Alex Carruthers

Spear’s Review

Alex Carruthers co-founded family law firm Hughes Fowler Carruthers in 2001 alongside business partners Pauline Fowler and Frances Hughes.

‘We have a track record of dealing with the most difficult and complex cases involving UHNW individuals,’ Carruthers tells Spear’s. ‘That’s been my bread and butter all my life.’ 

Carruthers works across all aspects of family law, taking on complex children and financial work, with cases often involving a cross-jurisdictional element. ‘We make sure that we do what we think is the best job for the client,’ he says. ‘We are very good at analysing what we think the client wants, how they want to resolve it at the end of the day, and getting a strategy to do that.

‘We’re not afraid of litigation, but it’s just one of the tools available to us.’

Adviser Profile

‘Very incisive’ and ‘absolutely top-rate’, Alex Carruthers is one of the few practitioners in the field highly regarded by ultra-high-net-worth individuals for a wide range of family law work. Whether negotiating complex settlements, litigating against multiple parties or dealing in cross-jurisdictional disputes, he is in the top tier. 

Highly commended for his ‘gilt-edged’ expertise, Carruthers is described as an extraordinarily good litigator and an ‘outstanding strategist’ who is ‘empathetic, practical and a pleasure to deal with’. He continues to be involved in a number of well-known long-running reported cases and others involving ultra-high-net-worth individuals. 

A qualified mediator and resolute litigator, Carruthers represents clients in cutting-edge legal cases and is a well-known figure in the High Court and Court of Appeal. He is known as ‘someone you go to with a really knotty problem’ and as a ‘feared litigator’. 

Carruthers has been consistently recognised as top tier in the leading legal and high-net-worth directories for many years. A source comments that he has ‘really good judgement on cases’, while another describes him as ‘sharp, incisive and astute ... tactically brilliant and extremely patient’. 

One commentator praises Carruthers for his ‘astute and brave approach to any problem’, continuing ‘he never takes a step backwards and leaves no angle unexplored or unexploited. A top choice for difficult finance cases.’ 

Carruthers is also a well-renowned commentator on family law, and has appeared on broadcast and in the national press discussing key issues at the heart of legal discourse.