Richard is a highly experienced French- and German-speaking family lawyer who advises domestic and international clients on every aspect of family law including complex financial and business cases, private children issues, cohabitant disputes and cases involving offshore trusts and tracing assets.
Richard specialises in cases which involve depression and mental health and addictive behaviour issues including alcoholism and substance misuse. He has particular expertise in civil partnership cases, UK and foreign child relocation cases, and cross-border jurisdiction disputes.
He also advises those who are not married on disputes over property, child arrangements and financial claims for the maintenance of children.
Richard’s clients are a wide range of professionals in business, law and finance, individuals with private wealth, those in the arts, media and in the public eye and their spouses and partners. While experienced in complex claim litigation, he is also committed to dispute resolution solutions and is a trained collaborative lawyer and mediator.
He is a regular contributor to the media on topical family issues.
Richard Collins … is ‘a tough litigator with an excellent bedside manner’
Legal 500
Richard Collins ‘fights hard for his clients, 24 hours a day'
Legal 500
Expertise
Finance
- Advising spouses on finances following separation and divorce
- Pre- and post-nuptial agreements
- Advising couples who are not married or who are in a civil partnership on relationship breakdown and on issues such as property disputes
- Non-molestation orders
- Occupation orders
- Part III applications
- Schedule 1 financial claims for the maintenance of children
- Variation of maintenance, interim maintenance
- TOLATA application (property disputes)
Children
- Private child arrangements
- Child internal and international relocation applications
- Change-of-school applications
- Child abduction
Experience
- Resolved a complex international case with assets in different jurisdictions including offshore trusts
- Acted for a high-net-worth mother in private children relocation court proceedings followed by children residence proceedings
- Concluded out-of-court settlements for City and legal professionals and their spouses and partners
- Acted for professionals, their spouses and partners specialising in issues surrounding depression, alcoholism and addictive behaviours and obtained protection orders from the court (non-molestation) and removal from property orders (occupation order)
- Litigated a successful high-value case following asset tracing of assets hidden in different jurisdictions
- Maintained confidential the identity of high-profile media and arts clients in the public eye and resolved their matters outside the court system
- Succeeded for a spouse in a jurisdiction race case where she was awarded significantly more in England that she might have received in the competing European jurisdiction
- Acted for a high-net-worth entrepreneur on a post-nuptial agreement
- Acted for a spouse and secured the return of the children following their wrongful removal to the UK
- Adopted the collaborative law approach and assisted civil partners resolve financial and property issues
- Advised a wealthy farmer’s wife in rural West Wales (dairy, arable)
- Advised a wealthy farmer in Lincolnshire (arable)
Please note: The experience list above may include examples of work completed prior to joining Keystone Law.
Recognition
Top recommended family lawyer by Spear’s 500 2023
“Richard has absolute professionalism and authoritative approach. He is above all a compassionate, caring, friendly and sympathetic human being.” Spear’s 500 2023
Recognised by Chambers UK 2023 for Family/ Matrimonial: High Net Worth
“Richard is a very experienced lawyer with a wide-ranging practice involving children and money.” Chambers UK 2023
“He is a brilliant negotiator. He has extremely good judgement and he’s very practical.” Chambers UK 2023
“Clients absolutely adore him, he has really good judgement and he will fight a client’s corner wherever necessary. He is relentless in getting clients the best deal.” Chambers UK 2023
“He is really good to deal with, he’s very straight talking. He’s very committed.” Chambers UK 2023
“Richard is very supportive, dedicated to his clients and very tactical. If there’s a fight, you want him on your side.” Chambers UK 2023
Recognised by The Legal 500 (2020-2023) for Family
“I have worked with Richard Collins for a number of years and he is a first rate solicitor. He is an outstanding litigator with the exceptional ability to predict outcomes at an early stage. He is hugely responsive working all hours (however unfashionable that has become). His charge rate reflects very well against the top flight niche family firms and the service he provides is equivalent to or beyond some of the most well known names in the financial remedy field.” The Legal 500 2023
“Keystone operates an innovative and client focused business where the overheads are kept to a minimum and the calibre of the lawyers is kept consistently high. Richard Collins is a very experienced family law solicitor with a very loyal following. He offers a Rolls Royce service at a reasonable price. He is pragmatic and solutions focused and his clients have total confidence in him”. The Legal 500 2022
Top recommended Family Lawyer in Spear’s 500 2022
Recognised in Chambers High Net Worth 2021 and 2022 for Family/Matrimonial
“Clients absolutely adore him, he has really good judgement and he will fight a client’s corner wherever necessary. He is relentless in getting clients the best deal. He is really good to deal with, he’s very straight talking. He’s very committed.” Chambers High Net Worth 2022
“A very experienced lawyer with a wide-ranging practice involving children and money. He is a brilliant negotiator. He has extremely good judgement and he’s very practical.” Chambers High Net Worth 2022
“ Richard Collins of Keystone Law is “a class act. He is very pragmatic and very solutions-focused.” Chambers High Net Worth 2021
“He has very sound judgement. He goes the extra mile and is commercial and wise. He is as strong in relation to children work as he is on finance work and is very used to complex cross-jurisdictional work.” Chambers High Net Worth 2021
“Richard Collins is a conscientious and strategic solicitor who was able to keep the process going forward despite many obstacles from external factors. I personally found his calm, even nature in the wake of conflict a source of stability as we worked through the financial negotiations.” The Legal 500 2021
“Richard Collins has a clear grasp of any financial settlement and the needs of the children and his client, is prepared to play hard ball where necessary, but will not inflame what can be an already volatile situation into a battlefield.” Citywealth Leaders List 2019
Top recommended Family Lawyer in Spear’s 500 2018
“Richard Collins ‘fights hard for his clients, 24 hours a day’” Legal 500 2017.
“Richard Collins … is ‘a tough litigator with an excellent bedside manner’.” Legal 500, 2016
Co-author, Living Together: Is Marriage the Better Buy?
Recommended in Citywealth Leaders USF 2018
Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers
Member of Resolution
Member of Franco-British Lawyers Society
Career
Richard qualified as a solicitor in 1996. Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2018, he was a partner at Charles Russell Speechlys from 2005.