Partner Alex Carruthers was interviewed in ThoughtLeaders4 HNW Divorce Magazine’s ’60 seconds with’ feature. Alex discussed topics in relation to his career as a family lawyer and trends in his practice and answered a few questions about his personal life.

An extract of the interview can be found below:

Q: What would you be doing if you weren’t in this profession?

A: Almost impossible to imagine. I have been doing it for 25 years and I am so entrenched in it! I remember when I was a callow youth discussing the same question with a barrister whom I was instructing. He said that he would be a guide for historical sites. I said that I would be a taxi driver. He is now LJ Moylan.

Q: What’s the strangest, most exciting thing you have done in your career?

A: I had to travel to the Cayman Islands to represent a client there who believed that all the local lawyers had been bribed by the mafia. The money laundering rules were less strict then and my fees were paid in cash. Of course, by the time my involvement ended in the case, she accused me of being bought off by the mafia.

Q: What is the easiest/hardest aspect of your job?

A: Undoubtedly, the hardest aspect is handing over clients to barristers and/or judges at hearings. You have lost control. I still find it very difficult! I sit at the back of the court wanting to stand up and correct everyone. Meeting new clients is the “easiest” and most enjoyable.

Q: If you could give one piece of advice to aspiring practitioners, what would it be?

A: Stick with it. When I was young, I would walk to work, worrying about the day ahead, and look at people with jobs that I thought were less stressful and think that they had an easy job because they didn’t have the worries that I had. When I would walk back from work, having had a successful day, I would look at them and think – I had a great day – and I wouldn’t swap my job for anything in the world.

Q: What has been the most interesting case you have seen in 2021?

A: I am bound by confidentiality rules but one case in particular has been unique. The judge described it as the most extraordinary case he has dealt with in 40 years of practice. It involved astonishingly bad conduct by the other party.

Q: What do you think will be the most significant trend in your practice over the next 12 months?

A: The change to no fault divorces is undoubtedly going to remove one of the initial headaches in proceedings. It makes no sense for parties to argue about why a relationship has broken down. It is normally for a number of reasons and discussion of the issues that led to the breakdown only serves to open old wounds. The breakdown of a relationship is difficult enough with it!

Read Alex’s full interview in ThoughtLeaders 4 HNW Divorce Magazine.