Nicholas Baker

Call:1980

Introduction & Contact Details

Nicholas is a senior member of the highly commended Family Law team at Hardwicke Building. He accepts instructions from a wide range of clients. He lives in Hertfordshire and his practice extends throughout the south and east of England and the Midlands.

Nicholas is married with 3 daughters. His wife sits as a Regional Chairman . He is a keen sportsman.

Tel:   020 7242 2523 (switchboard)
Fax:  020 7691 1234

Email: nicholas.baker@hardwicke.co.uk

PROPERTY & PRIVATE CLIENT

Nicholas specialises in family law and particularly in the issues relating to marriage, divorce and the welfare of children.

Family – Breakdown & Finance

Nicholas’s family law experience is wide ranging and includes:

• Divorce
• Matrimonial Finance
• Property Ownership
• Division of family assets
• Contested divorce, nullity and foreign jurisdictional issues
• Ancillary Relief
• Freezing orders and protection of assets
• Enforcement
• Costs including interim orders

Recent Work

• Conduct of high value ancillary relief disputes including consequential relief and enforcement, assets both within and without the jurisdiction.
• Cases where assets have been concealed abroad, or held in confidential overseas bank accounts or tied up in working farms or have been acquired as a result of lottery winnings and inheritance.
• A case where jurisdiction was disputed (BII) and valuable property and exceptional items of personalty were held abroad and needed to be preserved.

Family – Children, including Public Law

This highly sensitive subject area is one of his specialist subjects, and for which he has received significant commendation. He accepts instructions on all issues within this area of law, including:

• Children and Child Care
• Schedule 1 Children Act 1989
• Children Act Part II
• Removal from the Jurisdiction
• Care Proceedings
• EPOs
• S.20 accommodation
• S.38(6) applications
• Interim and final orders
• Placement  Orders
• Adoption
• Special Guardianship
• Wardship
• Part IV Family Law Act

Nicholas is regularly instructed in child care proceedings both in the High Court and County courts. He acts predominantly for Children's Guardians but also for Parents, Intervenors, Local Authorities and for children themselves. He has experience of dealing effectively with issues of implacable hostility and difficult/intimidating clients.

Nicholas has a wide experience of this area: he has represented parties suffering mental health, involved in foreign and cultural issues, experiencing issues of sexual orientation and involving psychological and biological issues of parenting. His recent cases have involved serious injury through neglect or physical assault, sexual abuse (including internet exposure), allegations of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy and the recovery of children from abroad.

Nicholas has a wide experience selecting experts and the cross-examination both of experts and child witnesses. He has experience representing clients in the High Courts and Court of Appeal

Recent Work

• High Court proceedings involving an initial trial concerning the reopening of serious findings, an appeal to the Court of Appeal and a subsequent re-determination of the findings.
• High Court multi-handed intergenerational allegations of incest where specialist inquiries had to be undertaken at exceptionally short notice to establish paternity.
• High Court causation hearing on behalf of a Mother, involving multiple allegations by a child of serious physical cruelty in which the favourable result resolved the public law issue.
• High profile residence and contact disputes involving children within and their removal from the jurisdiction.

Nicholas also undertakes works on behalf of the Pro Bono Unit

Relevant Cases

Re L (Care Proceedings: Cohabiting Solicitors) [2000] 2 FLR 887
Complicated case where the solicitor acting for local authority in care proceedings was cohabiting with the solicitor acting for the adult parties.

Re K (Supervision Orders) [1999] 2 FLR 303

Unfortunate case involving the investigations after the death of a child only a few days after birth.