Gillian Bishop

Gillian currently practises as an arbitrator for children issues drawing on the considerable depth and breadth of her experience as a family lawyer to deliver outcomes for families. She also guides prospective clients to the specialists at FLiP best placed to support their family law needs.

The leading legal directories Legal 500 UK, Chambers HNW and Chambers UK have named Gillian as a top ranked family lawyer for many years with The Legal 500 also ranking Gillian as a leading family mediator: she is “a star lawyer”, “vastly experienced“, “always able to see the bigger picture” and “she literally wrote the book on collaborative law.” Chambers UK 2021 comments: “She is one of the most innovative and influential family law solicitors of her time. She has redefined the practice.” It goes on to say: “she is a real doyenne in the development of collaborative family law.” Chambers HNW 2023 have named Gillian as a senior statesperson commenting “Gillian Bishop is a leading light in promoting the emotional needs of clients and creating family lawyers that are more attuned to meeting those needs.”

Gillian has appeared in the Spear’s 500 Index of the top family lawyers for a number of years. Spears comments: “Unassuming and personable….well-known and respected by peers (and appreciated by clients) for her empathy and expertise, she is experienced in the multi-jurisdictional repercussions of HNW relationship breakdown…. also a specialist in complex private law children’s matters.” The 2023 edition of UK Best Lawyers has also ranked Gillian as one of the best lawyers for family/matrimonial work.

Gillian won the Citywealth PowerWomen Career Achievement Award 2017 and was named Family Law Partner of the Year in the prestigious LexisNexis Family Law Awards 2018. She is listed in The Legal 500’s 2020 and 2021 “Hall of Fame” for both family law and family mediation. The Hall of Fame highlights individuals who have received constant praise by clients for continued excellence and who are at the pinnacle of the profession. In 2020 Gillian was shortlisted in the Law Society Excellence Awards in the Lifetime Achievement category. Gillian is also a Law Care champion.

Gillian is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and is on the Resolution training faculty for collaborative lawyers. She is the author of “A Client’s Guide to Collaborative Divorce – Putting Your Family First” (2010).

Gillian’s recent cases have included:

• Gillian represented a client with substantial trust assets. The negotiations were complicated by a dispute about the extent of the wealth. Nevertheless a settlement was reached which kept the trust assets intact without having to make an application to the court.
• Acted for the heir of a multi-million pound estate in relation to his pre nuptial agreement. Negotiations were concluded to ensure the estate was protected from potential claims in the event of a divorce.
• Gillian acted collaboratively for the wife of an international businessman enabling the wife to retain the lion’s share of the substantial liquid capital assets. The case was complex as it involved assets in several jurisdictions with associated tax considerations and involved working closely with the parties’ personal tax advisers.
• Acted collaboratively for the CEO of a global corporation involving a multi-million pound estate enabling the case to be kept out of the public gaze for the benefit of the whole family.
• Gillian has extensive experience in acting for parents who wish to relocate (or prevent relocation) with their children to another jurisdiction. Recent cases have involved potential relocations to Sweden, Australia and New Zealand

Gillian’s reported cases include:

• YM v NM [2020] EWFC 13. The case provides the test for Maintenance Pending Suit applications made before the determination of a set aside application of a (clean break) consent order. The Judge held that the Court should be slow to grant interim relief where the ultimate entitlement to such relief remains in dispute. The Court must be satisfied that the applicant is likely to succeed in the set aside application. The case also reaffirmed the test for applying for a freezing injunction.
• Representing the wife in the reported case of JL v SL (No 1) [2014] EWCH 3658 (Fam) where Gillian successfully argued that the wife’s inheritance should be ring-fenced against claims from the husband notwithstanding a degree of intermingling of the inherited funds.