Partner, Private Family Law Team
Paul has been a specialist family law expert for over 34 years, starting his career with Machins Solicitors LLP in 1991 and qualifying as a solicitor in 1993. He became a partner in 1997 and has dealt with family law related work ever since. During his long career, Paul has developed expertise in all areas of family law including highly complex financial matters, cohabitation disputes, private and public children’s law cases and domestic abuse cases. He has always undertaken his own advocacy whenever possible, including multiple day final court hearings in what was formerly the Magistrates and County Court’s (now the Family Court) and the High Court and continues to do so.
Due to the breadth of his legal knowledge and experience, pragmatism, ability to represent a client objectively and the sheer number of cases he has dealt with, Paul is able to analyse a case at the outset, identify the issues to be addressed and provide accurate legal advice at the earliest opportunity. That frequently leads to a resolution without the need for court proceedings, avoiding long delays and unnecessary legal costs. He takes an analytical approach to his work, applying calm logic while understanding the emotional nature of family law. He seeks to engage the other party and their solicitor to take a collaborative approach to a case. He always strides to work openly and constructively to find solutions that benefit both sides, which allows everyone to move on that much sooner and lessen the impact on clients and those around them.
If court proceedings are required Paul’s clients rarely asked to be represented by barristers. They recognise the benefit he brings to court cases in particular, providing continuity of legal representation from the outset to conclusion. Separation can be a difficult time for many and the knowledge that they will have the same solicitor helps to lessen anxiety, avoids repetition, allows a professional relationship to develop and will almost always provide significant cost savings. He is, when required, a straight talking tenacious litigator with countless court days of direct experience of cross examination of witnesses and presentation of cases, more often than not with the other party or parties being represented by a barrister and a solicitor.
Paul’s drive to achieve the best possible outcome for his clients remains undiminished from the moment he first entered a court room in 1991. A healthy body means a healthy mind and to keep himself as fit as that first moment, Paul runs every single day and has done for many years. He has taken part in well over a 100 marathons and ultra-marathons. His love of running and razor sharp drafting skills combined in recent years and led to his writing two bestselling running related books. He has coached a local running club for over eight years raising over £40,000 in the process for a local Hospice.
A family court has ruled that a father should not currently have supervised contact with his two children, finding that restarting face‑to‑face contact would pose too great a risk of emotional harm.
A High Court judge has found that a wealthy husband deliberately tried to prevent his wife from accessing legal support during their divorce negotiations, contributing to what the court described as an unfair and coercive process.
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This article explores a Family Court ruling emphasising the role of the primary carer in divorce settlements.
Victims of domestic abuse will no longer be cross-examined by their attackers in family and civil courts under new measures which have now come into force. The change is part of the government’s Domestic Abuse Act (2021). It places a legal bar on parties cross-examining each other where there is evidence of abuse. It follows
The Family Court has refused to return a four-year-old boy to his father in the United States even though his mother had taken him to England unlawfully. The case involved a mother who had emigrated to the United States and acquired dual citizenship. The father was a US citizen. The couple had separated before their