Lucy Williams

Lucy is a Partner at the Manchester office and Head of the Manchester Children team. She advises on all issues arising from the breakdown of marriage for high net worth individuals, with a particular focus on private children matters. She has built a reputation as a rising star, both within the firm and from peers in her field. Lucy is also heavily involved in the development of junior lawyers at the firm and is the Deputy Training Principal for the firm nationally.

CAREER

Lucy worked as a paralegal for two years at a national law firm whilst studying the LPC. On completion of her LPC, Lucy commenced her training contract in Chester, working at one of the largest family law teams in the UK. Lucy qualified and practiced in Chester until moving back to her hometown of Manchester, where she joined Vardags in May 2018. She has quickly risen through the ranks, becoming an Senior Associate in January 2020, and a Director in January 2022.

Lucy is experienced in advising on all matters arising out of divorce and separation, and is experienced in the complex issues that arise particularly with high net worth clients, including:

• Jurisdiction disputes
• Complex business structures
• Trusts
• Foreign assets

Lucy is the Head of Vardags’ Manchester children team. Her extensive experience in private children matters includes:

• Cases involving serious allegations of harm
• Allegations of parental alienation
• Matters involving removal of children from the jurisdiction

Lucy is passionate about furthering the careers of others and is the Deputy Training Principal for the firm nationally, working closely with the firm’s Training Principal and Director, James Bunker. She has independently created and developed this role to roll out a programme of core legal training for all trainee solicitors and has overall responsibility for the pastoral care of our trainee solicitors nationally.

Lucy supports the University of York law school as an alumni by providing admission interviews for prospective future students. Lucy is also a mentor for the University of Law, providing guidance to aspiring family lawyers.

EDUCATION

Lucy studied law at the University of York. At the end of her undergraduate degree, she was awarded the ‘Citizenship’ Award by the University’s Law school as recognition for contributions made in organising careers social events and increasing exposure to different and more niche firms.

In her third year of University, Lucy was selected to present a paper based on her dissertation at Kent Critical Law Society conference alongside academics and legal professionals. Lucy sat on the ‘Equality and the Home’ panel and presented a paper on development of the law for married couples, divorcing and separating couples through social movements.

ACCOLADES

Lucy was nominated in 2021 for Legal Professional of the Year in the Manchester Young Talent Award.

Lucy was described in the 2020 edition of the Legal 500 as “robust” and a lawyer who displays “excellent judgement”. Lucy received further praise in the 2021 edition of the Legal 500 in which was described as being “loved by clients for her down to earth approach to the most complicated of cases” as well as being “simply a breath of fresh air to work with” and a lawyer who “prepares her cases incredibly thoroughly”.

PERSONAL

In her spare time, Lucy enjoys spending time with friends and family, as well as her Shih Tzu, Winston. She enjoys visiting new cities and seeing new places, both in and out of the UK, and has a long list of places still to work through!

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