Emilie Helm

Emilie advises on complex financial remedy proceedings, including cases with significant jurisdictional and international elements. She has acted on complex jurisdictional disputes and novel High Court applications, including anti-suit, anti-reliance, and anti-enforcement injunctions. She conducts financial remedy litigation involving LSPOs, maintenance pending suit, and complex trust structures, and advises on cases dealing with issues of non-disclosure, third-party disclosure orders, joinder, and non-matrimonial property.

• Acted for a wife in a complex jurisdictional dispute against India with novel High Court applications, including anti-suit, anti-reliance, and anti-enforcement injunctions in financial remedy proceedings.
• Conducted financial remedy litigation involving LSPO and MPS applications in cases with significant trust structures and non-matrimonial property arguments with assets ranging in excess of £100m.
• Acted for the husband in the reported case of Hopkins v Hopkins [2015] EWHC 812 (Fam).
• Acted for the wife in the reported case of Robertson v Robertson [2016] EWHC 613 (Fam) dealing with arguments about special contribution, matrimonial, and non-matrimonial assets and valuation of business assets (including arguments regarding active and passive growth).
• Advised and represented clients in financial remedy proceedings involving special contribution arguments and complex asset structures across multiple jurisdictions.
• Acted on Part III MFPA 1984 applications for clients seeking financial relief in England following overseas divorce proceedings.

Emilie advises on private children matters involving safeguarding issues and international and procedural complexity. She has advised on relocation cases and matters involving domestic abuse allegations with parallel criminal proceedings, parental alienation, as well as cases involving neurodiversity, and complex welfare evidence.

• Represented applicant mothers in applications to permanently relocate children to France and Australia.
• Advised a mother on a private children matter involving domestic abuse allegations and parental alienation, with parallel criminal proceedings.
• Advised a father on a private children matter involving neurodiversity issues and involving disputed allegations of emotional harm to children, requiring evidence from psychiatric specialists and independent social workers.
• Advised a father regarding wrongful removal of the child and obtained an order for the child’s return.
• Regularly supports parents seeking to resolve child arrangement disputes outside court, advising on parenting agreements, consent orders, and non-court dispute resolution, and providing support behind the scenes where parties are engaged in mediation or direct negotiation.

Emilie advises on cross-border family law matters with a particular focus on England and Wales and French-speaking countries. She has successfully acted on jurisdiction disputes  and Part III MFPA 1984 applications, and advises clients on the strategic implications of proceedings in multiple jurisdictions.

• Acted on jurisdiction disputes in proceedings involving parties with connections to England and France, advising on forum strategy and the conduct of proceedings in both jurisdictions simultaneously.
• Acted on Part III MFPA 1984 applications for clients seeking financial relief in England and Wales following divorce proceedings conducted abroad.

Emilie advises ultra-high-net-worth and high-net-worth clients on pre- and post-nuptial agreements, cohabitation agreements, and wealth protection arrangements, often with international considerations.

• Advised high-net-worth clients on pre- and post-nuptial agreements, including in cross-border and multi-jurisdictional contexts (France, Switzerland, USA, Norway) where assets or parties span more than one jurisdiction.
• Advised a husband on treatment of French PACS under English Law and the drafting and negotiation of a pre-PACS agreement.

Member of Franco-British Lawyers Society

Member of French Chamber of Commerce

Invited speaker at the national French family law conference États Généraux du Droit de la Famille et du Patrimoine in 2024 and 2025, delivering three-hour workshops in French on English family law alongside leading French practitioners.

Speaker at the 2022 Resolution conference alongside Dr Louise Newsome presenting on the relevance of menopause in family law following a joint survey examining its impact on relationship breakdown.

Speaker for Thought Leaders alongside Delphine Eskenazi regarding jurisdictional differences between England, France and USA on treatment of nuptial agreements and marital contracts.

Produced cross-border thought leadership including articles, webinars, and the French language podcast Partons de Zéro with Parisian lawyers, addressing Anglo-French family law issues for practitioners and clients in both jurisdictions.