Lucy Stewart-Gould

Spear’s Review

A popular family lawyer among HNW business people (and their spouses), Lucy Stewart-Gould regularly acts for well-known figures in entertainment and sport.

She says the potential, or actual, media interest in clients’ personal lives during her cases ‘adds a layer of complexity to an already stressful situation. Ultimately, these clients need someone savvy, discreet and effective – which is what we do at Stewarts.’

All of Stewart-Gould’s cases involve connections with at least one other jurisdiction and, for the majority, multiple jurisdictions. Highlights include one judgment in which she and her team successfully defended a client against claims of a sham trust, and another in which she acted for a ‘very high-profile’ individual in a private children matter across numerous countries.

Adviser Profile

Lucy is a Partner at Stewarts and has been a member of the Divorce and Family Team at the firm for over 10 years. 

Lucy has a particular specialism in matrimonial finance law in relation to Trusts and other complex structures. Having practised in Hong Kong prior to joining Stewarts, Lucy retains good connections to that jurisdiction as well as having considerable experience of Anglo-French cases and cases involving significant art collections. 

The clients with whom Lucy works have complex lives and, often, high profiles. They require effective, pragmatic and strategic advice. Her aim is to cut through the complexity and focus on the fights that matter to achieve the best possible outcomes for clients: if it doesn’t make the boat go faster, she doesn’t do it. 

Lucy’s most recent work includes successfully acting for the husband in the landmark case of Standish v Standish, achieving a 45% reduction in the wife’s award from the Court of Appeal on the basis that the husband’s significant pre-marital endeavour had not been fully taken into account in the first instance award. The case considered fundamental family law principles of ‘sharing’ and ‘matrimonialisation’. Lucy also recently secured English jurisdiction for divorce for a client, clarifying the post-Brexit jurisdiction for divorce. Other cases include ND v SD & Ors, in which she successfully defended the husband against allegations of a ‘sham’ trust. 

As well as being a seasoned litigator, Lucy is also a trained collaborative lawyer and believes this process has huge benefits in the right cases to enable a family to move forward in a consensual and non-confrontational manner as well as being an excellent process for the preparation of pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements.