Frances Hughes > Hughes Fowler Carruthers > London, England > Lawyer Profile
Hughes Fowler Carruthers Offices
ACADEMY COURT
94 CHANCERY LANE
LONDON
WC2A 1DT
England
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Frances Hughes
Work Department
Matrimonial and family.
Position
Chair of board of family law niche practice and leading figure in family law for many years specialising in complex financial cases, including those with substantial business assets and partnerships; trusts and tax problem cases involving foreign jurisdictions; cohabitation cases; prenuptial agreements and also private children’s residence and other children’s matters including child abduction.
Career
Trained Theodore Goddard 1979-81; qualified 1981; assistant in matrimonial department 1981-83; set up matrimonial department Bates, Wells & Braithwaite 1983; founded Hughes Fowler Carruthers 2001; fellow and governor at large of International Academy of Family Lawyers, vice-president of the European chapter 2000-04 and 2006 to date; accredited FMA and Resolution (formerly SFLA) mediator 2006; regularly speaks at conferences and broadcasts on television and radio and lectures on family law matters nationally and internationally; member of the ‘Times’ Law Panel.
Memberships
Law Society; Resolution (formerly SFLA); FMA; IAFL; FRSA; ‘Times’ Law Panel.
Education
Ursuline School, Wimbledon; St Anne’s College, Oxford (MA).
Leisure
Opera; chamber music (viola player); sits on the board of the Poetry Society; Deputy chair of board of trustees of Theatre de Complicite; trustee of Arts Patron Trust.
Lawyer Rankings
London > Private client > Family
(Hall of Fame)Clients ‘greatly appreciate’ the ‘user friendly’ style at boutique firm Hughes Fowler Carruthers, which offers the full range of domestic and international finance and children expertise. Frances Hughes
heads up the practice, specialising in complex divorce cases which involve high-value assets and multiple jurisdictions. Alex Carruthers ‘is a powerhouse of a lawyer’, sought after for complex legal issues involved in matrimonial finance cases, while Pauline Fowler is recommended for her ability to find ‘creative solutions that work for real families‘. For pre-nuptial and pre-civil partnership agreements, Mark Harper is a go-to, and Renato Labi ‘negotiates as well as he litigates‘ in high-stakes divorce matters. ‘A brilliant lawyer and a clever tactician‘, Caroline Park handles long-running and often cross-border cases; such international matters are also an area of expertise for Kate Brett. The team’s children practice handles international relocation, abduction, adoption and surrogacy matters, along with sensitive issues of domestic abuse and coercive control.