Alexandra Hawkes
Solicitor, Family
Alexandra is a Solicitor in the Family department working across a full range of nuptial agreements and divorce and separation matters, including both children and finances.
She is developing a specialism in complex and innovative financial structures, such as business ownership, crypto- and digital currencies, and executive remuneration structures (e.g. RSUs, Stock Options).
Alexandra undertook her Training Contract with Herrington Carmichael, completing 21 months of 24 in the Family department before qualifying into the team in September 2026. She holds a Distinction in the LLM Legal Practice Course and a 2:1 LLB (Hons) in Law with Psychology, which has equipped her with strong technical legal skills and a deep understanding of the emotional dynamics involved in family disputes. During her Training Contract, she was awarded Best Trainee Competitor at the University of Law’s 2025 Legal Skills Triathlon.
She is committed to and prides herself on providing clear, strategic, and empathetic support to clients navigating difficult personal issues.
Successfully retaining and defending the treatment of executive and multi-currency remuneration (RSUs and Stock Options) and protection of non-matrimonial pension
The Challenge: We acted for a senior executive at a multinational technology company earning in excess of £500,000 per annum, paid both in US dollars and British pounds, in complex financial remedy proceedings.
The case involved the treatment and valuation of our client’s executive share awards (RSUs and Share Options), protecting pre-marital pension contributions from sharing, disputes concerning the value of the former matrimonial home, competing assessments of mortgage capacity, arguments over the other party’s future earning capacity, and claims against our client for both child maintenance and spousal maintenance.
Our Approach: We provided detailed and clear remuneration disclosure, preparing comprehensive evidence and submissions on the correct treatment of those awards, successfully resisting attempts to treat the same funds as both capital available for division and income available for maintenance claims. We also advised on the treatment of a single pension fund into which there had been transfers-in of pre-acquired investments and notably the significantly increased value since the initial contributions were made, James v Seymour Child Maintenance calculations, property valuation issues, mortgage capacity and the parties’ respective future earning potential. We were able to narrow the issues in dispute and present a compelling case at private FDR, placing our client in a strong position to achieve a clean break settlement.
The Outcome: Our team secured a settlement at private FDR achieving our client’s main goal of an immediate clean break, and the transfer of the former matrimonial home to the wife, a modest lump sum payment, provision for the payment of private school fees for the parties’ children, and retention of our client’s pre-marital pension. The parties reached a comprehensive settlement which avoided the need for a contested final hearing and prevented further legal costs.
What the client said: “Thanks to you and Alexandra for all your help so far. You’ve been a great team.”
What our team said: The case demonstrates the firm’s expertise in resolving high-value financial remedy disputes involving executive multi-currency remuneration structures, as well as non-matrimonial pension and high net worth maintenance claims, while securing commercially pragmatic settlements that avoid the costs and uncertainty of trial.
The team: Sarah Speed and Alexandra Hawkes