Our work covers all areas of family law, with particular expertise in the following areas:
Call: 2007
‘Alex is very knowledgeable, with a very high standard of advocacy and particularly strong with drafting. He is robust in his advice to clients and he takes a sensible approach.'
Legal 500 UK Bar 2026
Alex is a highly experienced Family Law specialist with a particular focus on intractable family disputes and serious child protection cases.
Alex’s core strengths are his advocacy and cross-examination, which he conducts with a forensic attention to detail. His written work is focussed and persuasive – and is repeatedly cited as being exceptional.
First and foremost, Alex is there for his clients. His manner is humane and sensitive. His advice is constructive and insightful. As a family man himself Alex is extremely passionate about the work he does and will give his all to obtain the best possible outcome for his client.
When not in Court Alex is a keen tennis player, and since 2019 he has served as the Hon. Secretary to the Bar Lawn Tennis Society for England & Wales.
To instruct Alex or for more information…
Call: 020 7353 6961
Email: clerks@harcourtchambers.co.uk
Alex is regularly instructed on all sides of public law cases and is an experienced handler of all types of care hearings including contested removals, secure accommodation orders, fact-findings and final hearings, frequently linked with concurrent Wardship or Deprivation of Liberty proceedings in the High Court.
The cases Alex deals with include the most serious and complex types of harm including sexual abuse, fabricated and induced illness, poisoning, shaken babies leading to serious brain damage, and other non-accidental injuries leading to multiple injuries, haemorrhages, fractures and even death.
Alex is adept at absorbing vast quantities of paperwork including meticulous preparation of extensive medical records and is well versed in the cross-examination of experts and medical professionals.
Care proceedings relating to three children, issued following concerns of neglect.
Application by local authority for an order authorising it to refuse contact between 4 children in care (who live with their mother) and their father.
The court, having found the father guilty of sexual misconduct involving a vulnerable 16-year-old, granted a final care order for the child and permitted disclosure of the judgment to the regulatory body investigating the father’s fitness to practise.
Appeal by local authority in care proceedings against section 37 direction in respect of three other children, who were not the subject of the proceedings. Judgment gives important clarification on the law by Lord Justice Baker regarding s.37 Children Act 1989.
Care proceedings. application by mother to restrict disclosure of certain information to the father.
Fact-finding hearing in care proceedings issued following death of sibling.
Appeal by mother from the dismissal of applications to discharge placement orders and for the instruction of an independent social worker. Appeal dismissed.
Alex appeared on behalf of the Applicant Local Authority in this an application by father for disclosure of various pieces of information in relation to public law proceedings.
Involving multiple injuries to a baby with no explanation
Involving multiple rib and shoulder fractures to a pre-mobile child
Involving multiple leg fractures in a toddler
Involving the suspected poisoning of a child, where it emerged mid-trial that the hospital had missed an underlying condition
Involving a baby who had died from shaking.
Involving a family member accused of making a child unwell for the purposes of seeking medical attention.
Alex is an experienced private law children advocate, most frequently instructed in parental alienation cases or seemingly intractable child arrangements (contact or residence) disputes.
Alex recognises the need to avoid multiple unnecessary hearings when heavy costs are being incurred on all sides, or costly final hearings where parents are pitted against one another to the detriment of the child. His sensitive but practical and solution-based approach gives clients the best chance of being able to resolve even the most contentious disputes.
Where trials are needed though, these are Alex’s speciality. He is quick on his feet and not easily outmanoeuvred. Alex will always stand ready to fight for his client.
Application by a father for a new child arrangements order on the basis of alleged parental alienation supported by an expert report. The child had been made a party and appointed a guardian who did not agree with the conclusions of the expert.
Involving multiple allegations of violence made at the point of separation as a method of delaying contact
Involving the gradual alienation of a child from the other parent to the point that therapy was required before contact could be re-started
Involving the repeated and sustained breaches of contact orders resulting in the need for enforcement proceedings and an application for transfer of residence
Involving an application to prevent any contact between a parent and child until the child was an adult, due to sexual crimes committed by the parent.
Alex is regularly instructed in cases where there is a significant foreign element that runs the risk of undermining the orders made by the court in this country.
Alex is particularly experienced in cases which involve placement of children abroad, recovery of children from Hague or non-Hague convention countries, Wardship applications where children are made wards of the High Court, and cases involving the transfer of proceedings to different jurisdictions.
Involving a child who was taken to Australia following a final hearing in order to sabotage the court’s orders
Involving a family who fled the country when it became clear to them that a Local Authority was shortly to issue care proceedings
Involving children who were Slovenian nationals, born in Slovenia and whose family lived in Slovenia, who were taken into care and placed for adoption in the UK
Involving a family split between London and Rome, and cross-jurisdictional disputes over where the case should be heard and where the children should live in the meantime.
Alex is most frequently instructed at the critical FDR stage of finance proceedings where clients have the opportunity to craft a settlement to their case without having to suffer the significant delay and costs of a final hearing.
Alex has a very good track record of resolving clients’ cases at this stage, but he does not shy away from a fight if needed and his wealth of cross-examination experience from across the range of his expertise means that clients can be sure their case at final hearing is pressed in the strongest terms.
Involving multiple foreign assets and businesses, as well as sustained failure to comply with orders for disclosure
Involving a spouse who assets were all held in an offshore trust, who therefore sought to have them discounted from the ‘pot’
Involving grandparents who had invested heavily in the marital home for the benefit of their grandchildren, seeking to recover that investment upon the sale of the home following the parents’ divorce
‘Alex is an exceptional advocate. He is calm, measured, intelligent, well-prepared, professional and has an excellent manner. His written work is also outstanding, as his ability to get to grips with the key facts and issues.’
Legal 500 UK Bar 2025
'Alex is always very well prepared and well appraised of the legal framework and case law relevant to the matter he is dealing with. His written documents are clear and comprehensive and he is an effective advocate.'
The Legal 500 UK Bar 2024
"A star in the firmament."
Solicitor
Chloe Wilkins acted for the Applicant Local Authority, Alex Perry, instructed by Jackson West Solicitors, acted for A the Third Respondent, Elisabeth Wickham, instructed by Oxford Law Group, acted for B…
Alex Perry, instructed by Daniells Family Law Limited, represented the First Respondent Mother in E (Section 37 Direction) [2025] EWCA Civ 470; an appeal by a local authority in care…
Sian Cox, instructed by Fort & Co, appeared for the mother and Alex Perry, instructed by Reeds, for the children in Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead v The Mother…