Sarah Hutchinson

Sarah has featured in the legal directories for a number of years. She is ranked in Chambers HNW (Band 2), Chambers UK 2023 (Band 2) and Legal 500 2023 (ranked as a Leading Individual).

She is listed in Spear's 500 2022 edition as a Top Recommended 2022 Family Lawyer, having first been recognised by Spear’s in 2015 as a “Young Turk” in the Rising Stars section of the Spear's Wealth Management magazine.

Sarah writes articles for a number of family law publications. She regularly speaks at international family law conferences and has provided articles and commentary for wider publications such as the Financial Times, the Telegraph, Grazia Magazine and the Financial Reporter.

Sarah is a member of Resolution and the Association of Lawyers for Children.

As well as acting for clients as their solicitor, Sarah is also instructed by separating/separated couples, including parents, to act as a mediator. She assists them together to find a resolution regarding any family issues. Sarah trained with the Family Mediators Association in 2015.

Sarah has been the Practice Area Manager for the Family team since 2018. She is part of the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Forum, the Graduate Recruitment Interviewing Panel, and a member of the firm choir.

"Hutchinson is one of the most outstanding professionals I have ever worked with." (Chambers HNW 2023)

"Sarah is ambitious, extremely competent, has a very good grasp of the law and is willing to push the boundaries." (Chambers HNW 2023)

“Sarah Hutchinson is hugely respected for her work on both financial and children matters.” (Legal 500 2023)

"She is an excellent lawyer. She is very dedicated, very user-friendly and very intelligent." (Chambers UK 2023)

"Sarah is an incredibly determined and persistent solicitor who really wants to achieve good outcomes for her clients. She is incredibly hard-working and knows every nook and cranny of her client's case." (Chambers UK 2023)

"She's good to have on the other side of a case; she will fight her client's corner, but in a very tactical and fair way." (Chambers UK 2023)

"She's so knowledgeable, so experienced and just so client-friendly. She's thorough, organised and on top of everything." (Chambers UK 2023)

"[Sarah] is so knowledgeable, so experienced and just so client-friendly. She's thorough, organised and on top of everything." (Chambers HNW 2022)

"Sarah Hutchinson leaves no stone unturned and is both beyond thorough and nuanced in her approach. Exceptional with clients in a crisis, or who need to be persuaded as to what is really in their best interests. She is a delight to work with, and a very fine lawyer indeed." (Legal 500 2022)

"Sarah Hutchinson is an exceptional solicitor. She has amazing client care skills and is passionate about her work and in getting the best possible result for the client. Sarah is all over the detail of a case; she is hardworking and extremely effective at what she does. A joy to work with." (Legal 500 2022)

"Sarah Hutchinson – exceptionally bright lawyer. Very personable but she has razer sharp intellect." (Legal 500 2022)

Sarah is ranked Band 3 for Family/ Matrimonial in the Chambers High Net Worth Guide 2021 and Band 5 in the Chambers UK 2022 Guide.

"She is totally dedicated to her clients and gains their confidence through her supportiveness." "She knows her stuff, is very approachable and engages well with clients. She is a good litigator and communicator." "She has an incredible determination to succeed for her clients." (Chambers UK 2022)

"She has an emotional intelligence and understands people better than most lawyers. She understands the relationship children have with their parents, she has an understanding of people." (Chambers High Net Worth 2021)

"She has a deep understanding of the dynamics of separating people and that conflict and how to try and find a route out of it." (Chambers High Net Worth 2021)

"She is fantastic - she's highly intelligent and very good with clients." "Sarah delivers advice in a friendly, confident manner. She is also responsive and the quality of her drafting is very high. Sarah listens to her clients and appreciates their sensitivities while also not being afraid to challenge points raised." (Chambers & Partners 2021)

"Sarah Hutchinson is an absolute star of the team and a pleasure to work with. Sarah Hutchinson is a great new face of Farrers and is very approachable." (Legal 500 2021)

"Sarah Hutchinson has a lovely manner with clients and very good instincts." (Legal 500 2021)

"She has the most extraordinary drive and commitment that turn evenly balanced cases in her clients' favour." (Chambers and Partners 2020)

Sarah is ranked as Band 3 in the Chambers HNW 2020 guide. Sarah Hutchinson has "a really good reputation," says an interviewee. "She is extremely collaborative, and if it is at all possible to settle a case, she will try to. She has really good instinct for cases." (Chambers and Partners HNW 2020)

"Probably one of the brightest solicitors I've ever come across." (Chambers and Partners 2019)

"She's got a very analytical brain, she's very friendly and down to earth, and I think clients really appreciate how hard she works for them." (Chambers and Partners 2019)

"She's absolutely fabulous in private children disputes and is always very good at interrelationship between money and children." (Chambers and Partners 2019)

“Sarah Hutchinson is excellent." (Legal 500 2019)

“Sensible, pragmatic, bright and incisive", “prepared to go that extra mile” and a “deep understanding of the emotional as well as the legal aspects of litigation” (Legal 500 2019)

"She's absolutely fabulous in private children disputes and is always very good at interrelationship between money and children." (Market Commentator)

"One of the few solicitors who is genuinely child focused”; “her client care is outstanding.” (Independent social worker/children’s guardian)

“She is very dynamic and one of the stars of children work.” (Top ranked children law QC)

“You are completely awesome and have been a beacon of light for me and indeed my boys - your guidance and handling of my situation, your kindness and sheer brilliance I will never forget.” (Client)

“I wanted to say a massive thank you for being brilliant and for your brilliance, guidance and support through my divorce. I simply wouldn't have got to where I did without you and having you in my corner has always made me feel so much stronger.” (Client)

"All your advice and help has been very much appreciated during such a turbulent period. I’m confident we are moving positively forward.” (Client) 
"Sarah’s wealth of experience in family cases and as a mediator allow her to take a practical, friendly and supportive position with her clients, providing clear, pragmatic advice. You know you are in good hands from day 1. She is an absolute powerhouse, I cannot recommend her highly enough." (Client)

A v B & Ors (Wardship; Parental Order; s10(9) Leave Application) [2023] EWHC 1680 (Fam)
Acting for the father of a baby born as a result of a surrogacy arrangement in America. The father was the respondent in the proceedings in relation to the baby, further to applications brought by the mother of the father’s older child. Mrs Justice Theis determined that the applicant’s application for a parental order lacked merit and that she could not ‘read down’ the statutory criteria in s54 HFEA 2008 in order to open the gateway to a parental order for the applicant; furthermore, the ECHR rights were not engaged in accordance with the authorities. The applicant’s application for permission to make an application for a child arrangements order pursuant to s10(9) Children Act 1989 was also refused. The father’s own application for a parental order in relation to the baby, made as a single parent, accorded with the provisions of s54 HFEA 2008.

Goddard-Watts v Goddard Watts [2019] EWHC 3367 (Fam)
Acting for Mrs Goddard-Watts, in what is believed to be an unprecedented application to set aside a financial order on divorce for the second time within the same proceedings on the basis of fraudulent non-disclosure by the husband. Mr Justice Holman, the judge determining the application in the wife’s favour, described the scenario as “vanishingly rare and probably unique”.

IX v IY [2018] EWHC 3053 
Acting for a former model in her application for financial remedies on divorce, involving high value assets in multiple jurisdictions. The case concerned whether the parties’ long pre-marital relationship amounted to quasi-marital status, thereby enabling the wife to share in the significant assets generated in the husband’s business during the relationship. The court considered the relevance and impact of the parties’ spending the entirety of the husband’s pre-marital wealth during the marriage due to their very high standard of living. A further issue was whether the wife’s daughter from a previous relationship was a “child of the family”.

BD v FD [2016 EWHC] (Fam) 595
A case involving very substantial assets, largely inherited, and consideration of how the other spouse's needs should be assessed. The court also considered the consequence of profligate spending by one spouse in the period leading up to the trial.

KG v LG (No 2) [2015] EWFC 64
A former wife's successful application for an appeal where her former husband was guilty of non-disclosure at the time of the divorce regarding his interest in two trusts.

G v G [2015] EWHC 1512 (Fam)
Application by a former wife in financial remedy proceedings seeking orders preventing her former husband's legal team (leading and junior counsel, and solicitors) from continuing to act for him at a forthcoming hearing and redaction of his evidence.

BD v FD [2014] EWHC 4443 (Fam)
A maintenance pending suit application which was rejected by the court on the basis that the wife's interim budget manifestly exceeded the standard of living of the marriage and court intervention was not required to ensure her interim needs were met.

Y v Y [2012] EWHC 2063 (Fam)
An important divorce case, involving a landed estate and inherited assets.

NA v MA [2006] EWHC 2900 (Fam)
A rare case about a post-nuptial agreement.