Callum Neill - Solicitor
Callum is a family law solicitor with a substantial professional and academic background in complex and high-value family law matters, including with an international element.
He advises clients on all aspects of private family law, including:
- Divorce (and alternatives such as annulment, judicial separation and the dissolution of civil partnerships)
- Financial matters relating to divorce
- Pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements
- Child arrangements (including with whom a child should live and spend time with and other matters such as schooling and healthcare)
- International child abduction and relocation
- Schedule 1 of the Children Act proceedings (financial matters relating to children)
- Family Law Act proceedings, including non-molestation orders and occupation orders (relating to domestic violence)
Callum has a substantial academic legal background and has dedicated much of his studies to complex family law issues. His most recent family law thesis, written whilst a student at Magdalene College, University of Cambridge, compared the laws governing financial provision for divorcing couples in England and Wales as against the same type of laws in Scotland, with a particular emphasis on comparing how each regime prioritises meeting the parties’ financial needs relative to other key principles such as equally sharing ‘matrimonial property’ and achieving a ‘clean break’. He also wrote a family law thesis whilst a student at the College of St Hild and St Bede, University of Durham, assessing the impact of the United Kingdom Supreme Court judgment of Prest v Petrodel on the doctrine of ‘piercing the corporate veil’ in the context of financial proceedings relating to divorce where corporate structures (and often also trust structures) are involved. Whilst studying at Cambridge and Durham, Callum was fortunate to be supervised by some of the leading legal academics specialising in family law.
Callum regularly acts for a range of high-net-worth individuals in Cambridge and wider East Anglia. Many of his clients have links to other jurisdictions. As a result of his client base, he routinely deals with complex asset and income structures as well as cross-jurisdictional issues relating to both financial matters and child-related matters.
Callum qualified as a solicitor in September 2022. He started his career at a leading divorce and family law firm in central London as a paralegal, working exclusively for high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals, before spending over a year of his training contract at another law firm in London working in divorce and family law, often involving complex and high-value disputes. He has previously volunteered at a local advice service in London, providing free advice/triage for clients facing difficult personal circumstances relating to welfare benefits, debt, domestic violence and landlord & tenant issues (such as eviction actions).
Callum particularly enjoys the interpersonal aspect of his work. Helping individuals at the most difficult points in their lives with sensitive matters gives his work meaning and significance. He is a member of Resolution, an organisation committed to resolving family law issues in a constructive and non-confrontational manner.
Outside of work, Callum is an active and dedicated member of the City of Cambridge Rowing Club. He also rowed for Magdalene College whilst at the University of Cambridge and first discovered rowing at the College of St Hild and St Bede whilst a student at the University of Durham. Callum is an Arsenal Football Club supporter and held a season ticket before relocating to Cambridge.