Child & Child > London, England > Firm Profile

Child & Child
One Strand
London
WC2N 5EJ
England

Visit website 020 7235 8000 020 7235 9447

By our clients’ side since 1850.

We work with individuals, their families, and their businesses. From our London offices and around the world, our lawyers are by our clients’ side, offering bespoke advice on their most important matters and their long-term goals alike.

Recognised for our expertise in private and commercial real estate transactions and dispute resolution, we work as one to deliver the very best service to our clients. We understand their world and we know how best to navigate the intricacies of tax, private wealth, estate planning and family law on their behalf.

Our values–trust, integrity and excellence–are at the heart of what we do. They define our approach and set the standard for our reputation as trusted advisors.

Department	Name	Email	Telephone
Managing Partner	Adrian Biles	[email protected]	+44 (0)207 235 8000
Head of Real Estate	Zach Reynolds	[email protected]	+44 (0)207 235 8000
Head of Residential Real Estate	Anouska Kapur	[email protected]	+44 (0)207 235 8000
Head of Tax	Patrick Thornton	[email protected]	+44 (0)207 235 8000
Head of Private Client	Rhea Rugani	[email protected]	+44 (0)207 235 8000
Head of Dispute Resolution	Nick Goldstone	[email protected]	+44 (0)207 235 8000
Head of Family	Susie Barter	[email protected]	+44 (0)207 235 8000
Head of Immigration	Paolo Barbato	[email protected]	+44 (0)207 235 8000

Name	Position	Profile
Yasaman Asaad	Partner and Head of Middle East Desk	View Profile
Ms Lisa Austen	Partner	View Profile
Paolo Barbato	Partner and Head of Immigration	View Profile
Ms Susie Barter	Partner and Head of Family	View Profile
Robert Biles	Partner	View Profile
Mr Adrian Biles	Managing Partner	View Profile
Ms Benedetta Bonanno	Solicitor	View Profile
Mr Philip G Cohen	Senior Partner	View Profile
Mr Adam Cohen	Consultant	View Profile
Ms Jo Creamer	I joined Child & Child in October 2024 as a Senior Associate in…	View Profile
Mr Laurence Crees	Associate	View Profile
Finian Davern	Partner and Notary Public	View Profile
Mr Colin Glass	I joined Child & Child in October 2024 as a partner in…	View Profile
Mr Nick Goldstone	Partner and Head of Dispute Resolution	View Profile
Ms Francesca Griffiths	Solicitor – Head of Italian Desk	View Profile
Ms Anouska Kapur	Partner and Head of Residential Real Estate	View Profile
Ms Alexa Kordowicz	Partner	View Profile
Mr Philip Langford	Consultant	View Profile
Mr Angus Macdonald	Consultant I qualified as a solicitor in Victoria, Australia in 1996, and…	View Profile
Cedric Mascarenhas	Partner	View Profile
Mr Vincenzo Mazzone	Solicitor	View Profile
Chris Myers	Partner	View Profile
Samantha Palmer	Partner and Head of Regulatory	View Profile
Ms Anna Rabin	Consultant	View Profile
Mr Zach Reynolds	Partner – Head of Real Estate	View Profile
Ms Rhea Rughani	Partner and Head of Private Wealth	View Profile
Mr Vikash Savani	Senior Associate	View Profile
Mr Nicholas Yapp	Head of Employment; Head of Risk & Compliance; Money Laundering Reporting Officer	View Profile
Ms Vicky de Sanna	Consultant	View Profile

Name	Position	Profile
Josef Brownson	Solicitor	View Profile
Becky Chen	Associate	View Profile
Sarich Khizer	Solicitor	View Profile
Chloe Redman	Associate	View Profile

Partners : 18
Fee Earners : 43

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The Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS)
London Solicitors Litigation Association list of Supervising Solicitors

COMPANY/FIRM: London Square Developments Ltd
TESTIMONIAL: We thoroughly enjoy working with Andrew, he is proactive and prompt with his service. Andrew has been an amazing team player with our recent overseas sales. He is always accommodating to our needs. Andrew has a long-standing relationship with our firm and our legacy. We know we can always rely on him to help us in last minute requests.

COMPANY/FIRM: London Square Developments Ltd
TESTIMONIAL: Andrew Li of Child and Child has been a pleasure to deal with he has been the most reliable and efficient party throughout. Andrew and team are clearly experts in their field and have been a valuable source of guidance. Andrew is able to accurately manage expectations and ensure our deadlines are met. He is proactive and thorough in his work and you can clearly see he takes pride in his service which is outstanding.

TESTIMONIAL: We have used Child and Child on four occasions this year, on each occasion Zach Reynolds acted for us. We have enormous confidence in him because he always found solutions to the many and varied problems which arose, always keeping his cool at tense times and commercially focused with a very professional but human touch. We were always able to get a reply from him within 24 hours and often much sooner. These contracts were all completed during a Covid-19 lockdown.

TESTIMONIAL: As a first-time home buyer in the UK, it was a delight to have Chloe guiding us through the process. She is friendly, extremely knowledgeable, quick and responsive and she removed all the complexity out of the transaction.

TESTIMONIAL: The team at Child and Child were fantastic and I would highly recommend them. We had an extremely tight turnaround of a few hours to complete a huge amount of documentation as we were purchasing a house at auction but Chloe was brilliant at getting everything lined up and ready for signatures, funds transfer etc which meant we were able to secure our dream house, I don’t think it would have been possible without her. I would highly recommend the whole team we dealt with.

TESTIMONIAL: The conveyancing service I have received over the years from Anouska and Chris at Child & Child is unparalleled. They blend a high level of domain knowledge with pragmatism and an ability to communicate effectively with all parties. I highly recommend the Child & Child property team.

COMPANY/FIRM: Summit Trust Group
TESTIMONIAL: I have worked on a number of property transactions with Anouska Kapur who is pragmatic in her approach, prompt in her turnaround and is now one of our top picks for conveyancing work. We genuinely enjoy working with Anouska and appreciate her approach which is largely removing all stress on our shoulders!

COMPANY/FIRM: Mercedes-Benz
TESTIMONIAL: In all matters, Child & Child have consistently proved themselves to be diligent, competent and reliable and the clarity with which even more complex matters are explained is matched by their tenaciousness in resolving them. They have been open, candid and a pleasure to deal with and have displayed on all occasions both professional integrity and a personal empathy. Child and Child are a wonderful partner to have at your side.

TESTIMONIAL: I have used Child & Child numerous times over the past few years to expand my property portfolio. The service has been faultless every time. Complex issues have been dealt with in calm and careful manor and without this level of professionalism several of the purchases would have fallen through. I have no reservations about recommending Child & Child and particularly Anouska to anyone.

TESTIMONIAL: Goli-Michelle did a great job on our transaction. She was very efficient, very knowledgeable, very good, very smart. Very everything! She handled the matter in a very timely fashion. Very impressed with Child & Child. This was the first time we used the firm and will be running to use them again.

COMPANY/FIRM: Bank of America
TESTIMONIAL: Goli-Michelle has an exemplary reputation in the real estate market in London. She is well known and highly regarded amongst other law firms, estate agents and banks. In all of my dealings with her she provides thorough constructive legally sound advice whilst always seeking to ensure she provides workable solutions to any issues raised.

COMPANY/FIRM: NatWest
TESTIMONIAL: Selling and buying properties can always be quite stressful, but we have taken great comfort from Goli-Michelle’s hard work and excellent customer service. We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her as we’ve always appreciated her thoroughness in terms of reviewing the large number of documents, her responsiveness to our queries and the professional, clear and robust interactions with the other party’s counsel.

TESTIMONIAL: Chloe was really fabulous, and we were very happy with her service. We really appreciated her honesty through the transaction as well as manging our expectations. Her responses were quick and clear. This was the first time I purchased a property in the UK and she made the process extremely stress free. She walked me through every step of the transaction. I will definitely be using her again and have recommend her to many of my friends.

COMPANY/FIRM: Latent Lights Hospitality & Investments
TESTIMONIAL: Goli-Michelle, and her team have been key contributors in terms of providing end to end legal services to us in our acquisition of various properties. Their pro-active approach in handling even complex and protracted situations even through the pandemic or otherwise is highly appreciated. Key Qualities: In-depth knowledge, Pro-activeness, Problem solving. We would recommend Child & Child to clients looking for legal services in UK.

At Child & Child, we advocate diversity, with our clearly defined equal opportunity and diversity policies. Diversity within our recruitment process is a key component to maintaining an inclusive culture at our firm. Child & Child’s dedication to diversity has meant that staff have been carefully recruited to ensure that clients are receiving the best and highest levels of communication through our multilingual Residential Property team. Our network of international desks and affiliated experts can effectively guide and support our clients through the complexities of the local and foreign legal systems. This demonstrates that we appreciate the personal and commercial needs of our clients, giving them the security of knowing that they have a trusted advisor that they can turn to for all their legal requirements within different jurisdictions.

At the forefront of Child & Child’s diversity policy is the consideration on how our social and environmental responsibilities impact the community. We provide legal services according to the highest ethical and professional standards. We have a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery and are committed to acting with integrity in all our business dealings and relationships. We implement and enforce effective systems and controls to ensure modern slavery is not taking place anywhere in our own business or in any of our supply chains. Our Head of Risk and Compliance has the primary day to day responsibility for administering our equality and anti-slavery policy to ensure that our firm complies with its legal and ethical obligations.

Promoting and supporting inclusivity and diversity within Child & Child is part of our ethos and we strive to ensure that all members of our community and business feel valued, appreciated, and accepted. Embracing and championing inclusivity and diversity is actively encouraged to all members of the firm.

Susie Barter, Head of Family

Susie Barter (Head of Family at Child & Child) on the difference she can make

1. What do you see as the main points that differentiate Child & Child from your competitors?

As a firm we are small enough to really get to know our clients but big enough to offer a comprehensive spectrum of legal services.

We are interested in learning all about our client and their family. Understanding their perspective on life can help us to guide them through challenging times – and exciting times – in a way that will really work for them. At times in the family team we might know more about a client’s life than any other confidant or friend. It is a relationship of great trust and integrity. I feel an overwhelming sense of responsibility to guide them through a difficult time with great care and to advocate for them at a time when they might feel less able than usual to do so for themselves.

Looking at the bigger picture ensures that we can really meet a client’s needs. Family law intersects so often with other practice areas – estate planning, tax advice, immigration, real estate, employment, corporate maters and disputes. Our clients are able to have all their needs met in one place, and with the same level of attention and thought. Any client of Child & Child is a valued client of the whole firm.

2. Which practices do you see growing in the next 12 months? What are the drivers behind that?

Our private client offering continues to grow in response to the needs of our high net-worth clients, whether they are resident here or abroad. Our accountancy and immigration services will further strengthen our capabilities.

Our Disputes team are thriving and our real estate teams are long established but are always striving to keep ahead of their competition.

From a Family perspective, ensuring that growth will never distract from our personal commitment to work closely with clients to resolve their matters efficiently and with discretion is key. Resolving matters with resort to court is an important part of what we do and our out of court resolution capabilities will continue to grow. Rachel Jaysan is a new partner in our team, she is an accredited mediator who also offers hybrid mediation and the ‘Parting Ways. Together’ or ‘one couple, one lawyer’ model of working.

No two separations or divorces are the same. Ensuring that we have as many options available to clients as possible is really valuable. Simply ‘operating the law’ is only a very small part of what we do.

Our clients know that we have their best interests at heart and will always give them honest and pragmatic advice. This is not always legal advice – sometimes profound common sense is what is needed. For a client suddenly facing the prospect of divorce or separation therapeutic support might be key to ensuring that they are able to navigate themselves and their children through what can be a very challenging time.

Building a strong relationship with our clients enables us to give the specific and nuanced advice they come to really value.

3. What’s the main change you’ve made in the firm that will benefit clients?

Managing partner Adrian Biles invited me to set up a new family law team in 2023. Child & Child has been a successful central London boutique law firm since 1850 but had been through some recent changes. I shared Adrian’s desire to focus on the needs of our clients in a way that matters – living the trust, integrity and excellence values that we promote.

Within my own practice I had always interacted with clients in a very direct and accountable way – the thought that clients might not be able to speak to us as and when they need to seems entirely counter intuitive. This is something that I was keen to ensure continued within a larger team too. That will include out of hours and weekends if necessary – we build a relationship of trust with our clients that is very rarely abused.

From the outset I have also looked to have our team as an integral part of our private client offering – ensuring that client’s needs are considered in the wider context of their family and business. The majority of our clients are successful people, often with substantial commercial and real estate interests. Family law cannot operate effectively without a proper understanding of our client’s family, business and tax needs and conversations with those that manage them.

Family law can offer great flexibility in outcome within the overarching directive of overall fairness. Innovative solutions to unique situations can sometimes be found if the will is there – whether that is to preserve existing structures, plan for future generations or simply maintain the family home for the children.

A truly integrated approach ensures that our work with our client is never simply a transaction.

4. Is technology changing the way you interact with your clients, and the services you can provide them?

We are adopting a watching brief so far as AI in concerned.

Our business is all about the personal touch and so adopting processes to “automate” a transaction holds little appeal. That said, we have no interest in any process taking longer or being less efficient than it needs to be. We communicate with our clients by phone, email, text, whatsapp, teams: whatever works best for an individual. This is obviously key for our clients living abroad but also suits busy individuals who are trying to find time to communicate during a busy day.

Having said all of that, we have lovely new offices and love meeting our clients face to face too.

Adaptability and flexibility is key.

5. Can you give us a practical example of how you have helped a client to add value to their business?

Although divorce is not a natural environment for growth, we regularly work with clients to ensure that the integrity and future prospects of a business are not unduly undermined by a divorce settlement. Being commercially aware from the outset can help negotiations to be effective. The early intervention of business advisors can be very positive if handled with care and integrity.

Sometimes it is necessary to be bold too – not all businesses can be put on ice for the duration of a divorce. Helping clients to understand the litigation risk of proceeding with transactions they consider necessary and carefully listening to them to understanding the business harm in maintaining the status quo allows informed choices to be made. A number of clients have bought and sold businesses during proceedings despite grumblings from other parties. It is about balance and integrity.

6. Are clients looking for stability and strategic direction from their law firms – where do you see the firm in three years’ time?

I think many clients will choose an individual lawyer for a specific role or transaction – often personally referred to them by a friend, colleague or family member. If confidence in that lawyer can develop into confidence in the whole firm to look after many different aspects of their life so much the better.

Along with my fellow partners, we are growing Child & Child to achieve that aim. We want to become the firm of choice for successful people who choose to invest, work or live in the UK. We have a depth of experience and partners with the track record to become one of the leading private client boutique firms in London. Our values – trust, integrity and excellence – encapsulate who we are and our approach.

Child & Child > London, England > Firm Profile

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