James Pirrie

James recognises that all families are different and so there is no single, right solution for everyone – you will need the right process at the right time to have your best chance of the optimal outcome. James conducts litigation as an arbitrator, accredited mediator and collaborative lawyer.James can work within the one couple – one lawyer model and as a negotiator or advocate, engaging a wide range of allied professionals and resources to find the right resources for you to secure the right outcome in the best way possible.

James has built particular expertise around:

• Court procedure & experts
• Dispute resolution and negotiation
• Enforcement
• Companies, tax, investments and pensions
• Spousal periodical payments
• Child support and provision under Schedule 1 of the Children Act
• Meeting the needs of children during the transition and in the aftermath; and
• Connecting to other specalists that clients may need to manage their situations in the best way possible.

He writes and presents on these topics and has responsibility for knowledge development, precedents and training at FLiP.

The leading legal directories Chambers UK, Chambers HNW and The Legal 500 UK have all listed James as a top ranked, leading individual in the field of family law and family mediation for many years.

Legal 500 UK ranks James in its “Hall of Fame” noting that he is “the leader in Child Maintenance and Schedule 1 cases – knows more than any practitioner – barrister or solicitor – and works phenomenally hard with immense energy” ; “truly outstanding“; and “breathtakingly knowledgeable”.  The latest editions comments  “James is one of the doyens in the field of family law. He manages to tread a line between being kind, but also relentlessly pursuing the best deal for his clients. There isn’t really anyone like him.”

Comments on James’ family mediation expertise in the 2025 edition include: “James Pirrie is a stand out for innovation. He has now brought his towering intellect to his practice as a mediator. He will go the extra mile to seek out the best way of resolving matters for his clients.”

Ranking James as a Leading Individual for both family law and as a family mediator. Chambers HNW 2025 comments: “James is pragmatic, creative and hard-working. He is client-focused and delivers an outstanding level of client care.”

Previous editions note “James has fantastic client care skills”, “James Pirrie is always doing the best for the client, having rational, sensible conversations” and  “James is deservedly widely known for his skill and expertise both as a lawyer and as a mediator. He combines a fearsome intellect with a sensible, caring outlook.”

James has also been ranked as a Recommended Family Lawyer for HNW and UHNW individuals in the Spear’s Family Law Index for a number of years, most recently in 2024. The 2023 edition of UK Best Lawyers has also ranked James as a ‘Best Lawyer for family/matrimonial work’. James was named Family Law Commentator of the Year 2023 in the prestigious Lexis Nexis Family Law Awards.

James is recognised throughout the country for his leadership in alternative dispute resolution.

• He was one of the first family lawyers to train as a family arbitrator in financial issues, one of the first to train in children issues and he is a member of the online resource Family Arbitrator. He has a thriving arbitration practice, dealing with cases at hearings and on paper.
• James is a Law Society accredited mediator, having qualified in 1989, and is also qualified in the commercial model of mediation and direct child consultation.
• He was instrumental to introducing collaborative law to Europe and was the first non-American director of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals, a membership which he continues to hold.
• He developed the first “private FDR”, designed the round-table negotiations protocol and has been a promoter of multi-disciplinary solutions, involving accountants, financial planners and similar experts.
• James’s initiatives also led to the introduction of the “Parenting after Parting” programme which seeks to bring the children involved in a divorce or separation centre-stage.

James is very well known for his expertise in the law relating to child support with a commentator noting that James is “undoubtedly this country’s expert on child support“. James has given evidence in person before the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee to talk about the practical impact of the introduction of the new Child Maintenance Scheme and he is a regular contributor to Nuffield and the Creating Paths to Family Justice Programme.  He is a regular contributor to government enquiries. Chambers HNW 2022 comments: “ James Pirrie is the king of child support; what he doesn’t know about child support isn’t worth knowing”…. “He’s remarkable; he’s thoughtful, analytical and considered in his advice, but also creative and novel.”

James has undertaken the financial planners’ training (up to FPC and G10) and has written for and delivered lectures to the legal and accountancy professions on a range of financial/ matrimonial issues. He writes and lectures on conflict resolution, negotiation, child support, financial provision for children (Schedule 1 cases), enforcement, emergency procedures and financial remedies. James is accredited in finance and cohabitation cases by Resolution and has set the child financial accreditation paper. James has contributed to a range of publications including as lead-author of  “Safe Routes to Child Support (2011), “Claims under schedule 1 (2013) and (2023), “Towards the Light: A Way Through Divorce and Separation” (2017), a handbook for individuals going through a divorce and separation, and he co-authored Resolution’s Guidance Note: First Directions Appointments (2018) and Instruction of Accountants Experts (2018). James is a Trustee of The Family Mediation Trust.

You can view James’ mediation profile here.

James’s goal is to provide better beginnings for his clients. He summarises his approach as follows:

• Committed
• Available
• Hard-working
• Technical
• Far-sighted and strategic
• Well-connected
• Professional and discreet

The Promise:

The client is first in all that we do. We promise to recognise the trust that you place in us and:

• Help you clarify your priorities, explore all the options as to how they might best be achieved and help you to identify the way forward
• Give clear advice as to your rights
• Identify the best people, services and teams who will help you to secure your goals (even if it is not us); and
• Take no further step without your say so – you are in control but where steps are taken to work with you efficiently and effectively.

James’s work includes:

• Acting on various CSA (now CMS) cases involving applications to the Upper Tribunal.
• Acting as a mediator in a wide range of disputes from substantial financial issues between city couples to the equally challenging high-needs & scant-resources cases and was identified as an acknowledged expert by Mostyn J in his judgment TW v TM [2015] when recommending mediation in a never-married finance case.

James’s reported cases include:

• WZ v HZ [2024] WFC 407 (B) – Represented a husband in a case involving the Thwaite Jurisdiction and Possession Orders in the Family Court so that he could: (i) take possession of and remove the wife from the family home after she refused to co-operate with a court ordered sale; (ii) vary downward the amount and term of the wife’s spousal maintenance; (iii) adjust the wife’s housing fund provision in the first financial order to compensate the husband for legal fees resulting from the wife’s obstructive behaviour.
• Advising the wife on the ground-breaking case of McFarlane v McFarlane which went to the House of Lords and which established the now common approach to dealing with uncertain income by percentage, banding and applying a cap.
• Acting on numerous arbitrations, including S v S [2014], the first judicial announcement on the nature and effect of financial arbitration orders.