Nick Manners

Spear’s Review

Promoted to partner in December 2020, Nick Manners has spent the past decade climbing the ranks at Payne Hicks Beach, working closely with the legendary Baroness Shackleton throughout his career.

He has been closely involved in many of the firm’s most notable family law cases, including the Princess Haya vs Sheikh Maktoum divorce case, Appleton & Gallagher v News Group Newspaper and PA, Ciccone v Ritchie, Barclay v Barclay and Potanin v Potanina.

As well as divorce cases, he regularly advises on children disputes, involving contact, residence and relocation, as well as pre- and post-nuptial agreements. He has worked with clients on both contentious and non-contentious matters, including numerous international cases. He has particular interest in advising clients upon the breakdown of civil partnerships and Inheritance Act claims.

Adviser Profile

Nick is Head of the Family Department at Payne Hicks Beach. 

Described as ‘strategically astute and very clever’ he is a specialist family lawyer who focuses on all areas of family law, including issues arising from divorce, cohabitation and the financial consequences of a relationship breakdown. Nick is a skilled litigator with experience of cases at all levels and is one of the very few family lawyers to have worked on a case which was heard in the Supreme Court (successfully, in 2023). 

Nick has spent his entire career at PHB working on a vast array of high-value, high-profile and highly complex matters, and is instructed by a wide variety of individuals from all walks of life, such as businesspeople, entrepreneurs, professional sportsmen and women and politicians. 

Aside from his financial practice, he regularly advises on contentious children disputes involving contact, residence and relocation (including international relocation). He has also dealt with abductions, and on matters involving same-sex parents. Nick regularly advises upon and drafts pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements. 

He works for a variety of high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients on both contentious and non-contentious matters, including those with a complex international angle. He has experience of advising clients upon the breakdown of civil partnerships and Inheritance Act claims. 

Nick has significant experience working on cases which involve Sharia Law, Islamic marriage and divorce. Nick was part of the team that launched the PHB Mental Health & Family Breakdown initiative to support and protect clients during vulnerable periods of their lives, providing groundbreaking peer-reviewed guides. 

Nick is ranked in industry directories, receiving accolades in Chambers and Partners High Net Worth Guide, The Legal 500 UK and eprivateclient. He is frequently quoted in national media on family law matters.