© Dawson Cornwell
On 1st December 2010, Anne-Marie Hutchinson OBE was a speaker at the launch of Freedom Charity, a charity formed to raise awareness of forced marriage and dis-honour based violence. The venue of the launch was the House of Lords. Other speakers included Lord Toby Harris, Baroness Scotland, Aina Khan and Dr Humayra Abedin, a former client of Dawson Cornwell, who spoke about her own experience of being forced into a marriage.
Dawson Cornwell were proud to support the inaugural Alternative Families Show 2010 on Saturday 23rd October 2010. This one-stop shop show was aimed at the lesbian and gay community and brought together exhibitors from a variety of top UK advisors on the facts and options for same sex and single parents on becoming a parent. The show was organised by littlepink, Square Peg Media and Stonewall and sponsored by the London Womens’ Clinic. It was attended by around 4,000 participants.
Anne-Marie Hutchinson OBE spoke at two of the well attended seminars which ran throughout the day. She chaired and spoke at the "Unknown Donor Roadmap" session on donor conception and spoke at the "Considering Surrogacy" session on the legal aspects of surrogacy, adoption and immigration for would be same sex parents.
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On 15th October 2010 Rebecca Hawley, winner of the inaugural Peter Clark Prize, was presented with the £2,000 award at Dawson Cornwell's offices.
This award was established in honour of Peter Clark, a partner at Dawson Cornwell from 1993 until his death in April 2010. Senior partner John Cornwell said "Peter Clark hid his light under a bushel but was to my personal knowledge an exceptional family lawyer. It is entirely fitting that this award, which Dawson Cornwell sponsors, should be given to future generations of the best in family law".
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Rhiannon Lewis addressed the annual International Bar Association in Vancouver 3rd to 8th October 2010 at the Vancouver Convention Centre. The conference was attended by over 3,500 international lawyers. Photograph. Rhiannon addressed the Joint Family Law and Individual Tax & Private Client Law session "Coming & Going II: focus on going – exit strategies for the private client. Is getting up and going a good solution?" The session was co-chaired by Jacqueline Julyan SC of the Marine Group of Advocates, Durban and Niklas Schmidt of Wolf Theiss, Vienna. Rhiannon spoke alongside Ranjit Malhotra of Malhotra & Malhotra Associates, India and Dr. Roland Krause, of Dr. Krause & Partners Gbr, Berlin.
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Rhiannon Lewis also chaired a stimulating session held jointly by the Family Law Committee and the Mediation Committee "Mediation in International Family Law". In the role play, the co-mediators were Max Blitt of Spier Harben Calgary and Marguerite Smith, Flexx Law PS, Seattle. The wife was role played by Frances Burton of London Metropolitan University School of Law, London and the husband by Dr. Roland Krause of Dr. Krause & Partners Gbr, Berlin.
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Rhiannon Lewis attended the conference as a market visit participant of the UK Trade & Investment and The Law Society of England & Wales mission.
Dawson Cornwell co-sponsored the Family Law Committee Breakfast.
Read an article by Carolina Marín Pedreño and Lucy Marks published in the Family Law Journal about how the forthcoming decision in Radmacher v Granatino may effect the enforceability in this country of agreements entered into before marriage in Spain. The article provides an explanation of economic regimes and matrimonial property and the different types of agreements entered into in Spain prior to marriage.
Article
On 16th September 2010 Dawson Cornwell hosted a reception to celebrate the launch of a new DVD for schools by charity Schoolchildren for Children. Schoolchildren for Children is a charity which encourages children to raise money, by taking exercise, both for the benefit of their own school and to pay for school equipment for specific schools in poorer countries including Kenya, China, Nepal and Thailand. The charity is supported by a number of sporting celebrities and Dawson Cornwell has been involved in sponsoring the charity for a number of years. The new DVD, which is being distributed to schools nationwide, features two of Dawson Cornwell’s partner Russell Bywater’s children.
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On 25th September 2010, a team from Dawson Cornwell participated in a sponsored walk in support of Reunite International. Reunite International is a leading charity supporting families affected by international child abduction. The money raised by Dawson Cornwell’s team will support the charity and their specialist telephone advice line, enabling them to continue to offer support, impartial advice and guidance to parents and family members.
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Read an interview with Russell Bywater on family law in ACQ Magazine.
Interview
The inaugural Divorce Super Conference, organized by SGCL, was held on 7th and 8th July at King's College, London. John Cornwell, senior partner of Dawson Cornwell, opened and chaired Day One of the conference.
Conference programme
Anne-Marie Hutchinson and Russell Bywater addressed the inaugural conference "International Child Abduction, Relocation and Forced Marriage" on 30th June to 2nd July 2010. This highly successful and important conference was organized by the Centre for Family Law and Practice, London Metropolitan University.
Dawson Cornwell were proud to be one of the sponsors of the conference.
Anne-Marie Hutchinson chaired three sessions; Forced Marriage: British Initiatives and International Approaches; International Child Abduction and Forced Marriage. She also participated as a panel member on the Forced Marriage Break out session, chaired by Mr Justice Singer. Russell Bywater spoke on nullity in the context of forced marriage cases.
Conference programme
Carolina Marín Pedreño and Lucy Marks attended the first International Meeting of British and Spanish Lawyers which took place in Malaga on 13th to 15th May 2010. Organised by the Law Society and the Malaga Bar Association, together with the British Spanish Lawyers Association, the conference focused on private client issues in English and Spanish law and the principal differences in the practice of law in England and Spain.
Carolina Marín Pedreño presented a talk on child abduction and the issues relevant to both jurisdictions. Her presentation dealt with applicable law, definition of child abduction, the functions of the Central Authorities in England and Wales, and Spain, the defences available and Spanish cases of abduction determined by the English Courts.
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Anne-Marie Hutchinson OBE has received the International Bar Association’s Outstanding International Woman Lawyer Award 2010. The announcement of this prestigious award and its presentation was made at the IBA 4th World Women Lawyers Conference in London on 15th April 2010. It was awarded in recognition of a woman lawyer who has achieved professional excellence in her field and influenced other women to pursue legal careers or opened doors for women lawyers in a variety of job settings that historically were closed to them, or advanced opportunities for women within a practice, area or segment of the profession.
The award was sponsored by Lexis Nexis.
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Anne-Marie Hutchinson OBE has been appointed a member of the International Issues Committee of the Law Society of England and Wales, for a term of 3 years from 1st September 2010. This Committee promotes and raises awareness of International legal issues within the profession, both at home and abroad.
Read an article written by Lucy Marks and published on the First Wives World Website about the benefits for women of getting divorced in the UK.
Breaking up in Britain. Are the UK’s divorce laws better for women?
Dawson Cornwell launched its German website on 9th February 2010.
In recent years, the firm has seen an increase in the number of jurisdictional cases involving Germany and German speaking clients. It has been able to provide a service tailored to these clients with the assistance of bilingual Ischtar Khalaf-Newsome.
The launch was celebrated with a reception held at The Law Society of England and Wales.
Ischtar Khalaf-Newsome and senior partner John Cornwell spoke briefly. The reception was honoured by the presence of Ralf Eden, Frank Montag and Gräfin Gisela Szechenyi of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, Stefano Agudo and Eva Gil of the Spanish Consulate, César Campoy of the Argentine Embassy, Alison Hook Head of International at The Law Society of England & Wales as well as a number of distinguished Judges. Also present were many international family and other lawyers.
Dawson Cornwell is the first family law firm in the UK with both Spanish and German language websites, reflecting its leading position in international family law.
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