Keith Schilling, Senior Partner
Schillings’ family department is led by Keith Schilling, the founder and senior partner of the firm, who in 2002 represented Shan Lambert in her successful appeal, achieving the first 50/50 split of assets in a “big money” divorce. This case set legal precedent being the first case in England in which a wife was awarded half the marital assets in a “Big Money” divorce settlement. The 2002 ruling by the Court of Appeal was a landmark decision, recognising the work of wives as homemakers.
Keith advises client in relation to a broad range of family matters including financial disputes and disputes concerning children. In May 2008, Keith won a major privacy case in the Court of Appeal for the son of Harry Potter author JK Rowling. This case effectively establishes a law of privacy for children where the parents wish to protect their children from intrusive photography by the paparazzi.
Keith Schilling said about the growing family department “in the last few years we have seen a significant increase in the demand for advice from high net worth and high profile individuals in connection with matters relating to divorce, often involving multiple jurisdictions, children and most notably pre- and post-nuptial agreements.”
Rachel Atkins, Partner
Rachel Atkins is a litigator with expertise in reputation protection and matrimonial law. She practices reputation protection and commercial dispute resolution for corporate organisations, entrepreneurs and high-profile individuals from both the business world and entertainment industry.
As part of the firm’s family and matrimonial practice, Rachel successfully acted for an applicant father (an international celebrity) in his application in the leading test case before the President of the family division on the rights of celebrities to exclude the press in the interests of preserving his child’s privacy. The case established new procedural guidelines for applications to exclude the media and, importantly, recognised that in certain circumstances the privacy interests of the adult parties, not just those of the child, could justify an order that the media be excluded. Re Child X (Residence and Contact – Rights of Media Attendance).
She has also successfully represented Manchester United and England striker Wayne Rooney and his wife Coleen on a number of occasions with particular success in a libel case against The Sun and the News of the World. The newspapers agreed to pay damages and publish prominent apologies to the football star. Rachel acted for the former editor of The Daily Mirror, Piers Morgan, in a dispute with the newspaper in 2004.
Rachel’s command of both privacy and matrimonial law means she is well-placed in handling matrimonial work on behalf of clients who are in the public eye, and whose status demands expert handling of the media in the wake of a relationship breakdown.
“Our family team does not ‘fight for the sake of fighting’. It understands the emotional journey that husbands, wives and children make during a marital breakdown”
David Greer, Associate
David has extensive experience of acting for both husbands and wives in high value financial claims following relationship breakdown, often involving high profile individuals. David is also experienced in dealing with disputes in relation to children including child maintenance claims involving high net worth and high profile fathers and applications for residence and contact orders.
David has been involved in a number of cases involving the enforcement of financial orders in foreign jurisdictions. David also advises clients in relation to pre-marital agreements (prenuptial agreements); post-marital agreements and cohabitation agreements.
Utilising Schillings’ expertise in privacy law, David has wide experience of applications for privacy injunctions in the context of family proceedings. David acted for the successful applicant father in the leading test case on the rights of celebrities to exclude the press from hearings concerning their children: Re Child X (Residence and Contact – Rights of Media Attendance).
Davina Hay, Associate
Davina is a litigator with expertise in Matrimonial law. She advises on separation, divorce and ancillary relief, jurisdictional disputes, multi-jurisdictional divorce cases involving significant assets and enforcement issues.
Davina is accustomed to representing high profile and high net worth individuals in relation to all financial matters following the breakdown of a marriage or relationship, and in resolving financial and contact disputes pertaining to children. She also advises on private children matters including leave to remove from the jurisdiction, residence, prohibited steps and specific issues.
Davina’s experience in acting on behalf of high profile and high net worth individuals often requires a thorough command of privacy and defamation law. High net worth individuals and those in the public eye regularly discover that their personal lives, details of the breakdown of their relationship or dissolution of their marriage are leaked to the press or disseminated by the media. Davina is well placed in handling not only matters pertaining to divorce and ancillary relief, but also in dealing with the overlap that arises with aspects of privacy and defamation law. She is skilled and successful in obtaining injunctive relief not only to prevent intentional dissipation of marital assets by an estranged spouse, but also in preventing publication of defamatory allegations that arise in the context of divorce proceedings.
Before joining Schillings, Davina trained and qualified at Mischon de Reya where she spent six years acting for a number of actors, entrepreneurs and international clients. She brings with her a comprehensive knowledge and experience as a litigator.
Schillings
+44(0)20 7034 9000
www.schillings.co.uk
legal@schillings.co.uk