Denise Laverty

Expertise Denise Advises Experience Highlights Career History Testimonials

Partner

Family Law

+44 7745 202 482 +44 3330 143 401

Expertise

Denise is dual qualified family lawyer with over 33 years’ experience. She is an accredited family law specialist with a strong reputation in Scotland. All of Denise’s clients are referred to her by personal recommendation.

Denise has expertise in all key areas of family law and has particular experience in advising on high net value cases, Armed Forces divorce and acting in cross UK border jurisdictional issues. She is the author and presenter of the Law Society of Scotland’s advance training module in Jurisdictional Issues in Family Law.

Denise regularly delivers presentations to other solicitors and professional organisations on family law including the preservation of wealth and business interests in business restructuring. She is asked to appear as a commentator on BBC live radio, has written numerous articles for the UK and national press and a variety of professional publications on family law issues.

Denise Advises

All types of family law in both Scotland and in England including:

  • Divorce and civil partnership dissolution
  • High net worth individuals
  • Medium net worth individuals
  • Cases with a foreign element (previous cases involve USA, Portugal, Jakarta, Egypt, EIRE)
  • Jurisdiction disputes
  • Complex children’s cases regarding residence and contact
  • Child relocation cases
  • Prenuptial agreements
  • Postnuptial agreements
  • Separation agreements
  • Cohabitation agreements
  • Child abduction cases
  • Armed Forces divorce

Denise regularly acts for (or against):

  • Bankers
  • Lawyers
  • Business owners
  • Consultant doctors
  • GP’s
  • Public sector individuals
  • Members of the Armed Forces
  • Clients in the music industry
  • Footballers
  • Celebrity chefs
  • Individuals benefiting from family wealth without their own funds

Experience Highlights

  • Acting on behalf of a father in a Scottish action to prevent his wife from relocating with their 2 year old child to a jurisdiction in which she had been ordered to return her older child, not of the marriage.  Obtaining a residence order in favour of the father, after a 13 day proof, and with restrictions placed on the mothers contact with their child together with an award of expenses.
  • Advising a celebrity chef in a cross border divorce and financial dispute.
  • Acting on behalf of a mother in an English action and successfully opposing an application by the father for a return order of a child to England involving arguments in respect of the child’s habitual residence and jurisdiction.
  • Acting on behalf of a wife in a cross border complex high value case involving assets in different jurisdictions including UK, Portugal, Egypt, US and Indonesia and with a child with lifelong care needs.
  • Acting on behalf of a husband in a Scottish action with a family owned professional services business, restructured during marriage with redistribution of shares in a case where the wife sought an award that exceeded the value of the matrimonial assets
  • Advising and preparing a pre- nuptial agreement for a professional footballer on second marriage.
  • Acting on behalf of a senior NHS consultant in defending a high value asset Scottish case involving a dispute over the extent of the matrimonial assets including valuable properties in London.
  • Acting on behalf of an armed forces member, injured in combat and with life changing physical and psychological injuries who had applied his compensation award to the purchase of the family home in England  and who would be entitled to funding for the adaption  of the  home for use with a wheel chair only if it the home was transferred to him. In this case time was of the essence to obtain an order in his favour prior to an imminent medical discharge after which the funding would no longer be made available to him.
  • Mediating a court referred difficult case involving a 6 year old child where the mother had made allegations of sexual impropriety against the father and the father had made allegations of parental alienation attributed to the mother’s anxiety and where the child was awaiting a diagnosis in relation to the autistic spectrum.
  • Acting for the husband in a collaborative case where the wife had MS, was likely to need end of life care and where the creative use of Trusts and tax planning could help maximise the wife’s estate for the parties’ children.

Career History

Previous Law Firms

  • Gilson Gray LLP, Family Law Partner (2019-2023)
  • BTO LLP, Senior Associate (2015-2019
  • Anderson Strathern, Senior Associate (2012-2015)
  • McArthur Stanton, Senior Solicitor (2004-2012)
  • McGrigors (now Pinsent Mason), Head of Professional Development, (1998-2004)
  • Centrica plc, Senior Solicitor (1996-1998)
  • Bray Walker, Solicitor (1994-1996)
  • Owen White & Catlin, Trainee and Solicitor (1991-1994)

Memberships

Denise is also a member of the Scottish Family Law Association and of Resolution both  organisations that promote a constructive and non-confrontational approach to family law matters. She is a practising and experienced Collaborative Family lawyer, a member of Consensus Scotland, and has successfully mediated a number of family law cases that have either been referred by the courts or self-referred by individuals. She is a member of the Armed Forces Legal Action Group and former Legal Panel Member of the White Ensign Association.

Awards

Since 2014 Denise has been consistently ranked as one of Scotland’s leading family lawyers in Chambers and in Legal 500.

Expertise

Back to top

Denise is dual qualified family lawyer with over 33 years’ experience. She is an accredited family law specialist with a strong reputation in Scotland. All of Denise’s clients are referred to her by personal recommendation.

Denise has expertise in all key areas of family law and has particular experience in advising on high net value cases, Armed Forces divorce and acting in cross UK border jurisdictional issues. She is the author and presenter of the Law Society of Scotland’s advance training module in Jurisdictional Issues in Family Law.

Denise regularly delivers presentations to other solicitors and professional organisations on family law including the preservation of wealth and business interests in business restructuring. She is asked to appear as a commentator on BBC live radio, has written numerous articles for the UK and national press and a variety of professional publications on family law issues.

Denise Advises

Back to top

All types of family law in both Scotland and in England including:

  • Divorce and civil partnership dissolution
  • High net worth individuals
  • Medium net worth individuals
  • Cases with a foreign element (previous cases involve USA, Portugal, Jakarta, Egypt, EIRE)
  • Jurisdiction disputes
  • Complex children’s cases regarding residence and contact
  • Child relocation cases
  • Prenuptial agreements
  • Postnuptial agreements
  • Separation agreements
  • Cohabitation agreements
  • Child abduction cases
  • Armed Forces divorce

Denise regularly acts for (or against):

  • Bankers
  • Lawyers
  • Business owners
  • Consultant doctors
  • GP’s
  • Public sector individuals
  • Members of the Armed Forces
  • Clients in the music industry
  • Footballers
  • Celebrity chefs
  • Individuals benefiting from family wealth without their own funds

Experience Highlights

Back to top
  • Acting on behalf of a father in a Scottish action to prevent his wife from relocating with their 2 year old child to a jurisdiction in which she had been ordered to return her older child, not of the marriage.  Obtaining a residence order in favour of the father, after a 13 day proof, and with restrictions placed on the mothers contact with their child together with an award of expenses.
  • Advising a celebrity chef in a cross border divorce and financial dispute.
  • Acting on behalf of a mother in an English action and successfully opposing an application by the father for a return order of a child to England involving arguments in respect of the child’s habitual residence and jurisdiction.
  • Acting on behalf of a wife in a cross border complex high value case involving assets in different jurisdictions including UK, Portugal, Egypt, US and Indonesia and with a child with lifelong care needs.
  • Acting on behalf of a husband in a Scottish action with a family owned professional services business, restructured during marriage with redistribution of shares in a case where the wife sought an award that exceeded the value of the matrimonial assets
  • Advising and preparing a pre- nuptial agreement for a professional footballer on second marriage.
  • Acting on behalf of a senior NHS consultant in defending a high value asset Scottish case involving a dispute over the extent of the matrimonial assets including valuable properties in London.
  • Acting on behalf of an armed forces member, injured in combat and with life changing physical and psychological injuries who had applied his compensation award to the purchase of the family home in England  and who would be entitled to funding for the adaption  of the  home for use with a wheel chair only if it the home was transferred to him. In this case time was of the essence to obtain an order in his favour prior to an imminent medical discharge after which the funding would no longer be made available to him.
  • Mediating a court referred difficult case involving a 6 year old child where the mother had made allegations of sexual impropriety against the father and the father had made allegations of parental alienation attributed to the mother’s anxiety and where the child was awaiting a diagnosis in relation to the autistic spectrum.
  • Acting for the husband in a collaborative case where the wife had MS, was likely to need end of life care and where the creative use of Trusts and tax planning could help maximise the wife’s estate for the parties’ children.

Career History

Back to top

Previous Law Firms

  • Gilson Gray LLP, Family Law Partner (2019-2023)
  • BTO LLP, Senior Associate (2015-2019
  • Anderson Strathern, Senior Associate (2012-2015)
  • McArthur Stanton, Senior Solicitor (2004-2012)
  • McGrigors (now Pinsent Mason), Head of Professional Development, (1998-2004)
  • Centrica plc, Senior Solicitor (1996-1998)
  • Bray Walker, Solicitor (1994-1996)
  • Owen White & Catlin, Trainee and Solicitor (1991-1994)

Memberships

Denise is also a member of the Scottish Family Law Association and of Resolution both  organisations that promote a constructive and non-confrontational approach to family law matters. She is a practising and experienced Collaborative Family lawyer, a member of Consensus Scotland, and has successfully mediated a number of family law cases that have either been referred by the courts or self-referred by individuals. She is a member of the Armed Forces Legal Action Group and former Legal Panel Member of the White Ensign Association.

Awards

Since 2014 Denise has been consistently ranked as one of Scotland’s leading family lawyers in Chambers and in Legal 500.

Testimonials