Elizabeth Hicks

Elizabeth is a director at Family Law in Partnership. She specialises in all areas of family law and has a particular focus in advising HNW and UHNW individuals on complex cross jurisdictional issues of family, matrimonial and trusts law.

Elizabeth’s work includes divorce, contested financial remedy cases and asset protection, often involving international aspects. Elizabeth also advises on complicated private Children Act cases and Pre and Post Marital Agreements with both domestic and international aspects. Elizabeth’s clients include husbands and wives, cohabitants and sometimes children. They come from a range of backgrounds and include entrepreneurs, City professionals and various high profile individuals and their spouses and partners.

As a trained collaborative lawyer, Elizabeth is experienced in using the collaborative process to resolve family law matters. She often prepares Pre and Post Marital Agreements using the collaborative process including those agreements which have an international aspect. You can learn more about Elizabeth’s specialism in collaborative pre-nups in this video here.

Elizabeth is ranked as a leading expert in family/matrimonial law by all the leading legal directories with Legal 500 UK 2024 remarking that Elizabeth is “at the top of her game” and Chambers HNW 2023 noting: “Hicks is one of the great family lawyers of her generation”.

The Legal 500 UK has ranked Elizabeth in its Hall of Fame of Leading Individuals in family law for many years with recent comments including: “Elizabeth Hicks is at the top of her game. Fiercely loyal to, and protective of, her clients, they feel supported and extremely well represented as a result. She is not afraid to stand her ground and delivers results time after time”. Earlier editions note: “Elizabeth Hicks is a true star of her generation….a standout practitioner. She is the whole package, technically good, has warmth in abundance and is completely committed to her clients.” 

Ranking Elizabeth in Band 1 for Family/Matrimonial work Chambers HNW 2023 comments: “Hicks is one of the great family lawyers of her generation.” and  “Elizabeth has always been and continues to be a brilliant litigator. She will not miss a trick.” Earlier editions note: “Her awareness of clients’ needs and determination to follow them set her apart from other lawyers in the market.”

Elizabeth has been named as a Top Recommended Family Lawyer in The Spear’s 500 Guide for many years. The 2023 edition of UK Best Lawyers has also named Elizabeth as ‘Lawyer of the Year 2023′.

Elizabeth is a fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers and has been actively involved in arranging a number of their Education programmes. She is a member of Resolution, the Creative Divorces Collaborative Pod and the London Welsh Lawyers Association.

Elizabeth has spoken at numerous conferences and is often interviewed by the press on key family issues. She has featured in Tatler, the International Family Offices Journal, Citywealth and the Law Society Gazette amongst others.

Elizabeth was shortlisted and received the Silver award in the CityWealth PowerWomen Mentor of the Year 2020. As the only member from her family to go to University she is keen to demonstrate that success in life is about what you know and not who you know. She currently chairs LEDLET, a charitable association whose President is Lord Justice Lloyd Jones, which provides opportunities for 17 year old underprivileged children from Wales to spend time with lawyers in Cardiff and London.

Elizabeth is a native English and Welsh speaker, and is proficient in French. She is a trained Mental Health First Aider.

Elizabeth’s recent cases include:

• Acting for a multi millionaire on an international pre nuptial agreement using the collaborative process. Elizabeth instructed lawyers in 4 other countries in order to prepare a pre nuptial agreement with which both parties were happy and which, if ever challenged, would be upheld in numerous different European countries.
• Acting for the wife of an entrepreneur who was struggling to accept the marriage was over and who failed to provide the financial information needed to enable a settlement to be reached. Forensic accountants were instructed to value the husband’s business and various court orders made against him to provide disclosure. Elizabeth was able to negotiate a financial settlement which provided her client with financial security for life.
• Acting for a mother who wanted to relocate her child temporarily to another European country. The father applied for an urgent injunction preventing her from doing so. Elizabeth successfully negotiated terms on most matters and the Judge found in the mother’s favour on the few remaining issues. The mother and son were able to relocate temporarily 2 days after the court hearing.

Elizabeth’s reported cases include:

• LMZ and AMZ  [2024] EWFC 26 in which she acted for the husband in a case concerning financial provision following a long marriage where virtually all of the wealth had accrued long before the parties had married.
• Acting for an international multi-millionaire at first instance and in the Court of Appeal on the confidentiality and privacy of family law proceedings – Clibbery-v- Allan-[2001] 2 FLR 819; Clibbery-v- Allen [no 2] EWCA Civ45.
• Acting at first instance and in the Court of Appeal on the issue of joinder of third parties to financial remedy proceedings and whether the applicable rules were the Family Proceedings Rules or the Civil Procedure Rules – Goldstone –v- Goldstone [2011] EWCA Civ 39.
• Acting for the beneficiary wife of 11 discretionary trusts in a short marriage case with one child where the husband argued unsuccessfully that they were a resource such that they should have an impact on the level of financial provision she received – G –v-G [2012] EWHC 167 (Fam).
• Acting for the appellate wife in the Court of Appeal in Ahmed –v- Mustafa [2014] EWCA Civ 277 concerning the validity of an Order made in England and Wales preventing the wife from being able to pursue her divorce in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Having qualified as a solicitor in 1995, Elizabeth joined Kingsley Napley where she became a partner in 2001, before joining Irwin Mitchell where she spent over ten years as Head of Family in London. Elizabeth joined FLiP from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner where she was Head of Family Asset Protection.