Eugene Davy and Justin Spain give Family Law Seminar in London
Recently Eugene Davy (Head of Family Department) and Justin Spain (Associate) gave a seminar in London to family lawyers there to highlight the differences between our two systems in how they deal with financial relief in separation and divorce cases.
There has been much talk of London being the divorce capital of the world and comment about the awards given in high profile cases such as that between Paul McCarthy and Heather Mills. However, it may be that in certain cases the parties have a choice of jurisdiction in which to get divorced and within the EU such a divorce will automatically be recognised in another such jurisdiction. It makes sense therefore to look at which jurisdiction is likely to be more favourable to one’s particular circumstances if you have a choice of jurisdiction, eg whether one is the dependent or non dependent spouse or whether it is a “big money” case. For example, generally speaking, a non dependent spouse who is very wealthy may well be better off separating in Ireland as opposed to England due to the fact that there is no principle of equal division of assets in Ireland as there is in England.
The Seminar was given at the offices of Gordon Dadds Solicitors, a specialist private client law firm in Mayfair, London. It was attended by leading family lawyers from firms such as Irwin Mitchell, Speechly Bircham, Charles Russell and Collyer Bristow. Eugene and Justin also met with other leading firms in London (Manches, Withers and Farrer & Co) to discuss similar issues with them.
Following the Seminar an article written by Eugene and Justin was published in International Family Law in June 2009. The article discusses the different approaches taken by the two jurisdictions to financial relief in separations and a copy can be downloaded from the Hayes Website.