly in the difficult and sensitive area of international child abduction (both Hague and non-convention cases) and relocation (both international and internal). He has co-written the leading textbook on child relocation, now in its 2nd edition: Relocation – A Practical Guide (Jordans, 2016). His forensic skills are also in demand in cases of parental alienation and where serious allegations are raised against a parent
His child-care practice encompasses the most complex cases including those involving alleged radicalisation, the most serious injury or death, sexual exploitation, the youth or incapacity of a parent and/or issues of publicity, non-disclosure and public interest immunity.
Damian will provide early neutral evaluations and act as a private FDR judge for parties with children and financial disputes who wish to avoid the court process. He is also a Recorder sitting as a judge in the Family Court and sits as a Deputy High Court Judge in the Family Division.
He is a member of the editorial board of The Family Court Practice (Red Book).
He has appeared in a number of leading cases in all areas of family law including:

Somerset County Council v NHS Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group & Ors [2022] EWFC 31

Somerset County Council v NHS Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group & Anor [2021] EWHC 3004 (Fam)

Re Y & E (Sexual abuse allegatons) [2019] EWCA Civ 206
NN v AS & Ors (Financial orders after Egyptian divorce) [2018] EWHC 2973, [2019] 1 FLR 1397
L v F (Relocation) [2017] EWCA Civ 2121, [2018] 4 WLR 141, [2018] 2 FLR 608
Morris v Morris (Practice Note: Variation Peridoical Payments) [2016] EWCA Civ 812, [2017] 1 WLR 554
Re C (Internal relocation) [2015] EWCA Civ 1305, [2016] 3 WLR 1
Re S and T (Intercountry Adoption; USA) [2015] EWHC 1753, [2016] 1 FLR 1011, [2015] Fam Law 884, 
Re BCC v FZ & Ors (Disclosure; PII; Special Advocates) [2012] EWHC 1154, [2013] 1 FLR 974

Career

Called 1993, Middle Temple; Chambers of PF Singer Q.C. 1993-2006; Harcourt Chambers 2006 to date; Recorder (Family) 2012; Q.C. 2015; Deputy High Court Judge (Family Division) 2016.

Memberships

FLBA.

Education

Manchester Grammar School; University of Kent at Canterbury (1991 BA Hons); City University, London (1992 DipLaw); Inns of Court School of Law (1993 BVC).

Leisure

Cinema, contemporary and modern art, skiing, motor-racing.