Toby Atkinson

Spear’s Review

‘Most clients want the same thing – to reach settlement quickly, efficiently and without acrimony – and I work hard to achieve that,’ says Toby Atkinson.

Atkinson credits his calm demeanour, pragmatism and sense of humour as the attributes that have driven his reputation since arriving at Stewarts. Peers say he is popular with family lawyers across the profession, thanks partly to his ability to stay calm ‘in the heat of battle’.

As part of Stewarts’ formidable London-based team, Atkinson describes his current practice as reliably international. ‘As the capital has cemented its position as the world’s financial centre, more and more UHNWs have been drawn here,’ he says. ‘That’s led to a growing number of extremely high-value divorce awards.’

Adviser Profile

Toby specialises in all areas of family law, including financial settlement on divorce and arrangements for children after parents separate. Toby’s financial cases frequently have an international dimension, often involving trusts, inherited wealth and family businesses. His clients include entrepreneurs, business owners, City professionals and their spouses/partners. 

As joint head of Stewarts’ specialist children team, Toby is equally adept at dealing with highly contested children cases as he is with resolving complex financial disputes. He is an experienced practitioner in the field of international child abduction and is frequently instructed by “left-behind” parents in both Hague and non-Hague Convention cases, international relocation cases and jurisdiction disputes. 

Toby is highly regarded for his client skills, work ethic and good judgement, and has a reputation for providing clear, pragmatic and solution-focused advice for his clients. He has extensive experience in ‘private court’ based arbitration for family disputes. On the non-contentious side, Toby regularly advises in relation to pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements, cohabitation agreements and wealth protection. 

Toby’s recent reported cases include: Cathcart v Owens [2021], where Toby acted for the successful respondent wife in respect of an application brought by her former husband in the High Court to set aside a financial order made on divorce; and JC v PC [2021], where Toby acted for the successful applicant father in High Court proceedings brought to determine the habitual residence of his two children following their wrongful retention abroad by the respondent mother.