Richard Westley
Legal Director - Family Law
"I am a family lawyer specialising in the law relating to children, with many years’ experience of dealing with the most serious and complex public and private law cases. I am dedicated to providing excellent service and offer straightforward, no-nonsense and realistic advice.”
I joined Higgs as a Legal Director in April 2025, having led the children law team at another regional firm.
I am accredited by The Law Society as a children law expert. I deal with the full range of cases concerning children, from straightforward arrangements for a child to live or spend time with parents or other family members, to more complicated cases where it is alleged that a child has suffered significant harm. I also deal with injunctions to protect against abusive behaviour or in relation to other issues.
I have acted in some of the most complex cases in the county, including those involving child death, the murder of a parent, parental alienation, sexual abuse and international relocation.
I appear regularly before the Family Court and have appeared in the High Court and worked on cases being heard in the Court of Appeal.
I am a member of Resolution (a community of family justice professionals who work with families and individuals to resolve issues in a constructive way) and I have been recognised in the Legal 500.
- Acting for the children in a reported case before the Court of Appeal, in which the court gave guidance on dealing with foreign authorities and their assessments of alternative carers.
- Acting for the children in a case before the High Court, which established the cause of a baby’s death and multiple rib fractures and was reported so as to highlight the dangers inherent in co-sleeping with babies/young children.
- Successfully acting for a mother in a case before the High Court, in recovering her child from the other parent, who was in a country where there was no mechanism to enforce the Hague Convention.
- Successfully acting for grandparents in long-running and heavily contested proceedings to obtain a child arrangements order so that they could spend time with their grandchildren on a regular basis.
- Successfully acting for a foster carer in adopting a child she had looked after, in circumstances where a birth parent emerged late in proceedings.
- Acting for a mother in obtaining orders restricting a father’s exercise of his parental responsibility in relation to children he had abused.
More about me
Favourite book
Fatherland by Robert Harris
Interesting fact
I’m a keen indoor rower. I am aiming to complete 2,000,000 metres in one season.
Favourite food
Really good steak
Favourite place
Northumberland
Latest insights
Meet the team
Philip Barnsley
Partner and Head of Family Law
Jodie Johnson
Associate - Family Law
Rhian Gray
Partner - Family Law
Karen Gray
Senior Associate - Family Law
Kia Starks
Trainee Solicitor - Family Law
Alex Sankey
Legal Assistant - Family Law
Ellie Norton
Principal Associate - Family Law