By Paul Taylor
IT is one of the perils of Marilyn Stowe’s job that she has awkward encounters with people she has, in the strictly legal sense, taken to the cleaners.

For instance, there was the day she was about to undergo an operation, met the anaesthetist and realised to her horror that she had just represented his wife in their divorce.

“I said `Hello, am I going to recover from this operation?’,” she recalls. Luckily, the two went on to become firm friends.

And there were the uncomfortable moments in a Leeds gym when she was recognised by prospective clients or by the bitter ex-spouses against whom she had acted.

“People were either coming up to me and saying `Can I just ask you a question?’ or saying (grimly) `It’s her’. It was awful so I left,” she says.

It was a public relations man, the disgruntled husband of a former client, who first referred to Stowe as `The Barracuda’.

“I was quite impressed really,” she says, happily embracing this free bit of PR. “I’ve been called a lot worse.”

In truth, the Barracuda tag does not fit.

Down-to-earth

Softly-spoken, down-to-earth and, as other journalists have observed, with a look of Celine Dion about her, Marilyn Stowe is a long way from the power-suited harridan that nickname suggests.

To read the rest of the interview, click here.

An open letter to Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, Prime Minister.

Dear Prime Minister,

Joshua Rozenberg interviews the Chairman of the Law Commission in today’s Daily Telegraph. Three family law matters are touched upon: reform of ancillary relief law, pre-nuptial agreements and cohabitation law reform.

I note that there will be no reform of the law in relation to the division of a couple’s assets. The courts will continue to apply the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 and I’m pleased about that. As a family law solicitor, I approve of the discretion given to the judges: it helps couples across the country who don’t have “big money”. I am very much against the equal division of assets as in other countries, because there are occasions when 50:50 cannot be fair. No two cases are the same.

I also note that the Law Commission will be examining the legal status and enforceability of pre-nuptial agreements. I can’t think why valuable public resources are going to be spent helping the very rich to protect their assets. Continue reading »

Meet law student Abigail Black, who is working with us until the autumn. She has already secured a training contract with a major USA law firm based in London; from what I have seen, she will go far.

Abigail was telling me about some of the challenges faced by law students in search of good work placements, and I suggested that she write a “guest blog” about her experiences. We hope that her advice will be of use to other students.

Forget the endless university exams, the demanding coursework and the time-consuming dissertation; one of the biggest challenges facing law students today is working out where to go and what to do after graduation. Faced with an increasingly saturated and competitive legal marketplace, it is becoming more and more difficult for law graduates to make informed decisions about which type of law firm holds the key to that elusive career.

I must admit that until recently, “work experience” was a phrase that struck dread and dismay into my heart. I undertook my first placement after my GCSE exams. Two weeks later, I had established a firm friendship with the photocopier and could recite the tea and coffee preferences of every member of staff - but I had learned little else.

Fast forward a few years and, armed with a 2:1 law degree, I was excited but nervous when the opportunity for work experience at Stowe Family Law arose. My expectations were high - but I feared that, once again, I would find myself left none the wiser at the placement’s end. Fortunately, this hasn’t been the case. Continue reading »

Proposed legal rights for cohabitants have one reader reaching for the panic button.

As regular readers are aware, I hold strong views about the Government’s reluctance to introduce new legislation for cohabiting couples. I believe that cohabitants should be allowed to put their relationship before the court in the same way that divorcing couples can. 

Not everyone agrees with me. One reader has contacted me to argue that the law should not be changed. I think he raises some interesting and pertinent points about cohabitation and remarriage, and I would like to explore his case in more detail.

Continue reading »

Or, as we lawyers put it, the “Objective of the Court in financial arrangements is to achieve an outcome which is fair”

Two round trips to London in the lasts seven days has involved two 5am starts, four train journeys, and a stimulating but challenging work schedule in our vibrant capital.

I enjoy London very much- particularly the buzz of the lawyers rushing up and down Fleet Street and Chancery Lane into and out of the nearby courts offices and barristers chambers. I love the wine bars and coffee houses the lawyers gather in and above all I am fascinated by the history of this glorious city, still obvious in the “old world” buildings and street names. As a lawyer I’m so proud to take part in this daily spectacle, but also very glad to be able to escape back to the hills of Yorkshire to breathe the fresh air and saturate the sight of the cherry blossom during an hour’s early morning run on the lush green “Stray” in Harrogate, before starting work at Stowe Family Law in a former Victorian Court House, overlooking another tiny, but pretty park.

  Continue reading »

 Using a “friend” as a spy is the height of sneakiness…

In case you missed it: click here for my earlier countdown of the Top Ten Dirty Divorce Tricks, numbers 10 to 6.

Here are numbers 5 to 1:

• 5. Spending money wildly, as a form of “payback”. Some spurned wives choose to take revenge by spending as much as they can on their husbands’ credit cards before the husbands realise what is going on. One client of mine with an Amex Centurion card received a credit card bill for £30,000 for jewellery purchased by his wife from Cartier. A further £20,000 had been taken off his card and to pay her lawyer’s bills. In such cases, the household bills may well be left unpaid. The court does have power to add back wasted monies, so all is not lost.

• 4. Assaulting the spouse and the new partner. This tends to prove much more satisfying if it takes place in public, thus causing the maximum possible embarrassment. I was involved with one case in which the wife was found to have hired a hitman against her husband. In another case, the wife threw a brick through the front window of her dentist husband’s surgery. This was a whammy in more ways than one as the glass shattered all over the practice nurse - also the husband’s new lover - who had been sitting at her desk by the window! Continue reading »

Covert operations to uncover your partner’s secrets

For certain people, divorce - or even the thought of divorce - brings their very worst qualities to the fore.

Divorce is an emotional rollercoaster. When people are really hurting, particularly if they have been “swapped” for somebody else, self-preservation becomes all-important. But for some, such a state of mind leads to all-consuming hatred, malice and a desire for vengeance.

After 25 years as a divorce solicitor, nothing surprises me anymore. Drawing upon my own experiences - some of them eye-opening - I have compiled a countdown of the top ten dirty divorce tricks. 

Continue reading »

With a forensic accountant as an advisor, a client can be given a swift measured opinion. 

Here at Stowe Family Law we have our own in-house forensic accountancy department. It happened more by accident than design.

About four years ago, I had lunch with a partner at a well-known accountancy firm. I had encountered him professionally on a number of occasions, when he had acted for our clients and against them. I was impressed, as I knew local barristers were, by his sensible, moderate and economic approach. He didn’t waste time and money asking questions that made no difference to the outcome. He was good at giving evidence and his concise opinions were respected by the court. 

As we had lunch it dawned on both of us that we could work together, to offer a novel service to our family law clients that other firms did not. We shook hands there and then. This was how the accountant in question, Nick White, came to join us. It was as simple as that. I liked him, I trusted him and I trusted him to advise our clients. The arrangement has worked very well, and Nick White now heads our flourishing forensic accountancy team.

It means that when clients come to see us, there is no frustrating wait for financial information before we can advise on tactics. Instead, we can begin work immediately. This is particularly pertinent when we have to consider a freezing order (known as a Worldwide Mareva) against a client’s spouse. In such a case, time is of the essence.

With access to Companies House and global databases, Nick can download information, analyse it immediately and advise us where to concentrate our efforts. He can tell us if the client is likely to be chasing rainbows, or if there really is something worth looking at. He can provide immediate advice about the likely scale and nature of a case.

On occasions, a client’s understanding of a spouse’s financial situation does not match the reality. With a forensic accountant as an advisor, the client can be given a swift measured opinion at the first or second interview.

Similarly, our forensic accountants can provide advice about the likely value of a client’s business for the purpose of a divorce.  Continue reading »

In my experience there can sometimes be “darker motives” behind a permanent move to sunny climes.

The Institute of Family Policy has announced that across Europe, divorce rates are rising. The think-tank’s latest study, which is out today, has concluded that marriages here are breaking down at the rate of one every 30 seconds.

With one million couples divorcing every year, the number of people choosing to marry has fallen sharply: between 1980 and 2006, the marriage rate fell by 24 per cent.

However, my attention has been caught by a couple of statistics buried deep within the report.

Just four countries - Spain, Germany, Britain and France - account for 60 per cent of divorces in Europe. The three countries with the highest rates of divorce are Spain, Belgium and Luxembourg; there, two out of every three marriages are breaking down.

These are rather alarming figures - and it is interesting that Spain pops up on both these lists. After all, it wasn’t so long ago that this country had one of the lowest divorce rates in Europe.

To my mind, there are a number of reasons why. Firstly, the divorce rate in Spain has risen sharply since the government there introduced an “express divorce” bill in 2005, which has made divorces quick and easy to obtain. Secondly, I find that the popular view of Spain as a deeply conservative, religious country is outdated. Like its European neighbours, Spain has moved with the times - and the social stigma that was once bestowed upon divorced women has been significantly reduced.

One final reason springs to mind. My practice, Stowe Family Law, specialises in international family law. We have noticed that over the past few years, our number of expat clients - many of whom are based in Spain - has soared. Continue reading »

“There is so much more out there” such a person might say. “Ditch him or her, and make the most of your life.”

A constant concern of mine is the worrying role that “friends” can play in divorce. If I hear about a “friend” or if a “friend” appears in my office alongside my client, warning bells will ring.

In my experience, “friends” come in all shapes and sizes and are always loyal, sympathetic and helpful - at least on the surface.

However, clients often complain that their spouses’ “friends” have encouraged the breakdown of a marriage. They speak with anxiety - and often downright hostility - about the roles played by these people in the lives of their spouses. In some cases, “friends’” lifestyles appear to be incompatible with married life.

Such “friends” are often newly acquired and may be divorced themselves. They usually juggle hectic social diaries. For a spouse plodding along in a dull, lifeless marriage, this sort of person can hold a magnetic attraction.

“There is so much more out there” such a person might say. “Ditch him or her, and make the most of your life.” Following nights out together, glamorous lunches and holidays away, even newer “friends” may appear. Continue reading »