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Legal Focus
JULY 2013
Family Law
Family law is a vast practice area covering a broad spectrum of issues, from divorce financial claims and child custody, to parental abduction and worldwide freezing orders. It is subject to a changing landscape of distinct and complex rules and legal regulations, and has been in the news recently due to a huge government plan to cut spending in this area and attempts by family courts to pierce the corporate veil. To find out about Family Law and the issues that surround it, Lawyer Monthly speaks to David Hodson, an international family law dispute resolution specialist and co-founder of The International Family Law Group LLP.
Please introduce yourself and your role.
I qualified as a solicitor in 1978 in my hometown of Southampton. After general litigation, I started working in 1985 for Theodore Goddard, a City corporate firm with a leading big money divorce practice. I have specialised in family law ever since. I was very fortunate to be involved from the early days of international family law, acting for families with international connections and international money. I became a mediator and in 1995 was appointed a part-time family court judge, DDJ at the PRFD.
In 2003 when my then law practice
in Covent Garden came to an end, I went to Sydney for two years to work for a specialist international family law firm, qualifying also as an Australian solicitor and barrister. I was also the originator of arbitration in family law in England which launched February 2012 and I was one of the first qualified family arbitrators.
I had always had the vision of a specialist law firm working for international families and their children. Having acted for very many international families over the previous 20 years in London and Sydney, I was conscious of the distinctive law and practice and needs of such families. It is very different to conventional family law practice.
What are the main types of cases you deal with?
Our work ranges across the board. We undertake complex high net worth work with very complicated offshore structures and financial arrangements, which is my specialisation. Equally we have structured ourselves so we are able to act in relatively modest cases but with a complicated international element. There is still a huge amount of ignorance across the profession on the international aspects and many English lawyers refer their clients to us. Some of our work is enforcement in England of foreign financial arrangements or enforcement against
So on my return to London, I set up with Ann Thomas, whose own specialisation was international children matters, The International Family Law Group LLP. It is based in Covent Garden. We started with 4 of us and six years on we are about 24. This has been a measure of our success. We believe we were the first practice in the world specifically working for international families. Another measure of our success has been that other firms have set up and emulated our idea, including by describing themselves as having international family law teams! So be it!