
Alexander Chandler KC
Published: 13/01/2022 10:58
Alexander Chandler KC is a barrister specialising in financial remedies and TLATA at 1 King’s Bench Walk in London. He sits as a Recorder, Arbitrator and private FDR judge, posts blogs at familybrief.org, and tweets @familybrief.
‘Feral, Unprincipled and Unnecessarily Expensive’ – A Guide to Intervenor Claims
Intervenor claims take us – family lawyers – out of our comfort zone. As financial remedy (FR) specialists we are used to dealing with discretion and grey areas: the assessment of housing and income need, where to draw the line between marital and non-marital assets, how to reflect pre-marital contributions. The proverbial bad day in court may produce an outcome at the bottom end of a bracket but it generally won’t mean the entire claim is dismissed.
- Journal
- Intervenors
!30/06/2025 06:00
Sham, Adverse Inferences and the Burden of Proof: Awolowo [2025] EWCA Civ 641
It’s often the financial remedy cases involving non-family barristers or judges which are the most interesting. There’s something about an outsider’s perspective which can illuminate legal principle and remind us that, per Mostyn J, ‘the Family Courts are not a desert island’.
- Blog
- Burden Of Proof
- Adverse Inferences
- Sham
!21/05/2025 14:00
Legal Research, AI and the Canary in the Mineshaft
One of the sobering experiences of training to be a lawyer – the dawning realisation that it isn’t all dramatic cross-examination and fighting for the underdog – is legal research. Like learning a new language (let’s say, German), it’s a long and often tedious process. Some trainees, admittedly, seem to enjoy the tedium more than others. I was firmly in the ‘not enjoying this tedium’ camp.
- Blog
- AI
!09/05/2025 09:04
James Turner KC (1952–2025): An Obituary
James Turner KC, who has died aged 72, was a titan of the bar. In an increasingly specialised legal world, he had a uniquely broad practice for a family barrister: financial remedies, child abduction, divorce, crime, judicial review, medical disciplinary work and administrative law.
- Blog
- Journal
- Obituaries
!24/01/2025 10:42
The Winds of Change – Case Management and the Financial Remedies Court
Once upon a time, not so long ago, ‘ancillary relief’ was something of a legal backwater. Cases were determined solely by reference to ‘reasonable requirements’. Procedural rules, to the extent they existed, were short and loosely applied. Parties filed narrative affidavits of means and answered requests for further and better particulars.
- Journal
- Procedure
- Financial Remedies
!22/11/2024 06:00
What’s the Point of a Judgment? Examples, Authorities and the Panopticon
What is the point of a court judgment, and to whom is it actually directed? In the past, there were three main reasons for a judgment: the first two concern the parties and (depending on your views about transparency) could be dealt with privately; the third, when it arose, required publication of the judgment. Now there is a fourth reason: transparency.
- Blog
- Transparency
!02/05/2024 15:48
‘What’s In a Name?’ Anonymising Financial Remedy Judgments
How engrained is the practice of anonymisation in financial remedy judgments? What rationale was given in those cases for naming the parties or anonymisation? What is the author's view of the legal issues in relation to anonymity? How will these issues pan out?
- Journal
- Anonymity
!13/03/2024 07:00
What Is the True Extent of FDR Privilege?
In L v O (Stay of Order; Hadkinson Order; Security for Costs) [2024] EWFC 6 (26 January 2024) Cobb J considered whether a judge hearing a Barder (or Thwaite) application can/should be made aware of what took place at the FDR appointment where the original order was agreed and where this may be relevant to 'foreseeability'.
- Blog
- Privilege
!19/02/2024 16:04
Two Important Cases in One Day: Churchill v Merthyr Tydfil and TUI v Griffiths
As the old saying goes, you wait ages for a London bus; then two arrive at once: Griffiths & Churchill.
- Blog
- Blog
- Out of Court Dispute Resolution Options
- Experts
!30/11/2023 17:15
Final Hearings: a User’s Guide
This article is intended as aide memoire of the various procedural, professional and legal rules that should be borne in mind at a final hearing. It is not intended as a counsel of perfection, but rather a reminder of certain things which we do not encounter on a weekly basis.
- Blog
- Family Procedure Rules
!26/10/2023 07:00