Judith joined Gordons as a Partner in the Family Team in 2024. She qualified as a solicitor in 1993 with Clifford Chance and has worked for Charles Russell in Guildford and Mundays (later Knights plc) in Weybridge and London. Judith is a member of Resolution, an association of family professionals who seek to reform family law and promote a constructive and amicable approach to dispute resolution.
She is a Resolution Accredited Specialist in the fields of Complex High Value Financial Remedies and Cohabitation and Trusts of Land claims. She has worked for firms rated in the top tier by both Chambers and Legal 500 Directories and has been ranked as a Leading Individual for Divorce Law in the South East.
Expertise:
Judith has 28 years of experience in divorce and other family law cases, with particular expertise in high asset value cases, forensic investigation work, pensions and cases involving assets or litigation in multiple jurisdictions. She also specialises in drafting pre and post nuptial agreements and cohabitation agreements. Judith has also built up a niche practice in advising cohabitees (unmarried partners) in respect of any disputes relating to their property or children and in acting for intervenors in divorce cases. She is used to advising specialist Chancery counsel to advise as to complex trust issues (TOLATA cases). She also advises clients as to private law children cases.
She is known for taking a common sense and practical approach to her work and acts against many City (Magic Circle) firms. Judith appreciates that relationship breakdown can be a sad and difficult time for our clients and works closely with them to understand their aims and to ensure that they feel respected and to achieve early negotiated settlements where possible. She also supports clients who are attending mediation and advises throughout that process. If agreements are not possible, Judith is a very experienced litigator, instructing top divorce counsel in London chambers to ensure that the best possible outcomes are achieved in court hearings. She will advise and represents clients right through to a final hearing and if enforcement applications are necessary, beyond that point and has experience of complex cases in the High Court.
Notable Cases:
- Acting successfully for litigants in heavily contested cases and against reluctant respondents who refused to disclose their assets and/or to cooperate with the court proceedings.
- Acting for and against property developers, including those with interests in multiple companies and dealing with the challenges faced by valuing properties and company interests.
- Acting for and against shareholders and business owners, advising as to the valuations of those shareholdings. Representing parties in heavily contested proceedings involving complex company structures and multiple jurisdictions.
- Acting for parties in cases involving very long separations prior to proceedings and advising as to the complexities of valuing assets and dealing with post separation contributions.
- Acting for parties in cases involving high value inheritances, high value pensions and complicated foreign pension schemes.
- Acting successfully for wives who had given up their careers early in their marriages and obtaining significant joint lives and fixed terms maintenance orders.
- Acting for a wife with severe health issues and achieving an agreed settlement which provided her with the means to fully support herself, to move to more suitable accommodation and to pay for a care package
- Acting for an entrepreneur with a significant shareholding in an Asian company, advising on the production of a comprehensive voluntary disclosure package which avoided the need for the appointment of a single joint expert to value the business and reaching a negotiated settlement for his wife’s claims outside of court proceedings.
- Acting for a property owner who was joined to a divorce as a third party and successfully defeating the husband’s claims to be awarded a share of the equity.
