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Lucy Clayton

Year of Call: 2009
Email Address: [email protected]
Telephone: 0117 928 1520

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Clerk Details

Overview

Lucy Clayton (pronouns: she / her / hers) is a specialist family lawyer with an emphasis on private family law matters and cases involving financial provision following separation, dissolution or divorce.

Lucy has particular expertise in disputes involving domestic violence, sexual abuse, mental health issues, internal relocation and implacable hostility. She has a keen interest in cases involving parental alienation, abduction, LGBTQIA+ parenting and surrogacy and the misuse of social/digital media.

Lucy is a forensic and pragmatic advocate whose sensitive and personable approach make her popular with professional and lay clients alike.

In recent years, Lucy  has cultivated her interest in academia through her role as a Senior Lecturer, teaching postgraduate professional ethics and advocacy at Bristol Law School. She regularly uses her witness handling skills to deliver advocacy training to solicitors and trainee advocates, having done so nationally and internationally, in concert with the University of Gibraltar.

Lucy is an accredited Civil / Commercial mediator and was awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship Grant to research international minimal acrimony litigation tools and dispute resolution programs in private family law child cases. Prior to embarking upon pupillage, Lucy undertook a six-month internship in the Hague working with defence counsel on the Lukić appeal at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

In her spare time, Lucy enjoys paddleboarding, open water swimming, watching rugby and chasing her two young sons around the garden.

Expertise

  • Family
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    Private Law Children - All s8 Children Act matters including:

    • Child Arrangement Orders
    • Fact-finding hearings
    • Applications for a Prohibited Steps Order
    • Applications for a Specific Issue Order
    • Enforcement Applications
    • Guardians
    • Expert evidence
    • Local Authority involvement
    • The Local Authority acting as an intervener
    • Allegations of domestic violence
    • Allegations of child abuse
    • Cases involving a foreign element (i.e., removal from the jurisdiction).
    • Non-Molestation and Occupation Orders under Family Law Act 1996

    Reported case

    Re D + Ors (Children) 2017 EWFC B87

  • Recommendations

    Lucy Clayton has a particular interest in cases concerning abduction, LGBT parents and surrogacy, and the misuse of social media.

    ‘Lucy is pragmatic but personable. She prepares in great depth; she is robust both on paper in skeleton arguments and position statements, and in court. Lucy has a strong presence in court but also provides sensible advice to clients. She goes above and beyond.’

    Legal 500 2025/Family: Children and Domestic Violence/Leading Juniors/Midlands Circuit

    ‘Lucy is a robust and outcome-focused advocate. She gives clear and coherent advice to lay and professional clients that has a positive end outcome in mind.’

    Legal 500 2024/Family: Children and Domestic Violence/Leading Juniors/Midlands Circuit

    ‘Lucy is able to absorb all the facts of the case, which really helps reassure the client that she knows their case in detail. She is always well prepared and confident in her cross-examination and submissions to the court.’

    Legal 500 2023/Child Law (Public and Private)/Leading Juniors/Midlands Circuit

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