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Client Testimonials

CLIENT: Anne Marie Hutchinson OBE
COMPANY/FIRM: Dawson Cornwell Solicitors
TESTIMONIAL: “Harcourt Chambers has become the go-to set for family law, with particular and recognised expertise in matters of international family and children law and inter-jurisdictional disputes. The team includes a number of brilliant leaders in those fields, including John Vater QC and Edward Devereux. A raft of similarly impressive juniors work alongside those leaders, with many having admirable experience in the highest courts in the country and in the most complex of cases. Complementing their peerless range in counsel is their clerking team, which is second to none. Overall, the set is a force to be reckoned with.”

CLIENT: Janet Broadley
COMPANY/FIRM: Goodman Ray Solicitors
TESTIMONIAL: “Harcourt Chambers is a hidden gem among the larger sets of family chambers and I feel very fortunate as a solicitor to have such a reliable source of family law specialists to instruct. Edward Devereux is by far the best senior junior in the field of international family law and is now supported by an expanding team including Mehvish Chaudhry, Rob George and Edward Bennett. Each of them are extraordinarily bright and committed in each case I instruct them on. They combine their intelligence with pragmatism to achieve the right outcome. Frances Judd QC who heads chambers, is calm, poised and commands a huge amount of respect amongst Judges, peers and clients and I have no doubt will lead the set to the next level with the support, confidence and resilience of Simon Boutwood.”

CLIENT: Claire Colbert
COMPANY/FIRM: Henmans Freeth Solicitors
TESTIMONIAL: The service I have received from the clerks at Harcourt Chambers has always been first class and often going far beyond what I would expect. The barristers I brief, and their clerks, put client care as a top priority. They have a very professional manner and firm, yet sensitive approach when needed. Their knowledge is expert level, and in some niche areas of family law that are hard to find elsewhere. The relationship I have with my clients is very important to me, and the experience I have had in using Harcourt Chambers over the last 15 years means that I have no concerns in entrusting my clients to the safe hands of those at Harcourt Chambers.”

CLIENT: Clare Wiseman
COMPANY/FIRM: Irwin Mitchell Solicitors
TESTIMONIAL: “I have recently had the pleasure of being introduced to Harcourt Chambers and have no hesitation in recommending them as serious competition for any other national set. I instructed Frances Judd QC in relation to a matter – initially best suited for mediation. Her hands on and pragmatic advice (coupled with her experience as a judge) was invaluable in securing an extremely favourable outcome for an important client. The clerking team are excellent – led by Simon Boutwood – a hands-on, helpful and committed service goes way beyond the service experienced by many other specialist chambers. Access to both counsel and the clerking team was available outside office hours which was extremely helpful. I shall certainly be using Harcourt Chambers again.”

Client Testimonials

CLIENT: Kim Lehal, Partner

COMPANY/FIRM: Brethertons LLP

TESTIMONIAL: I have been instructing Harcourt Chambers from the very beginning of my career spanning nearly 15 years, starting out as a trainee to now in my role as a Partner. I have worked closely with Matthew Molloy and Laurie Amron who have always been a pleasure to deal with and will always go above and beyond on all accounts for example when Counsel go part-heard, making Counsel available to accommodate a listing at short notice, listing matters where there are numerous counsel involved in a case and in relation to fees. During the pandemic, they were exceptional in continuing to provide a top-class service (with some fantastic juniors coming through) despite being faced with Counsel and Judge’s being taken unwell and hearings coming in and out at short notice. They are personable, approachable, always reachable and responsive. In all honesty, they are one of the best sets we work with. There is nothing more a Solicitor could ask for in a Clerking team.

CLIENT: Carolina Marin Pedreno, Head of the Children Department

COMPANY/FIRM: Dawson Cornwell

TESTIMONIAL: To my mind, the clerking team at Harcourt is one of the best in the country. Not only does it have great depth with many years of experience, but it has also adapted swiftly and brilliantly to remote and hybrid working. They are very professional when arranging meetings online providing different platforms to the client and when dealing with the Court listing. However, what I value most of their clerks is their interest in identifying their best member to represent our client; they don’t simply provide us with a list of available members. A personal and tailor-made service.

CLIENT: Katherine Res Pritchard, Senior Director – Head of Children

COMPANY/FIRM: Vardags

TESTIMONIAL: The clerking team are Harcourt are the very best in the business. Matt, Simon and Laurie are always a dream to work with. They are always available to assist and will bend over backwards to help. I can’t rate them highly enough. The vast majority of our children work goes to Harcourt as they will always be the first to respond to our enquiries and will come back with quotes that are both competitive and reasonable. They are always willing to take a client’s individual circumstances into account, and the service they provide is therefore far more personalised and human. They know who we like to instruct, but more than that, their knowledge stretches as far as who will be good for a particular client, which is not something that you get from other clerking teams. Matt Molloy deserves a special mention for being absolutely second to none. He is organised, efficient, and great fun to work with.

Diversity

Harcourt Chambers is committed to all aspects of equality and diversity within the workplace. We provide an environment in which individuals from a wide range of backgrounds can fulfil their potential. Offers of pupillage and tenancy are made solely on the basis of merit, as are Chambers’ staff appointments and promotions.

Our aim is always to meet the highest standards of ethics and professionalism.

We are proud to support Reunite http://www.reunite.org the leading UK charity specialising in parental child abduction and the movement of children across international borders. Over the years our members have contributed many hours of free advice and written and oral advocacy. We also drafted the submission for Reunite to Parliament which sought to change the criminal law of child abduction to make retaining children outside the UK a criminal offence. This submission was accepted and, when parliamentary time allows, the law will be changed in accordance with that submission.

We also support Family Rights Group https://www.frg.org.uk a UK charity which advises families about their rights and options when social workers or courts make decisions about their children’s welfare.

Our members have appeared pro bono for both of these charities before the Supreme Court, the most recent case being In re N (Children) (Adoption: Jurisdiction) (AIRE Centre and others intervening) [2016] 2 WLR 1103.

For many years we have supported Advocate, formerly known as the The Bar Pro Bono Unit, a charity which helps to find free legal assistance from volunteer barristers.

Where the circumstances merit our members will act pro bono for private clients. A recent example of this is Birch v Birch [2017] UKSC 53

Diversity

Harcourt Chambers is committed to all aspects of equality and diversity within the workplace. We provide an environment in which individuals from a wide range of backgrounds can fulfil their potential. Offers of pupillage and tenancy are made solely on the basis of merit, as are Chambers’ staff appointments and promotions. Our aim is always to meet the highest standards of ethics and professionalism.

We are proud to have signed up as part of the Bar’s collective participation to the 10,000 Black Interns initiative. The scheme aims to help transform the horizons and prospects of young Black people in the United Kingdom.

Our members regularly give pro bono advice and appear pro bono on behalf of the following charities:

Advocate – We have, for many years, been staunch supporters of Advocate (formerly the Bar Pro Bono Unit) a charity which helps to find free legal assistance from volunteer barristers.

Reunite – We are proud to support Reunite http://www.reunite.org the leading UK charity specialising in parental child abduction and the movement of children across international borders. Over the years our members have contributed many hours of free advice and written and oral advocacy. We also drafted the submission for Reunite to Parliament which sought to change the criminal law of child abduction to make retaining children outside the UK a criminal offence. This submission was accepted and, when parliamentary time allows, the law will be changed in accordance with that submission.

Family Rights Group – We also support Family Rights Group a UK charity which advises families about their rights and options when social workers or courts make decisions about their children’s welfare.

Where the circumstances merit our members will act pro bono for private clients.