Lucy Birch

Lucy is a Senior Associate in the Chelmsford Family Team.

Lucy joined Birketts in June 2024, having previously worked in the London office of a national specialist family law firm. Prior to this, since qualification, she has worked at several leading Tier 1 Legal 500 firms in Essex.

Lucy has a down to earth approach and a keen eye for detail. She is experienced in advising clients from all walks of life, including modern families, high net worth clients and international clients.

She has a particular interest in complex children matters, and often advises clients on cases with issues of parental alienation, substance abuse and domestic abuse.  Lucy regularly acts on behalf of grandparents to advise on contact arrangements for their grandchildren and she advises on special guardianship orders.

Further, Lucy is a specialist in private adoption cases and has advised many families on non-agency adoption matters, including step-parents, special guardians and private foster carers. She also advises clients on adoption matters with a foreign element, notably successfully obtaining a domestic adoption order in the UK for clients who originally adopted their child from The Gambia. She has advised clients all over the UK, with knowledge of many local court practices, working with various local authorities and adoption agencies.

Lucy’s cases regularly have an international element, and she has advised parents on complex relocation matters, including successfully representing clients to ensure the return of their child to the UK after abduction to a Hague Convention country. Lucy has advised clients on various cases in the High Court, including advising a father on the urgent registration and enforcement of a 1980 Hague Convention Order for summary return of the child to the UK.

Lucy also has a wealth of experience in advising clients on financial matters arising from separation. She is experienced in advising on complex financial remedy proceedings, including family businesses, intervenor issues and significant pensions. Lucy advocates for the use of all forms of non-court dispute resolution, including mediation and arbitration to try and resolve disputes without the need for litigation. Lucy is also experienced in drafting cohabitation agreements, pre and post-nuptial agreements, often involving cross-jurisdictional issues.

She was involved in successfully advising a husband in a reported case involving significant crypto currency and arguments of material non-disclosure of c£150million, securing a favourable outcome and obtaining a costs order against the wife for unreasonable litigation conduct. DH v RH (No3) (Final Hearing) [2024] EWFC 79 and DH v RH (No4 Costs) [2024] EWFC 114.

Lucy is an accredited specialist in adoption and private children matters. Lucy is also an author for the Law Society, and in 2024 has written a microcredential module on private adoption law.

Lucy is passionate about access to the profession and has been a mentor for the Social Mobility Foundation for several years.