Who? Frances Hughes, senior partner at Hughes Fowler Carruthers, London.
Why is she in the news? Successfully represented Natalia Potanina in the Court of Appeal, where she was granted leave to pursue a financial claim against her ex-husband, Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin, in England.
Thoughts on the case: ‘Seven years have passed since Mrs Potanina’s original application under Part III of the MFPA 1984. While Mr Potanin’s applications have been consistent in that he has always sought to have the original application dismissed, Mrs Potanina has had to have her original application considered twice by the Court of Appeal since the Supreme Court took the unusual position of referring the case back to the Court of Appeal after making an extremely limited judgment. Future practice might be better served by an inter partes application than the ex-parte application, which complies with current rules. It is a pity that a litigant can find themselves at the beginning of their application after seven years of appellant procedure. I hope that no other party has to cope with the stress of such protracted litigation over preliminary issues. Of the judgments in this case, the first instance judge’s remarks should be treated with caution. Mrs Potanina is not a “divorce tourist”. That characterisation has been unfortunate and misleading.’
Dealing with the media: ‘The media are increasingly part of family law life. Unfortunately, they rarely have specialist legal editors and so are dependent on quotes from other lawyers. These can, irritatingly, sometimes betray the fact that the person quoted has either not read or understood the judgment. The view that Mrs Potanina did not have a bona fide claim and was a “divorce tourist” has been perpetuated by many commentators despite the fact that on this point she has been vindicated by two appellant courts.’
Why become a lawyer? ‘I became a lawyer accidentally, but family law has the perfect combination of problem solving and, of course, one’s clients may be unhappy when they first arrive, but one hopes that they are in a much better position and happier at the end of the case.’
Career high: ‘Obtaining a writ of habeas corpus for the purposes of rescuing a baby in remote Pakistan. The writ was executed by the Pakistani army.’
Career low: ‘I am ashamed to say that I am a bad loser and so probably my career lows would be those cases where I feel we have not done as well as we should have.’
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