Louise Allard

Joint Managing Partner
louise@allardbailey.com

Louise is a founder and Joint Managing Partner of Allard Bailey Family Law. She has over 16 years’ experience of family law including, divorce, separation, children disputes, adoption and surrogacy.

Her clients come from all walks of life including city professionals, company directors, CEO’s, entrepreneurs and their spouses. Many of her cases have an international element.

Louise is passionate about family law and totally committed to helping people through some of the most difficult times of their lives with dignity and respect. As a member of Resolution, she will steer clients around conflict if possible, opting for a conciliatory approach to reach a fair agreement.

To aid this, Louise recommends that anyone with business interests, a well-established career or family wealth should enter into a pre-nuptial or post-nuptial agreement when they marry.

She says “No one wants to think about separating before they are married, but it is a lot easier agreeing what is fair while you are still enjoying the best of times, rather than when you are in the worst of times.”

That said, she represents her clients tenaciously and will always fight to get the best outcome.

Louise works tirelessly to help those affected by domestic violence – men, women and children – running the firm’s subsidised-fee scheme to assist in these cases.

Some Notable Cases Include:

Representing a husband in complicated divorce and financial matters where the wife had recently sold a stake in a business for up to £12 million.
Preparing a case at short notice to resolve financial and contact arrangements for a mother who had been caught up in the court system for over 2 years with other legal representation.
Representing a mother seeking a child arrangements order, housing and maintenance for her son in England, which was complicated by the fact that divorce proceedings were ongoing in Europe.

Successfully challenging a negative CAFCASS report for a father who was accused of serious domestic violence, but maintained that accusations were made to influence the court’s decisions about the children’s arrangements.
Representing a temporary foster carer who wanted to be joined as a party to care proceedings so that she could challenge the Local Authorities recommendation. The case had an international element and proceeded to the Court of Appeal. Louise worked with counsel in this jurisdiction as well as in Bulgaria.

A Little More About Louise

Before finding her true passion as a family lawyer, Louise worked in public relations and set up a New Media Agency in London.

Outside of work she is a school governor, runs half marathons to keep fit and is kept busy by her 3 sons.

It is a challenge balancing family and work life, but Louise believes it is possible and is committed to helping other members of the firm achieve that balance through flexible working.

You can learn more by reading about a day in her life.

Client Testimonials

Legal 500 2022

Louise Allard was outstanding. She understood the issues very quickly and asked the right questions at the right time. She guided me and gave me the reassurance when needed. She was also forthright and pragmatic and pointed out when certain things were not possible. A formidable, knowledgeable yet extremely caring family lawyer.

Respondent in children act proceedings

After 10 years of marriage I found myself in the position where I needed a lawyer and the work done by Louise Allard was excellent. She helped me navigate the legal landscape with empathy and expert knowledge, making a difficult situation as easy as it could be. I ended up with an outcome that left me able to move forward with the security I needed. I would like to thank her for all the hard work she put into my case.

Legal 500 2022

‘Louise Allard and Sabrina Bailey make up a stellar partnership in this boutique firm … providing all the skill and advice of a No. 1 London firm, at less cost and with a friendly, can-do attitude… The instructions are thorough and their case-conduct is flawless.’

Neil Bullock (Barrister, Coram Chambers)

Louise was brilliant and it was our mutual dogged determination and persistence which got the result our client hoped for. It was also down to a good assessment of the case and in no small part, the result was due to Louise’s exceptionally thorough work and presentation of the case in a way which had the Judge truly involved.