Hughes Fowler Carruthers


Mark focuses on divorce and family law, in particular international cases and those involving trusts. He also deals with pre-nuptial and pre-civil partnership agreements.

Mark also acts in international children’s cases, including relocation cases. His Court of Appeal case of K v K helped to shape the law on relocation. In S v S, Mark achieved relocation but also change of primary carer for the children.

Mark was ranked one of the top ten UK family lawyers in Spear’s Wealth Managements’ Family law index 2017, 2018, and 2019 and was described as “without doubt the best technician in London”.

He was also ranked in The Lawyer’s ‘Hot 100 lawyers’ under Family and Private Client and is listed among the Top 10 Family & Matrimonial Lawyers in Citywealth’s Leaders List and Spear’s Family Law Index’s ‘Top Flight Family Lawyers’. Mark is also listed in Tatler Address Book’s Advisory as one of the leading family lawyers in their trusted network of influential and elite private client experts with “gilt-edged” expertise.

Mark is the co-author of three leading textbooks on family law: International Trust and Divorce Litigation (Third Edition), Same Sex Marriage and Civil Partnership – The New Law, and Model Letters for Family Lawyers, all published by Jordans. Sir James Munby, President of the Family Division, in a review of International Trust and Divorce Litigation said “This is a book which needs to be in the bookcase and in the briefcase of everyone involved on a divorce case with a trust element”.

Mark is a regular commentator on family law issues in the press and TV, having appeared on BBC News and Radio 4’s Today programme. He regularly lectures in England and in offshore jurisdictions on a broad range of family law issues, especially trusts on divorce and pre-nuptial agreements, and was the European Chapter President of the International Academy of Family Lawyers between 2014 and 2016.

Mark continues to have a strong presence in the UK’s top legal directories. Chambers UK 2024 and Chambers HNW 2023 reconfirm Mark’s Band 1 ranking. The Guide describes Mark as “highly professional and pre-eminent on trust issues,” with a source enthusing that he is “a very efficient lawyer, who has a full understanding of the different foreign laws systems, which is the key for international family cross-border cases.” Chambers UK 2023 praises Mark for being “an extremely good lawyer who is a go-to on difficult financial cases and trusts,” and “very clever, hard-working and good to deal with.” A source comments “Mark is a very good, technical lawyer who is second to none in complex international finance work,” while another notes he “has a huge amount of experience and expertise.”

Chambers HNW 2022 comments that “he absolutely knows more about the nuances of international trusts and divorce than anyone else. He’s one of the top lawyers for high net worth divorces.” Mark is commended as “one of the top lawyers for high net worth divorces” and as “incredibly pragmatic, straightforward and very realistic in his approach.” He is noted as “an excellent lawyer. He’s very, very astute, very incisive and conscientious.”

The Legal 500 UK 2024 reconfirms Mark’s ranking as a ‘Leading Individual’ with a source enthusing “if I had to recommend a solicitor to act for a trust who had been brought into family proceedings I would name Mark Harper of Hughes Fowler Carruthers as a go-to solicitor.” The Legal 500 UK 2022 notes that he is “fantastic and I would highly recommend him (in fact I have already) to anyone getting a divorce” further adding Mark was “very, very strong” when needed, and “could see what was happening

Mark has a keen interest in architecture, foreign travel and classic cars.

Mark studied at Pembroke College, Oxford and Guildhall University, London. He qualified as a solicitor in 1988 and was a partner at Withers from 1999 until September 2014, when he joined Hughes Fowler Carruthers.

Recent News

15 Feb

Mark Harper speaking at the first annual Practitioner’s Forum on Trusts in Divorce
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26 Jan

Alex Carruthers and Mark Harper featured in the Private Client Global Elite Directory 2024
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19 Jan

Mark Harper comments on the increasing number of requests for prenuptial agreements from UHNW and HNW individuals
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Academy Court
94 Chancery Lane
London WC2A 1DT

Tel: +44 (0)20 7421 8383
DX: 251 London/Chancery Lane
Email: [email protected]

Academy Court
94 Chancery Lane
London WC2A 1DT

Tel: +44 (0)20 7421 8383
DX: 251 London/Chancery Lane
Email: [email protected]

Spear's family law
LexisNexis 2020