Jennifer Headon

Jennifer is a Legal Director and Head of the International Family Law Team and leads the firm’s Modern Family Team.

She is described in the Legal 500 [UK 2024] directory as ‘being the right level of fierce and tenacious with the opposition, whilst having complete empathy and endless reassurance for the client’ and as having ‘niche expertise in international family law’.  Jennifer specialises in international and cross-jurisdictional matters, and she regularly co-advises alongside lawyers based in other jurisdictions, particularly the US and Canada. She is also often instructed by lawyers from other jurisdictions to give an opinion on English family law.

Jennifer has experience of dealing with complex financial remedy proceedings arising from divorce and civil partnership dissolution, including those with family businesses, tax issues, trusts (including offshore trusts), significant pensions and offshore companies. Jennifer also has experience of advising upon and drafting nuptial agreements (pre- and post-nuptial agreements) for HNW and UHNW clients, as well as advising upon cohabitation agreements and using various forms of alternate dispute resolution, including arbitration.

Uniquely, she continues to advise both in respect of financial matters but also in relation to complex private children matters. Her practice encompasses all elements of international child arrangements; including relocation applications, mirror orders and more general child arrangements for parents who live in different jurisdictions.

She has a growing practice advising upon legal issues affecting modern families, such as international private adoption, international surrogacy arrangements, declarations of parentage and donor/fertility law. She has contributed articles to Lexis®PSL, Yahoo! News, Good to Know and Jordan’s Online (as it then was). In April 2024, Wealth Briefing published Jennifer’s article ‘Trusts in Divorce Proceedings.‘

Experience & education

2023 Head of International Family Team, Birketts.

2022 joined Birketts as Legal Director.

2014 City boutique family law firm advising HNW and UHNW clients including international families and those in the public eye.

2012 Legal 500 London firm.

2012 admitted as a Solicitor.