Tony Ward

Call 1971
Email tony.ward@3pb.co.uk
Download PDF version

Family

Tony is a specialist family Barrister practicing exclusively in this area of law, he has extensive experience at all levels of financial disputes within divorce, cohabitation, and under Schedule 1 of the Children Act.

He has considerable expertise advising and representing clients in high value complex financial cases, often including corporate and partnership issues, family businesses, trusts and pensions.  Tony also has experience of advising and acting for landowners, including farmers and dealing with issues such as successive tenancies.

In addition to his established financial practice he is regularly instructed in intricate private law matters, including residence and contact of children where jurisdiction, international abduction and relocation is a key issues.  As a result of his considerable experience, Tony has acted as a lead junior in exceptionally complex and serious cases.

Tony enjoys a reputation by his clients for being friendly, pragmatic and extremely efficient. He is a persuasive advocate and is described by Chambers and Partners Legal Directory as “well prepared, experienced and grasps matters quickly” and “viewed as a tough opponent especially on complex financial issues”.

Recent work:

• Currently acting for a husband in financial proceedings who is a well-known personality with substantial and complex business interests.
• Representing a wife in a complex financial farming case involving third parties, trusts and partnerships.
• Represented a father in a care case where his baby suffered multiple injuries including several fractures. The father was originally the prime suspect. The case was subject to a long and complex fact finding hearing involving a substantial amount of medical evidence. This case was successful and the father is now caring for his son. The mother is seeking to have the findings overturned in the Court of Appeal.
• Represented a father in a long and complex contact case which involved finding the child and mother abroad first of all and then a substantial fact finding hearing followed by extensive expert reports.
• Represented several parents successfully who have had their children taken away as a result of an allegation of “shaking” their baby.
• Represented a husband who sought to challenge the jurisdiction of the court to deal with his divorce.

Significant Cases:

Re H (Leave to Remove) [2010] EWCA Civ 915, [2010] 2 FLR 1875
A relocation case where an English father sought to prevent the mother of their child from returning to her country of birth (the Czech Republic). The argument before the Court of Appeal was that the court should consider widening the guidance of Payne v Payne in the light of The Washington Declaration, which had just been signed on behalf of England & Wales.

Speaking

Tony frequently speaks at external seminars and in house tailored training events. He is also a tutor in advocacy for the Western Circuit and has been doing this for many years.