Alex called to the bar in June 2023, having previously practised as a solicitor in the family law teams of two leading multidisciplinary law firms. He qualified as a solicitor in Scotland in 2016 and in England and Wales in 2020.
As a solicitor, Alex gained extensive experience of financial provision on divorce and cohabitation claims. He has particular experience of cases involving high-net-worth individuals and a wide range of complex assets including trusts and businesses. He has considerable experience of nuptial and other family law agreements, including agreements covering multiple jurisdictions.
In the context of child law, Alex has experience of contact, residence, relocations, permanence, international child abduction, adoption and surrogacy. He was the instructing solicitor in two reported decisions under the Hague Child Abduction Convention (Petition of GMCR [2017] CSOH 66 and Petition of ES [2017] CSOH 79).
Alex’s particular expertise lies in private international law. He has extensive experience of advising on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments. He holds a doctorate in private international law from the University of Tübingen, Germany, which was awarded with distinction. His doctoral thesis ‘The Application of Foreign Law in the British and German courts’ was published by Hart/Bloomsbury in late 2022. He has taught private international law at the University of Edinburgh for several years and will be lecturing on the course in the upcoming academic year.
Alex also has experience of unjustified enrichment, public, education, contract, trust and succession law. In the context of public law, he was involved in a series of landmark petitions to the nobile officium.
Alex has published numerous articles covering a wide range of family law matters, including in Scots Law Times and Scottish Private Client Law Review. He was recently appointed as an editor of the Butterworths Scottish Family Law Service, with responsibility for the section ‘International aspects of the law relating to parental responsibilities and rights’. He co-authored the Scots family law section for the International Comparative Legal Guide for 2022 and 2023. He inputted into the Scots family law and evidential aspects of the BBC TV dramatisation ‘A Very British Scandal’.
Alex speaks fluent German and conversational Italian.
Mobile: 07890 643130
Email: Alex Critchley