Boodle Hatfield LLP

Family

William's practice covers all areas of matrimonial finance from cohabitation agreements and pre-nuptial agreements through post-nuptial agreements and the resolution of finances on divorce.

He is particularly interested in complex HNW and UHNW financial cases which often include trusts, offshore trusts, private equity, funds, leverage, and also layered domestic and international business interests.

William is a trained practitioner in both the Collaborative Process and the Resolution Together (“one couple, one lawyer”) approach to making children and financial arrangements upon divorce. With a strong personal commitment to early case resolution, (where appropriate) William actively supports his clients in identifying and exploring settlement in the most appropriate settlement process. He welcomes enquiries on dispute resolution and can guide clients through the range of processes including Resolution Together, Collaborative and Quasi-Collaborative, Early Neutral Evaluation, Mediation, Hybrid Mediation and solicitor negotiation. Where appropriate, William leverages his experience to adopt a flexible approach, borrowing from more than one of these processes to find a bespoke dispute resolution model.

William is also an advocate for arbitration – which offers clients speedy access to the leading expert arbitrators who act as privately appointed decision-makers – with binding effect. Arbitration has the particular benefits of speed, choice of arbitrator and a guarantee of shielding the privacy of those with media profiles and / or complex assets.

When litigation is unavoidable, William is an experienced, robust and strategic litigator, adept at pulling together the right team to ensure that the process generates the best outcome for his client.
William speaks good French and some German.

His expertise in finances is complemented by a long-standing interest in complex children cases, including international relocation cases and transfer of residence applications. Many of William’s children cases have involved issues of parental alcohol or substance abuse – often coupled with psychological and psychiatric concerns. William also has significant experience in managing cases with a public and private interface – for example where his clients have been subject to malicious allegations of impropriety and the Police or Social Services have become involved.