Spear’s Review

Formerly a barrister at 4PB, Alex Verdan KC’s move to Stewarts in September 2025 was ‘an opportunity he couldn’t turn down’.

‘Very few KCs have moved over to become partners in top firms,’ he tells Spear’s. ‘Stewarts is a firm that I have worked with for many, many years and have rated for a long time.’

Verdan now heads up the children practice at Stewarts and is widely regarded as one of the top silks for complex private children work, including cases involving allegations of abuse, arrangements disputes and international relocations.

The firm’s clients, who Verdan says are used to a ‘Rolls-Royce service’, are ‘very happy to have in-house counsel involved from the beginning, even if we don’t necessarily go to court’. This is further bolstered by Verdan’s role as an arbitrator and his plans to expand the arbitration practice so that clients have full access to the suite of non-court dispute resolution options.

Notable cases

• Tickle & Anor v The BBC & Ors [2025] EWCA Civ 42
  
• G (Children) (Supervised Contact) [2023] EWCA Civ 1453
  
• LKM v NPM [2023] EWFC 118

Adviser Profile

Alex Verdan KC is head of Stewarts’ children team and is widely regarded as one of the leading figures in children law. With more than 35 years’ experience, he specialises in the most complex and sensitive private law children cases, including intractable disputes, international relocation and matters involving serious welfare concerns, often alongside criminal proceedings or contested expert evidence.

Described by Chambers and Partners as ‘a superstar of the family law world’ and ‘the crème de la crème of children KCs’, he is known for his advocacy, strategic judgement and calm authority. Alongside his court practice, Alex is a respected mediator and arbitrator, regularly advising on the most high-stakes cases.