Frances Hughes

Spear’s Review

‘I'm prepared to say what I think,’ says Frances Hughes, co-founder and partner at specialist family law firm Hughes Fowler Carruthers. A well-established ‘Queen Bee’ of family law, she is famed for acting in big-money cases and is described by a colleague as ‘a powerhouse of the family law world’.

Many of Hughes’ clients are internationally minded, and she therefore has a strong working knowledge of cross-jurisdictional matters and complex asset structures. A smaller, but no less important, part of her practice centres on children law. ‘In relation to children’s issues, it’s important to have a lot of contacts in terms of psychologists and counsellors,’ says Hughes, who adds that such cases are very intrusive when they have to go to court. Instead, she argues that there are a variety of routes to settlement.

While some may know Hughes as an expert litigator, she is keen to emphasise that she specialises in ‘settling very high-net-worth cases, sometimes for famous people, sometimes for people nobody has ever heard of. But what I like to think I’m good at is sorting things out, and avoiding hearings.’

Adviser Profile

Described as ‘peerless, a superstar and a fearless litigator who consistently achieves fantastic results in cases that are too close to call’, ‘master tactician’ Frances Hughes is one of a handful of top divorce lawyers who dominate the field in London. Hughes has ‘total commitment to her clients’ and inspires ‘enormous confidence’ with them, and is recognised as a pre-eminent practitioner in family law. 

Hughes is routinely instructed by ultra-high-net-worth clients for her ‘gilt-edged’ expertise in all aspects of family law work, ranging from divorce and matrimonial finance matters valued in the billions, to complex international children cases. She is also a senior mediator, and has been a member of Resolution since its inception. 

She acts in cases across a wide spectrum of jurisdictions and professions, dealing with hedge fund owners as often as Hollywood stars and has many reported cases to her name, both financial and children. A consistent presence in some of the most high-profile and leading reported cases, Hughes has been a starred lawyer in all legal and high-net-worth directories for many years. 

‘What is consistent about her,’ comments one source, ‘is that she can win a case that no one else can, because from the get-go she has a strategic vision of where the case will go.’ Another describes Hughes as ‘a force to be reckoned with,’ continuing that ‘she is direct, straightforward and great at handling the most complex and tricky cases. Her ability to talk straight to clients is impressive.’ 

Outside of work, Frances has a keen interest in the arts. She is a musician and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.