Liz Cowell

Liz Cowell is a partner in the Family Law team. She has over 30 years’ experience and she is considered a leader in her field.

She sits as a Deputy District Judge which enables her to keep up with the latest judicial developments in both family and civil cases.

She also specialises in cohabitation disputes which, frequently, involve trust issues and child support appeals cases where the client has had poor or negligent advice from previous solicitors. Liz acts for both husbands and wives, often from a business or a professional background. She frequently acts for clients whose net worth exceeds £5m. 

Best career moment: Over 30 years there have been a significant number of cases that mean a lot to me. Most recently I was delighted to help a client who had been widowed before she had received a divorce settlement negotiated for her by another firm of solicitors. She was referred to me when those solicitors were unable to progress matters with the deceased's executors, his children from his first marriage. After issuing proceedings I was able to convince the executors that a less costly way forward would be to enter into mediation. Eventually a settlement was achieved that saved the matrimonial home from sale and was more generous to the client than the original divorce settlement. I also persuaded her previous solicitor to waive some of his fees.

Notable cases include:

• achieving an order from the court that a pre nuptial contract entered into was binding before the Radmacher decision
• achieving the setting aside of an agreement reached between a husband and wife and subsequently securing for the wife a settlement worth ten times the amount for which her previous solicitors had settled. In addition the previous solicitors' insurers agreed to pay a significant proportion of her costs
• persuading the court to allow the children to live with their father after a previous solicitor had advised him to agree to let them live with their mother. In this case the mother was alleging domestic violence and a lack of funds. The court was persuaded that she was lying and eventually the matrimonial home was transferred to the client who was also able to retain his business. The previous solicitor was asked to repay the client his fee after the client was helped to make a complaint
• obtaining an order for a lump sum settlement for a client from her husband’s trust fund where his trustee was claiming that no such funds were available. 

Liz is a Resolution accredited specialist in Ancillary Relief and Cohabitation. She is an advanced member of the Law Society's Family Law Panel and is a member of Resolution's Child Support Committee. Liz lectures for Resolution. This year she has lectured on the CSA, bankruptcy and the Radmacher case. Liz is currently commissioned to write a text book for Resolution on Insolvency in divorce proceedings.

Liz qualified as a solicitor in October 1981 and became a partner at Pannone upon joining the firm in May 1999.