Jack Harris

Jack is Head of the Divorce and Financial Remedy team. He has a busy court-based practice specialising exclusively in complex financial remedy litigation.

Jack is consistently ranked in both Chambers UK and the Legal 500 as a leading junior, and is particularly recognised for his excellent preparation and client-care skills, the depth, breadth and clarity of his advice, and his eloquent and robust advocacy.

Jack is one of only eight barristers on the Western Circuit to be ranked by Chambers UK in Band 2 for matrimonial finance work.

He regularly gives lectures, produces podcasts, and writes articles on topical legal issues and supports local higher education institutions.

Jack is a member of the Pupillage Committee.

Divorce and Financial Remedy

Jack’s instructions are often in high-value cases with complex factual or legal issues involving companies, partnerships, farms, trusts, pensions, pre/post nuptial agreements, foreign and inherited wealth. His cases also involve disputes about matrimonial / non-matrimonial property, allegations of serious personal, financial, and litigation misconduct, as well as intervenor issues. He is also instructed in cases with more modest means where his compassionate and solution-focussed approach is valued by clients.

An empathetic and pragmatic advocate, Jack is known for his detailed preparation and his ability swiftly to narrow down the key issues.

Jack will strive to achieve settlement wherever possible but will take a robust approach if litigation is inevitable. He is described by peers as a “fearless advocate” and “the counsel you want on your side” with a “laser focus on the most compelling arguments”.

Recent cases include:

• Securing favourable indications at Private FDR leading to settlement in the context of a ‘notice to show cause’ application where there was a substantial pre-marital property portfolio worth more than £1m.
• Representing a disabled client at trial and successfully opposing an application for an immediate order for sale of her home based on her alleged cohabitation. Jack also secured a substantial costs order against the applicant.
• Successfully making a Daniels v Walker application at short-notice in a case where assets are approximately £4m.
• Successfully acting for the respondent to an appeal at short-notice and negotiating a very favourable resolution where the issue was the trial judge’s exclusion of a significant pre-marital defined benefit pension scheme.
• Representing a party at very short notice at a 4-day trial having had no previous involvement where one of the major issues was non-compliance with orders for expert business valuations. Multiple property and business assets totalled £1.4m. Jack successfully negotiated a favourable settlement, avoided adverse inferences being drawn, and secured a substantial reduction in the costs order sought by the other side.
• Success at a preliminary issue trial representing a party in their support of an intervenor application which sought the return of monies loaned to the parties to buy the family home.
• Successfully opposing a ‘notice to show cause’ application on the basis that the agreement struck between the parties was not unfair in relation to pensions.
• Successfully negotiating a settlement in a multi-million-pound case involving a family business, serious conduct allegations, allegations of significant dissipation of matrimonial assets, and ‘add-back’ arguments.
• Capital and pension issues in a more modest case arising from one spouse having a significantly reduced life expectancy.
• Successfully negotiating a settlement where conduct issues were pursued against Jack’s client arising from findings of serious domestic abuse and coercive and controlling behaviour in parallel Children Act proceedings.

Children Private Law

Jack has significant experience in representing parents in private law disputes about their children, ranging from disputes about child arrangements to relocation and to schooling, to name but a few, and happily accepts instructions where Children Act disputes run in conjunction with financial remedy proceedings.

Jack draws on the experience and expertise for which he is known to attempt amicably to resolve often highly acrimonious and emotional disputes wherever possible, but will take a robust approach to litigation if this is required.