29 Bedford Row Chambers is home to a number of qualified arbitrators, ‘brilliant advocates and FDR judges’, and practitioners who sit in high-profile and high-value matrimonial finance cases. Alexis Campbell KC exclusively handles financial remedy claims, and she is noted for her expertise in both domestic and international mandates. Another key silk at the set is Deputy High Court Judge, qualified arbitrator, and ‘top-class evaluator’ Nicholas Allen KC, whose practice also heavily leans towards high-value financial remedy cases. The ‘thoroughly prepared’ Peter Mitchell KC is another key name at the set with expertise in all matters surrounding pre and post-nuptial agreements, as well as matters with jurisdictional queries. Turning to the juniors at the set, Lucy Owens is ‘excellent with clients’ and increasingly active in PFDRs and arbitrations, while mediator and arbitrator Ben Fearnley is lauded as ‘incredibly intelligent’, and has a broad ranging practice that encompasses civil partnership dissolutions, divorce, and the parting of couples who are unmarried.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Mentions
Profile
Position
Matrimonial finance, civil partnerships, co-habitation. Reported cases - MT v OT (No 2) [2018] EWHC 2003 (Fam); MT v OT (Schedule 1 Order) [2019] 1 FLR 93; Sharland v Sharland [2015] 2 FLR 1367; M v W (Application after New Zealand Financial Agreement) [2015] 1 FLR 465; Sharland v Sharland [2014] 2 FLR 89; SK v TK [2013] EWHC 834 (Fam); S v S (Non-Disclosure) [2013] 2 FLR 1598; Marinos v Marinos [2007] 2 FLR 108.
Career
Called to the Bar 1995. Admitted to the New York Bar 1998. Pupil Supervisor 2004. Trained as Collaborative Counsel 2009. Appointed Recorder (Family) in London and on the South Eastern Circuit 2015. Appointed Arbitrator 2016. Appointed Queen's Counsel 2018. Elected Joint Head of Chambers 2021. Elected Bencher of Middle Temple 2021. Appointed Deputy High Court Judge 2021. Door Tenancy, St Ives Chambers, Birmingham 2018.
Memberships
Joint Chair of the Bar Council Services Appointment Panel (2021 - 2024); Member, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (2016-date); Committee member - Resolution Dispute Resolution Committee (2011- 2015); Committee member - Complaints Committee of the Bar Standards Board (2005-07); Committee member - Family Law Bar Association (2003-08). Chair of the UK Association of LGBTQ+ Judges (2024 – date).
Education
Education - Leeds Grammar School; Emmanuel College, Cambridge (MA, LLM); Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass, USA (Visiting Scholar 1995-96).
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Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Really good clerks; Julie Holcombe and Ben Cross especially.'
- 'Really impressive number and variety of counsel.'
- 'Family team at the set is strong and experienced.'
- '29 Bedford Row is one of the most highly regarded family finance sets in the country which is justified.'
- '29 Bedford Row continues to produce some top-notch barristers and provides a lovely service for NCDR hearings.'
- '29 Bedford Row is a very good set.'
- '29 Bedford Row is an excellent set of Chambers.'
- 'A very good family set with some brilliant advocates and FDR judges.'