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The latest publication includes the following commentary about Allard Bailey Family Law:

‘The ‘attentive and responsive team’ at Allard Bailey Family Law ‘undertakes a high volume of HNW work – which is testament to its expertise’.  The team of ‘very experienced female solicitors who combine expertise with kindness’ is co-led by Sabrina Bailey and Louise Allard.  It is regularly instructed on high-value financial cases with an international element and with complex tax, trusts and business assets as well as on difficult children cases.  It has been expanding at partner level with the promotions of Louise Poulton and Jennifer Granby to the partnership and the addition of Siobhan Lomasney from Fletcher Day.’

The Legal 500 2023

Testimonials included in the edition, which were obtained through independant research:

‘Louise Allard is a stellar individual, her work is at a high level and she is hugely proactive and effective on behalf of her clients. She is fantastic to work with, very collaborative and insightful with great knowledge of the law as well as how to strategise effectively’.

‘Louise Poulton is one to watch, her command of her cases is impressive, she is diligent, hugely supportive and caring in respect of her clients and very easy to work with. Her grasp of the nuances in a particular case are excellent and instinctive. The way she prepares cases makes it very easy to come in as counsel and do a great job. She is fantastic to work with’.

‘I have mainly worked with Jennifer Granby. Jennifer is pragmatic and sensible, whilst also being approachable and client-friendly. Very easy to work with and has a very good grasp of the issues and of the best way in which to present her clients’ arguments’.

As a specialist firm with offices in London and Hertford, we focus on all areas of family law and the preservation of private wealth.  

If you would like to speak to a family solicitor about adoption, child arrangements, dissolution, divorce, domestic abuse, financial settlements, nuptial agreements, separation, surrogacy or any other area of family law, please call 020 7993 2936 to book a consultation or complete a Contact Request.  Alternatively, you can start your matter online using our Free Family Law Portal.

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“These well-deserved promotions reflect the hard work and commitment of two impressive solicitors who have gone above and beyond to deliver outstanding service to clients in a difficult climate. With the continued effort of our new partners and colleagues in the firm, I have no doubt that we will continue to thrive and provide the exceptional service that is integral to our offering.”

Louise Allard, Managing Partner

Jennifer Granby

Prior to joining our firm in January 2021, Jennifer was the director of a boutique family law firm.  She advises on a wide range of family law matters including divorce, financial relief, nuptial agreements, unmarried families, children disputes and domestic abuse.  Many of her cases involve offshore assets, complex pension issues, company assets and third-party interests. Jennifer has a diverse client base which has included high profile clients and their partners, members of the entertainment industry, lawyers, entrepreneurs, professionals and clients whose primary responsibility is caring for their children. Click here to learn more about Jennifer, including examples of her recent cases and an insight into a day in her life.

Louise Poulton

Louise has spent her career at well-known Legal 500 ranked firms.  She specialises in high-net-worth divorce, separation and nuptial agreements, which usually involve an international dimension.  Louise also advises on private children matters and has a particular interest in child relocation.  She is skilled in handling cases involving coercive control and domestic violence, as well as cases where one party is experiencing mental health issues.  She receives a high number of referrals from city law firms and represents a broad range of clients, many of whom are fellow lawyers, senior professionals and their spouses. Click here to learn more about Louise, including examples of her cases and a day in her life before becoming a Partner.

The Firm

Allard Bailey Family Law was founded in 2016 to offer a modern and pragmatic approach to Family Law, adding a Private Wealth, Wills & Estates service in 2020.  The firm uses modern working practices and technology to provide a flexible service to clients with complex needs at a reasonable hourly rate. 

The family team is recommended by The Legal 500, an independent legal directory, which has published feedback about the team including in the most recent 2022 edition:

providing all the skill and advice of a No. 1 London firm, at less cost and with a friendly, can-do attitude.”

Legal 500 2022

For further information or to enquire about legal assistance please call 020 7993 2936 or submit a Contact Request.

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Siobhan’s forensic eye and experience tracking assets will benefit clients with disputes involving worldwide assets, trusts and cases of non or incomplete financial disclosure. 

“I’m excited to join Allard Bailey Family Law with its reputation for doing things differently.  What impressed me was the collegiate and focussed nature of the partners and their genuine commitment to client service. 

I’ve spent most of my career at large multi-practice firms and relish the opportunity to be part of a specialist team with like-minded and empathetic colleagues, who are dedicated to helping clients in the family and private wealth sphere.” 

Siobhan Lomasney, Partner

Allard Bailey Family Law was founded in 2016 to offer a modern and pragmatic approach to Family Law, then added Private Wealth, Wills & Estates.  We utilise modern working practices and technology to provide a flexible service to clients with complex needs, at a reasonable hourly rate. 

Our family team is recommended by the independent legal directory, The Legal 500, which has published independent testimonials including ‘The lawyers are highly experienced and knowledgeable, quite possibly better than the most famous city firms’ (The Legal 500, 2020) and ‘providing all the skill and advice of a No. 1 London firm, at less cost and with a friendly, can-do attitude‘ (The Legal 500, 2022).

We are pleased to welcome Siobhan to the firm.  She is a high-calibre solicitor with a wealth of experience in family law and civil litigation that sets her apart and will make her a real asset to our team.”

Sabrina Bailey, Joint Managing Partner

Click here to learn more about Siobhan, including examples of recent cases that she is able to discuss.

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Allard Bailey Family Law joins with thousands of family professionals to launch Resolutions’ Parenting Through Separation Guide during Good Divorce Week.

The free guide is available to any parent seeking help during their separation. It contains advice about how to co-parent with a former partner, background on the common disputes that arise between separating parents, and how to talk to children about the painful topic of divorce or separation, plus much more.

Sabrina Bailey, Managing Partner of Allard Bailey Family Law, said: 
 
“The pandemic has put huge pressure on families and even more so on those who are separating. Naturally, most parents want to put their children’s interests front and centre, but it can be hard to know how to do this when you are faced with a really difficult situation that you haven’t been in before.

Relationship breakdown is one of the most stressful experiences in life, so it’s important for parents to have access to good, authoritative and professional advice that helps them to support their children in the best possible way. We hope all separating parents will use the Parenting Through Separation Guide, to help them find a better way forward for them, and for their children.

We will also be sharing a series of free blogs with practical tips and advice for parents throughout the week.”


Juliet Harvey, national chair of Resolution, said:
 
“I’m really pleased to have Allard Bailey’s support during Good Divorce Week. Resolution members do really important work in their community to help families separate in a constructive and amicable way. The more families who know about and use the free Parenting Through Separation Guide, the better equipped they will be to navigate the challenges divorce and separation brings, particularly when it comes to putting children first.”
 
Here’s an extract of advice contained within the guide:

Top tips for discussing divorce with your children

1. If your situation allows, try to have a joint conversation when all of your children are present. Keep this age appropriate.
2. Plan a series of conversations, including different follow up conversations, if your children are different ages. Be mindful that their reactions will depend on their age, developmental stage and their individual personality.
3. Reassure your children that it is okay to feel sad or scared and showing emotion is good. They can always talk to either of you and ask questions.
4. Remember you are a role model and your children are watching how you manage this situation. If they see that you are still their parents, making decisions together about them, then they will cope better.

Follow the link to access the full Parenting Through Separation Guide.
 


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Through independent research, The Legal 500 has gathered and published the following feedback about the firm:

‘Louise Allard and Sabrina Bailey make up a stellar partnership in this boutique firm … providing all the skill and advice of a No. 1 London firm, at less cost and with a friendly, can-do attitude. Both partners are the sort of lawyers who work out of hours and at weekends as a matter of course. The instructions are thorough and their case-conduct is flawless‘.

‘Allard Bailey is personable, reliable and willing to go the extra mile for clients by being available outside of the normal working hours, whereas other firms are still restrictive in their availability. Louise Allard is always available to speak with clients and assist in anyway she can. The lawyers respond in a timely fashion‘.

‘Louise Allard was outstanding. She understood the issues very quickly and asked the right questions at the right time. She guided me and gave me the reassurance when needed. She was also forthright and pragmatic and pointed out when certain things were not possible. A formidable, knowledgeable yet extremely caring family lawyer‘.

The 2022 rankings for Family Law in London were released at the end of September 2021 and include the following commentary about our Family offering:

 Allard Bailey Family Law typically acts for senior city professionals, directors of leading brands and law firm partners as well as business owners, minor celebrities and their spouses. It is acting for a growing number of members of the LGBT community on same-sex parenting issues. Louise Allard and Sabrina Bailey co-head the department that frequently advises on children law issues such as international relocation, child abduction and contact disputes.

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Making a Complaint

If the person handling your case is not able to resolve your issue, please make a formal written complaint to Ms Sabrina Bailey, Managing Partner. If your concerns involve Ms Bailey, you can make a formal complaint to Ms Louise Allard, joint Managing Partner.

What Will Happen Next?

Within 3 working days of the Firm receiving your formal written complaint, we will open an investigation and record it in our central register. You will be sent a letter acknowledging your complaint, in which we will notify you of who will be investigating your concerns.

We will start to investigate your complaint and send you a detailed reply within 3 months. The investigation will normally involve Ms Bailey examining your file and speaking with the persons within the Firm who acted for you. We may require the person responsible for your matter to prepare a written report, which will be reviewed and investigated as well. We may also request further information from you.

If you would prefer to have a meeting to discuss your complaint, please request this in writing and we will contact you to arrange a meeting within 3 working days of the request being received. If you have not requested a meeting but Ms Bailey believes it would be more constructive to discuss your concerns directly, she will contact you to request a meeting. Within 3 working days of the meeting, Ms Bailey will write to you to confirm what was discussed and any solutions that have been agreed between you.

If you do not want a meeting, or if it is not possible for any reason, Ms Bailey will send you a detailed response to your complaint, including any suggestions for resolving the matter. You will receive this within 3 months of the firm acknowledging receipt of your complaint.

Please note, if any of our invoices remain outstanding at this stage and we do not believe there are substantial grounds for your complaint as to warrant non-payment, we reserve our right to pursue such outstanding costs including through the Court process.

If You Are Not Happy With The Outcome

We will make every effort to resolve all complaints in a satisfactory manner. If you are not satisfied after you have received our detailed response and suggestions for resolving the matter, please let us know in writing and we will review the decision. This may happen in one of the following ways:

  • Sabrina Bailey, as the Investigating Partner, would review the decision personally within 7 days and write to you to explain the firm’s final position on the complaint, or
  • We will arrange for Louise Allard or someone else who is not connected with the complaint to review the decision and write to you to explain the firm’s final position on the complaint.

At this point our complaints procedure will be concluded. If you are still not satisfied, you can take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman for independent review.

Further Information

Please note that before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve the complaint with us first. Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman should ordinarily be made within six months of our written response to your complaint and no more than six years from the date of act/omission, or no more than three years from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.

Complaints about Invoices: If your complaint relates to an invoice, you may have a right to challenge the invoice by applying to the court for an assessment of your invoice under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. The Legal Ombudsman may not consider a complaint about an invoice if you have applied to the court for an assessment.

Complaints about behaviour: The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) can also help you if you are concerned about behaviour such as dishonesty, taking or losing your money or acts that could be considered as discrimination like treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.

You can find further information on the SRA website here: www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.

Contact Details

Allard Bailey Family Law

  • Sabrina Bailey: sabrina@allardbailey.com
  • Louise Allard: louise@allardbailey.com
  • Phone: 020 7993 2936
  • Address: Allard Bailey Family Law, 44 Southampton Buildings, London, WC2A 1AP

Legal Ombudsman

  • Visit: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
  • Phone: 0300 555 0333
  • Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
  • Address: Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ
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Jennifer has a diverse client base which has included high profile clients and their partners, members of the entertainment industry, other lawyers, entrepreneurs, city professionals and clients whose primary responsibility is caring for their children.

Jennifer holds the Law Society’s Family Law Accreditation and an LLM in Child Law. She is also a trained collaborative lawyer and a committed member of Resolution.

“We started this firm to do things differently so we’re delighted to be joined by Jennifer, whose ethos, pragmatic approach and experience fit so well with our vision.”

Sabrina Bailey, Joint Managing Partner

Click here to learn more about Jennifer, including examples of recent cases that she is able to discuss.

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Louise Allard, Joint Managing Partner of Allard Bailey:

“Despite the progress that has been made for the LGBT community in recent years, many people still view same-sex parenting with suspicion.  Sadly, children face bullying because of their same-sex parents and their parents often face stigma. We believe this stigma is unjustified and hope our video is a contribution to ending this.  It is intended to promote social inclusion, encouraging all children and those who influence them to accept differences in our society with toleration.”

The video has been released free on Stephen Fry’s YouTube Channel, Pindex, as an aid for schools that are introducing LGBT inclusive relationship education for the first time.

The government’s new relationships and sex education curriculum came into effect from September, requiring LGBT-inclusive lessons in secondary schools.  It stopped short of making LGBT+ inclusion lessons compulsory for primary schools. Instead, they are only “strongly encouraged” when teaching about families to include families with same sex parents.

Louise Allard said:

“We need to challenge the misconception that somehow being raised by same-sex parents is second best. The research clearly shows that children of same-sex couples are often happier and healthier, even when social and economic advantages were taken into account. Of course, nobody is suggesting one kind of gender combination is better than another, just that what matters for a child’s outcome at school is a loving and supporting home life.

It is disappointing that the government didn’t make teaching about LGBT+ families mandatory in primary schools as so many primary schools now have students with same-sex parents.  We hope those schools will choose to educate their population.”

It is hoped that many primary schools will still use the ‘No Outsiders’ programme developed by Andrew Moffat, the deputy headmaster of Parkfield Community School in Birmingham, which focuses on educating primary school children about the characteristics protected by the Equality Act, which includes sexual orientation.

The number of same-sex couple families in the UK increased from 152,000 in 2015 to 232,000 in 2018, a rise of 53.2 per cent.

Research suggests that an estimated two-thirds of children with same-sex parents experience some form of stigma due to their parents’ sexual orientation.**

Click to watch video on YouTube

*https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/oct/23/children-raised-by-same-sex-parents-do-as-well-as-their-peers-study-shows

** https://theconversation.com/kids-from-same-sex-families-fare-as-well-as-peers-or-better-28803%20

For further information contact Evette Pottinger.

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Through independent research, it has gathered the following feedback about the firm:

‘Allard Bailey was very efficient, transparent and supportive and clearly knew the ins and outs of the legal procedure. I felt that I was in very capable hands and was very pleased I had employed the team’

‘A specialist and boutique family law firm. The lawyers are extremely organised and attract high-quality work not through showy advertising or marketing strategies, but simply by being efficient and good at what they do’

‘Louise Allard dealt with my case. At all times she was very clear on my position and my options, explained things in everyday language, and was sympathetic and supportive’

For further information about The Legal 500 and its Family rankings please click here.

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When you run your own business, there will always be an overlap between your professional and personal life.  To ensure you can achieve both your business and personal aspirations, it is important that your solicitors fully understand how the decisions you make in your private life can impact your business interests.

Our team advises entrepreneurs, company directors and investors on matters in which their business and personal lives converge.  From succession and inheritance tax planning to divorce and separation, we help business owners maximise the effectiveness of their investments and protect their interests from adverse third parties.

You can join this year’s regional finals from the comfort of your own home or office.  Join us as we raise a glass and celebrate all things entrepreneurial on Wednesday 23rd September 2020.

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Sangeeta can advise on:

  • Preparation of tax efficient Wills
  • Power of Attorney, Deputyship Applications and Lasting Powers of Attorney
  • Protection of wealth from claims by adverse third parties
  • Probate and administration of estates
  • Inheritance and capital gains tax planning such as gifting, lifetime settlements and advice on ownership of a second home in UK or overseas
  • Creation and administration of Trusts
  • Disputes regarding Wills, trusts and probate including incapacity, undue influence and Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act 1975 claims.

For further information about Sangeeta and her experience please click here.

For an initial discussion about your situation, please call 020 7993 2936.

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For appointment enquiries call +44 (0)20 7993 2936 or email info@allardbailey.com

If you are not ready to speak to a solicitor, you can use our free family law portal to find out where you stand legally and the steps you could take to move forward when you wish to do so.

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The Legal 500 conducts independent research and has gathered the following feedback about the firm, which is featured in The Legal 500 United Kingdom 2020 edition:

‘The lawyers are highly experienced and knowledgeable, quite possibly better than the most famous city firms. At the same time the lawyers take a very pragmatic approach, and keep costs down, which is all that a client could ask for.’

‘Most of the team has experience of working at well-known large City firms. The team gives really specialist, high quality advice and representation on a much more accessible / good value basis compared to ‘magic circle’-type firms.’

‘The team comes across as very professional but very personable.’

For further information about The Legal 500 and its Family rankings please click here.

Legal Advice

If you would like to speak confidentially to our team of family lawyers, you can call 020 7993 2936 to schedule a no-obligation consultation or make a Contact Request here

If you are not yet ready to speak to a solicitor, you may wish to use our free family law portal to receive a Free Confidential Report outlining your position.

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For further information about The London Legal Walk, please visit London Legal Support Trust.

Legal Advice

If you would like to speak confidentially to our team of family lawyers you can call 020 7993 2936 to schedule a no-obligation consultation or make a Contact Request here

Alternatively, you can Get Started Online to receive a Free Confidential Report outlining your position.

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Sabrina Bailey, Joint Managing Partner of Allard Bailey Family Law, who customised Settify for the firm, said:

“We are committed to delivering a truly flexible service that meets the needs of our busy clients. Introducing Settify is an exciting development as it ensures that clients get the most out of their initial consultation, whilst keeping their costs down.”

Created by family lawyers and launched in Australia in 2017, Settify has won several awards for innovation. It has been adopted by more than 120 Australian firms since its inception, including most of the independently ranked ‘top tier’ and ‘pre-eminent’ family law practices. The platform launched in the UK in October 2018 and has already been adopted by some of the UK’s most well-regarded family lawyers. According to Settify’s CEO, Max Paterson:

“We are witnessing a shift in the attitudes and preferences of modern family law clients. They are increasingly used to getting things done online. Clients will choose firms that harness technology to provide a seamless experience, and embrace effective, efficient ways to progress their best interests. We’re proud to work with Allard Bailey, a firm which is breaking the mould to deliver that kind of true value to clients.”

Legal Advice

If you would like to speak confidentially to our team of family lawyers you can call 020 7993 2936 to schedule a no-obligation consultation or make a Contact Request here

Alternatively, you can Get Started Online to receive a Free Confidential Report outlining your position.

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