Roberta Harvey > Forsters LLP > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Roberta Harvey

+44 207 399 4868 roberta.harvey@forsters.co.uk

Work Department

Dispute Resolution

Position

Partner and Head of Contentious Trusts & Estates

Career

Roberta joined Forsters as a Partner in January 2019, and was appointed Head of the Contentious Trust and Estate (CTE) group on 1 April 2020.

Roberta is a specialist contentious trusts and estates lawyer and has an excellent reputation among her peers in representing high net worth individuals, family offices, trustees, protectors, executors and beneficiaries in respect of such matters. Examples of the cases Roberta deals with are as follows: validity issues, breach of trust, removal applications, construction arguments, freezing injunctions, asset tracing and recovery and the full remit of estate disputes. Roberta’s supportive and constructive approach to litigation inspires confidence in her clients. Roberta fiercely defends her clients’ best interests, while always considering the wider and long-term implications for their personal, financial and commercial interests. Taking a creative approach, Roberta will explore alternatives to court such as mediation, but will take matters to trial when necessary. Roberta also works closely with her family and private client colleagues and often advises on issues that arise in the context of divorce or post and pre-nuptial agreements or on stress testing trust structures.

Roberta is regularly asked to speak at industry conferences. Recent examples include the STEP Cayman International Wealth Structuring Forum, the Trust and Estates Litigation Forum in Marrakech where she spoke on a wide range of issues from fraud, to cross jurisdictional privilege. During the Covid-19 crisis Roberta spoke with Richard Dew of Ten Old Square in relation to Court of Protection matters via zoom. Roberta has been asked to speak at the Trust and Estates Litigation Forum in Cologne, Germany which is now been postponed to March 2022. She also contributes regularly to national and international publications and during the course of last year had articles published in the following publications: Financial Times, Tatler, Money Observer, Private Banker International, eprivateclient and the ThoughtLeaders4 Private Client magazine.

Roberta’s reputation as a leader in her field was recognised recently by her appointment as a founding member of the inaugural Tatler HNW address book. She is acknowledged as a Band 1 Ranked Lawyer in the Chambers HNW Guide 2022. Roberta is also ranked by The Legal 500 2023 in the prestigious ‘Hall of Fame’, having previously been recognised as a ‘Leading Individual’ in the 2021 and 2022 editions.