Pump Court Chambers

Jennifer Lee is a specialist family law practitioner with a thriving practice in financial remedies. She has successfully represented high net worth clients in cases involving family businesses, inherited wealth, substantial pensions, nuptial agreements, and trusts. Many of her cases involve tax complications and international elements, with foreign assets and cross-jurisdictional issues, such as the validity of an overseas marriage/divorce or claims in multiple jurisdictions (including Asia and Africa). She is also experienced in Schedule 1 (financial provision for children), cohabitation, and trusts of land disputes.

Jennifer has appeared in a number of high-profile reported financial remedy/ divorce cases, most notably in Veluppillai v Veluppillai & Ors [2015] EWHC 3095 (Fam) (High Court), LFL v LSL (McKenzie Friends & Breach of Court Orders) [2017] EWFC B62, N v N (Afghanistan: Validity of an overseas marriage: Procedure)[2020] EWFC B55, and in BC v SC [2023] EWFC 307(B) in which she was led by King’s Counsel.

Jennifer has a judicial role and sits as Fee-paid Judge of the Tax Chamber (FTT). She is named as one of the “Top Recommended” family law barristers in the UK in the prestigious Spear’s Legal Index 2024. She is also consistently top-ranked as a “Leading Junior (Tier 1)” in The Legal 500, and as a specialist in “family/matrimonial law” in Chambers & Partners (UK Bar)(Band 2). She has been highly commended for her attention to detail and her robust approach in negotiations and during hearings. She regularly appears as counsel in arbitrations and private FDRs, and sits as a private FDR judge/ evaluator.

In addition to financial remedies, Jennifer has retained a niche practice in children law, including modern families/surrogacy and cases with an international dimension (relocation and abduction). She acted alone and was later led by King’s Counsel in R v T [2022] EWHC 3362 (Fam) which involved children of a same-sex couple in the UAE. She represented the successful appellant (led by King’s Counsel) in the seminal Court of Appeal case of S (Children: Parentage and Jurisdiction) [2023] EWCA Civ 897, the leading decision on “consent” under the HFEA 2008 and the English court’s jurisdiction over children matters “in or in connection with” matrimonial proceedings. Jennifer also has an interest in capacity issues, particularly where they overlap with divorce/ financial remedies. She appeared for the successful applicant in DB v DW [2015] EWCOP 16.

Called 2007 (Lincoln’s Inn).

Jennifer is co-head of Chambers’ International Team and head of the COP Team. She is often invited to speak at conferences on family law matters, and contributes articles to leading publications such as Class Legal, the Family Law Journal and ThoughtLeaders4. She sits on the Financial Remedies Journal Editorial Board, and is a member of the FLBA, LAWASIA, and Resolution (ED&I Committee).

Fee-Paid Judge, First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber) Accredited Pupil Supervisor

English, basic Mandarin and Malay

Member, Lincoln’s Inn (2007) Ad Eundem member, Inner Temple (2024) Family Law Bar Association (FLBA) Resolution (Associate) CIArb (Associate) International Bar Association LAWASIA Denning Society, Lincoln’s Inn Member of the Young Leader’s Group, Asia House CAB volunteer adviser (Debt/Money/Family Law)

LLB (Hons), University College London LLM (International Human Rights Law), London School of Economics BVC, BPP Law School Cholmeley Studentship (2008) Hardwicke Entrance Award, Lincoln’s Inn (2006)

Publications

‘Resolution’s Report on Domestic Abuse in Financial Remedy Proceedings: An Overview of the Key Findings and Recommendations’ – Financial Remedies Journal, 8 October 2024 Jennifer Lee’s article ‘Impact of Conduct on Needs’ (co-authored with Nicholas Allen KC) the Financial Remedies Journal (Issue 2 – Summer 2024) ‘Fabricated Judicial Decisions and “Hallucinations” – a Salutary Tale on the Use of AI’ – Financial Remedies Journal, May 2024. “Modern Parenting – Legal Implications of Donor Insemination”, (First Published in ThoughtLeaders4 HNW Divorce Magazine – Issue 3, August 2020 with Sarah Williams, Head of Surrogacy, Adoption, Fertility & Modern Family at Payne Hicks Beach “LFL v LSL: Guidance & Practical Tips on how to work with McKenzie Friends”, The Review (Resolution), February 2018 “The Supreme Court Case of Marley v Rawlings: A Mix-Up in Wills”, LawSkills, Feb. 2014 “Gifts Made in Contemplation of Death: Donatio Mortis Causa & Vallee v Birchwood [2013] EWHC 1449 (Ch)”, LawSkills, 14th June 2013 “Parenthood & Donor Insemination: Contact Rights in Light of Re G (A Child) [2013] “The Recoverabiliy of Counsel’s Fees for Infant Approval Hearings”, PI Brief Update Law Journal (March 2011). “Withdrawal of Pre-Action Admissions: Woodland v Stopford & Ors [2011] EWCA Civ 266”, PI Brief Update Law Journal (July 2011). “Much Obliged: The Level of Obligation Owed by Employers to Former Employees”, New Law Journal, September 2011 (Vol. 161, Issue 7480). Co-editor, along with Stephen Jones, of the Pump Court Chambers Property Law Newsletter. “A Changing Landscape?”, New Law Journal (Volume 160, Issue 7422), employment law article on the issue of damages in wrongful dismissal claims, co-written with Spencer Keen. ‘Human Dignity & Inviolability: The Absolute Prohibition of Torture’, [2005] 12 U.C.L. Jurisprudence Review, 80. ‘The UCL Jurisprudence Review Launch’, The Weekly Law Review Newsletter (Summer 2007), 2. ‘Employment Law in a Nutshell: Wrongful Dismissals’, The Weekly Law Review Newsletter (Summer 2008), 20. UCL Jurisprudence Review, 13th Volume (co-editor) (UCL Press, 2007).

Music and art, foreign travel.