The ‘excellent’ 1 GC | Family Law houses a variety of members who are active across arbitration, mediation, PFDR, and ENE. One such member is family law specialist Janet Bazley KC, who boasts expertise in both children and financial remedy cases and is praised as ‘empathic’. David Burles specialises in financial remedy cases, including divorce and Schedule 1-related proceedings with a ‘delightfully urbane manner’. ‘Extremely fair-minded’, Claire Heppenstall sits as a private FDR judge in cases surrounding financial remedy and children-related ENE cases, and she is also a qualified family mediator. All three named barristers are IFLA arbitrators.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Profile
Position
Claire practises exclusively in private family and family related work. Her practice is largely split between Private Children Law and Financial Remedies work. She also has particular expertise in dealing with Schedule 1 claims.
Dealing with both children and money work allows her to assist the private client across most areas of dispute that arise during difficult family breakdowns in a highly effective and pragmatic but also robust way. She is frequently instructed to appear against Leading Counsel.
In the area of Private Children Law, she has a particular interest and a huge amount of expertise in cases involving relocation, both external and internal. She also has extensive experience of being instructed in highly acrimonious and long-running intractable child arrangement disputes, and is often instructed in cases involving allegations of alienating behaviours and where expert assessment has been required.
In Financial Remedies work, she is often instructed in difficult cases involving issues of non-disclosure or where careful analysis of family businesses and trust interests is required.
Claire has considerable experience of dealing with Schedule 1 applications and is regularly instructed in this type of claim.
Claire is regularly instructed as a pFDR evaluator and facilitates a high settlement rate.
Claire is also dual qualified as an Arbitrator to deal with disputes under both the IFLA Finance and Children schemes and is often instructed on a dual basis by the same family in order that all issues can be resolved by one arbitrator often in a conjoined final hearing.
Career
Year of Call: 1990, Inner Temple
Bar Pro Bono Unit Panel Reviewer
MCIArb (Family Finance)
MCIArb (Children)
Recorder on the South Eastern Circuit to sit in Family matters (2022) and Financial Remedies (2024).
Publications:
Co-author of DIY Divorce & Separation: The Expert Guide to Representing Yourself (Jordan Publishing),
Contributor to ‘Applications under Schedule 1 to the Children Act 1989’ published by Family Law
Memberships
FLBA
The Association of Lawyers for Children
Education
University College London: LLB (Hons) 1987
University College London: LLM (Merit) 1988
Content supplied by 1GC | Family Law
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Paul Harris is brilliant. Extremely personable and helpful and just gets the job done.'
- 'Great. Very impressive clerking.'
- 'Very supportive.'
- 'Increasingly go-to!'
- 'An excellent set.'
- '1GC is a very efficient, well-run set.'
- 'A very solid set with a strong recruitment policy.'