Joanne Radcliff

Practice Areas

Family Law – covering all financial matters arising from the formation and breakdown of relationships; including nuptial agreements, pre-civil partnership agreements, cohabitation agreements, financial claims on divorce, financial injunctions, claims made under Schedule 1 of the Children Act 1989 and claims by unmarried or engaged partners.

Career

Joanne trained with Pannone LLP and qualified in 2008. In 2015 she joined Brabners LLP and was made a Partner there in 2018. She joined Hill Dickinson in 2024 to lead the family team in the Manchester office.

Professional Memberships

Joanne is member of Resolution and is the Chair of the Greater Manchester Resolution regional committee (Resolution being the largest organisation of family justice professionals in the country). She formerly spent three years on Resolution’s National Committee after being elected by fellow members. She sits on the Financial Remedy Court Users Group. She is a member of the Law Society.

Publications

In the last year Joanne has lectured to financial planners at CISI’s national conference about working with clients going through divorce and has spoken on the topic of divorce and trusts to other lawyers and professionals. She has produced a webinar for MBL Seminars on Nuptial Agreements, as an expert in the area.

Personal

Alongside working with clients, Joanne has also co-hosted a number of episodes of the popular 3am Conversations podcast. Joanne regularly works with social mobility charities (a topic close to her heart) and on LGBT causes. She is a mum and enjoys spending time with her family. When time allows, she explores her love of great food and restaurants.

Awards

Clients

Joanne’s clients are confidential in nature. They are generally high-net-worth individuals, such as wealthy families with inherited and dynastic wealth, entrepreneurs, business owners and sports and media personalities.

Work Highlights

• Representing clients in negotiations for pre-nuptial agreements where the assets are international in nature and/or worth tens/hundreds of millions of pounds.

• Successfully defending two cases in one summer in the Court of Appeal in relation to financial awards following a divorce

• Acting as a trained collaborative practitioner negotiating settlements outside of court, by way of round table negotiation meetings with the client, their spouse and the solicitor representing the spouse.

• Assisting couples to reach a settlement whilst advising them both using the ‘One Couple One Lawyer’ model

• Acting for a client in a Part III claim following a foreign divorce and successfully limiting their claim in England and Wales to maintenance only and at the level sought by our client

• Chairing Resolution’s national conference in 2024 – the largest family law conference in the country

• Hosting the annual Manchester Resolution Awards recognising talent in the family justice field

Industry Sector Expertise

• Individual Services

• Wealth Protection

Expert in these Jurisdictions

England and Wales

Languages Spoken

English

Experience

Joanne has practised in family law for the last 17 years and specialises in the following work:-

• Divorce and finances - particularly cases involving complex business and trust assets, as well as international elements. This work includes both contested court proceedings and negotiating out of court.

• Nuptial Agreements – Joanne has become a leading lawyer when it comes to advising on pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements and can assist clients wanting to use these agreements for wealth protection.

• International aspects – where there are assets or parties based abroad within a divorce

• ‘One Couple One Lawyer’ cases where she advises both spouses in a separation and assists them in coming to an agreement about their finances.

• Collaborative law – Joanne is a trained collaborative practitioner, allowing her to represent clients through a collaborative process which includes representing them in roundtable meetings with their spouse and their spouse’s lawyer

• Schedule 1 applications – financial claims made by a parent on behalf of their child

• Financial claims following a separation for unmarried or engaged couples

• Injunctions to prevent a party to a divorce from disposing of or dealing with certain assets

Education