Rayden Solicitors

Senior Partner/Founder: Katherine Rayden

Number of partners: 20

Number of other fee-earners: 44

Number of offices: 10

Firm Overview

Rayden Solicitors is an award-winning and top tier-ranked family law firm with offices across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, London and into the West Midlands. We exclusively practice private family law and, as of 2025, are the second largest specialist family law firm in England and Wales. The firm was founded by Senior Partner Katherine Rayden in 2005, who is still highly involved with the business at all levels, from overseeing family law matters to business operations.

Area of Practice

We exclusively practice family law and all fee-earners at Rayden Solicitors are specialists in this area. Our team consists of 20 Partners and 44 solicitors across our offices in St Albans, Berkhamsted, Beaconsfield, Hampstead, Bishop’s Stortford, Harpenden, Epping, London Bridge, Birmingham and Otford.

At Rayden Solicitors, clients benefit from our innovative team approach. This allows the appropriate allocation of the right legal resource for every case at all stages, with a Partner overseeing the strategy.

We cover all areas of private family law and advise clients on the following:

• Children – child arrangements; parental responsibility and disputes; children’s rights and protection; step-parent adoption; grandparents’ legal rights; surrogacy law

• Relationships, divorce and separation – same sex divorce; international and ex-pat divorce; cohabitation agreements; pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements; domestic abuse; divorce; unmarried couples’ legal rights; Anglo – French divorce

• Finance – divorce financial claims; family trusts, partnerships and offshore assets; financial provision for children

At Rayden Solicitors, we also offer Alternative Dispute Resolution and have solicitors specially trained in these areas. Executive Partner Julian Bremner is a qualified Financial Arbitrator so can determine financial disputes between parties as a quicker and often more cost-effective alternative to court proceedings. As a Child Arbitrator, Executive Partner Emily Watson has arbitrated private law children disputes.

We also offer Mediation as an alternative to lengthy court proceedings where appropriate. Partner Che Meakins and Senior Associate Claire Howard are trained mediators and Specialist Accredited members of Resolution so committed to adopting a constructive approach to family cases.

We also practice Collaborative Law, providing a holistic approach to resolving family disputes. Executive Partner Paula Butterworth, Partners Lehna Gardiner and Marc Etherington and Associate Solicitor Bhini Phagura are all qualified collaborative lawyers, giving more options to clients who wish to resolve their family disagreements without using the court process.

Rayden Solicitors also offers an expert Anglo-French family law service. Partners Abby Westell and Che Meakins are fluent French speakers and have been growing our French desk. Both Abby and Che are highly experienced in cases involving French nationals, and have acted in many cross-border cases, involving France, Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg.

We also often act for international and overseas-based clients when they have links to England and Wales, as well as domestic clients with international links. We also have a network of experts based across the globe with whom we have worked who can advise in relation to offshore assets including complex trusts and other financial structures, investments and foreign pensions.

Offices

Rayden Solicitors Beaconsfield

Address: McBride House, 32 Penn Road, Beaconsfield, Bucks, HP9 2FY

Telephone: 01494 350333

Partners: Rupi Rai [email protected] and Robert Micklem [email protected]

Rayden Solicitors Berkhamsted

Address: 1 Claridge Court, Lower Kings Roads, Berkhamsted, Herts, HP4 2AF

Telephone: 01442 819144

Partner: Emily Watson [email protected]

Rayden Solicitors Birmingham

Address: 3rd Floor, 2 Edmund Gardens, 121 Edmund Street, Birmingham, B3 2HJ

Telephone: 0121 313870

Partners: Mary Kaye [email protected] and Dal Heran [email protected]

Rayden Solicitors Bishop’s Stortford

Address: Heath House, 51 Dane Street, Bishop’s Stortford, Herts, CM23 3BT

Telephone: 01279 881371

Partners: Abby Westell [email protected] and Rosalind Fitzgerald [email protected]

Rayden Solicitors Epping

Address: 323 High Street, Epping, Essex, CM16 4B

Telephone: 0203 7733919

Partner: Nazia Rashid [email protected]

Rayden Solicitors Hampstead

Address: 6a Hampstead High Street, London, NW3 1PR

Telephone: 020 3925 4809

Partners: Julian Bremner [email protected]; Jennifer Moore [email protected], Marc Etherington [email protected]

Rayden Solicitors Harpenden

Address: Second Floor, Burgundy House, 25 The Foresters, High Street, Harpenden, AL5 2FB

Telephone: 01582 803679

Partners: Paula Butterworth [email protected] and Nicola Caffery [email protected]

Rayden Solicitors London Bridge

Address: 88 Bermondsey Street, London, SE1 3UB

Telephone: 020 3468 7202

Partners: Julian Bremner [email protected] and Anna-Laura Lock [email protected]

Rayden Solicitors St Albans

Address: Catherine House, Adelaide Street, St Albans, AL3 5BA

Telephone: 01727 734260

Senior Partner: Katherine Rayden [email protected], Partners: Charlotte Southworth [email protected]; Che Meakins [email protected] and Lehna Gardiner [email protected]