On this page
Overview
Luke Scarratt is a Senior Associate in the London Family Law team, specialising in high-value and complex family matters, often with an international element.
Winner of the Future Leader in Private Client Services at the 2025 Spear’s Awards, and recognised as a “Rising Star” in The Spear’s Family Lawyers Index and a “Key Lawyer” by The Legal 500, Luke is known dimension for his strategic, intelligent and client-focused approach. He advises high-net-worth individuals on divorce, financial settlements and children matters, and has worked on high-profile cases involving substantial assets, trusts and cross-border issues.
Most prominently, he was part of the team led by Baroness Shackleton in HRH Princess Haya of Jordan v HH Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai (including the proven allegations of phone hacking).
Additionally, his work on Silberschmidt v Richards [2025] progressed the law on set aside with a judgment confirming that a fraudulent husband could not evade the consequences of his own dishonesty by pointing to the wife’s alleged delay in bringing her claim. In OO v QQ [2025] the Court progressed a case against a husband who refused to engage with proceedings, in YE v ZY [2024] the Court – very unusually – made a costs order against a mother in children proceedings to pay a third of the father’s costs, in HO v TL [2023] the Court set out the law on valuing family businesses and invaded a nonmatrimonial trust to meet the wife’s needs, and in Hammoud v Al Zawawi [2019] the Court made an order to commit a husband to prison for nondisclosure and awarded the wife £24m.
On a technical level, BC v BC [2025] and AS v CS [2021] are key precedents in how legal professionals should conduct themselves in private FDRs.
Expertise
Luke’s expertise extends to:
- High-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth divorce
- Complex financial settlements, including offshore trusts and family businesses
- Private children law disputes, including complex cases involving relocation, safeguarding issues, and the involvement of Cafcass and / or social services
- Cohabitation and disputes between unmarried couples
- Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements
- International family law matters and cross-border issues
- Acting in high-profile and precedent-setting cases
- Advisory work on mental capacity and vulnerable clients in family proceedings
Reported Cases
- BC v BC [2025] EWFC 236
- Silberschmidt v Richards [2025] EWHC 2841 (Fam)
- OO v QQ [2025] EWFC 310 (B)
- YE v ZY [2024] EWFC 293 (B)
- HO v TL [2023] EWFC 215 (Finances)
- AS v CS (Private FDR) [2021] EWFC 34
- His Highness Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum v Her Royal Highness Princess Haya:
- The Legal Services Order [2021] EWHC 303;
- Court of Appeal Foreign Act of State Judgment [2021] EWCA Civ 129;
- Re Al M – Approved judgment [2021] EWHC 915;
- The Immunities Judgment [2021] EWHC 660;
- The Fact Finding Judgment – Hacking [2021] EWHC 1162;
- The Court of Appeal Immunities (permission to appeal) Judgment [2021] EWCA Civ 890;
- The Lives With judgment [2021] EWHC 1577;
- The Court of Appeal Fact Finding (permission to appeal) Judgment [2021] EWCA Civ 900;
- The Court of Appeal Fact Finding Judgment [2021] EWCA Civ 1216;
- The Non-Molestation Judgment [2021] EWHC 3305;
- The Foreign Act of State Judgment [2020] EWHC 2883;
- Publication judgment [2020] EWHC 122;
- Assurances and Waiver judgment [2020] EWHC 67;
- Publication – Appeal [2020] EWCA Civ 283;
- Fact finding judgment [2019] EWHC 3415.
- Hammoud v Al Zawawi:
- Hammoud v Al Zawawi [2019] EWHC 697 (Application for Committal to Prison); and
- Hammoud v Al Zawawi [2019] EWHC 839 (Finances).
- LKH v TQA AL Z [2018] EWHC 2436 (Fam) (Pound for Pound Orders).
Qualifications & Accreditations
Luke read theology at Durham before attending law school in London. He trained at Payne Hicks Beach and qualified into the Family Department in 2017, becoming a Senior Associate in 2023. He is ranked in The Spear’s Family Lawyers Index as a Rising Star and is recognised as a Key Lawyer by The Legal 500, as well as being a Spear’s Awards 2025 winner.
Awards & Accolades
- The Legal 500 UK 2027: Luke is ranked as a ‘Recommended Key Lawyer’ for both Family: Children and Family: Divorce and Financial Remedy.
- Spears Family Lawyers Index 2026: Luke is listed as a “Recommended” with a focus on children arrangements. Spear’s writes
- “For Luke Scarratt, the doors to family law were opened by the esteemed Baroness Fiona Shackleton. ‘I started at Payne Hicks Beach as a trainee and was really lucky to be asked by Fiona to have a place in her team,’ he tells Spear’s. The amiable lawyer has since worked with Baroness Shackleton on a number of big-money cases, the most significant of which was the high-profile divorce between Princess Haya and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum. ‘One of the things I love about family law is that suddenly you have to become well versed on a very idiosyncratic thing,’ he recalls, referring to the complex hacking allegations that came to the fore during the case. ‘I was asked to be on the case when I was just an associate, so it was valuable having a front-row seat.’ Scarratt acknowledges that Payne Hicks Beach’s reach and capabilities have allowed him to work with a diverse set of HNWs. ‘It’s interesting to hear human stories from all sorts of people who lead slightly weird and wonderful lives.’ In 2025, Scarratt received the award for Future Leader in Private Client Services at the Spear’s Awards.”
- The Legal 500 UK 2026: Luke is ranked as a ‘Recommended Key Lawyer’ for both Family: Children and Family: Divorce and Financial Remedy.
- Spear’s Awards 2025: Luke won the Future Leader in Private Client Services Award at Spear’s Awards 2025.
- Spears Family Lawyers Index 2025: Luke is listed as a “Rising Star” with a focus on children arrangements. Spear’s writes
- “For Luke Scarratt, the doors to family law were opened by the esteemed Baroness Fiona Shackleton. ‘I started at Payne Hicks Beach as a trainee and was really lucky to be asked by Fiona to have a place in her team,’ he tells Spear’s. The amiable lawyer has since worked with Baroness Shackleton on a number of big-money cases, the most significant of which was the high-profile divorce between Princess Haya and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum. ‘One of the things I love about family law is that suddenly you have to become well versed on a very idiosyncratic thing,’ he recalls, referring to the complex hacking allegations that came to the fore during the case. ‘I was asked to be on the case when I was just an associate, so it was valuable having a front-row seat.’ Scarratt acknowledges that Payne Hicks Beach’s reach and capabilities have allowed him to work with a diverse set of HNWs. ‘It’s interesting to hear human stories from all sorts of people who lead slightly weird and wonderful lives.’”
- The Legal 500 UK 2025: Luke is ranked as a “Recommended Key Lawyer” in the category of Family Law.
The Legal 500 UK 2024: Luke recommended as a “Key Lawyer” .
The Legal 500 UK 2023: Luke is recognised as a “Key Lawyer” and as “young and keen and one to watch“.
The Legal 500 UK 2022: Luke is ranked as a recommended lawyer with the directory writing that “Luke Scarratt is a junior well worth a mention. He is intelligent, strategic and hard working. Definitely a name for the future.”
