Peter Burgess

Peter started his career at Withersworldwide before co-founding the firm with Antonia in 2013. 

Peter’s clients include people from all walks of life, from entrepreneurs, people running businesses or working in banking, financial or professional services and their partners and spouses. Whether it is tactical advice in the background, managing an out of court process or intensive and complex litigation, he is able to adapt his approach to meet the particular needs of his clients.

Peter specialises in both high value financial work on divorce and separation as well as complex children matters including cross border relocations. Peter regularly advises on pre and post nuptial agreements, separation agreements and cohabitation agreements for high-net-worth individuals and their partners. 

Peter’s particular areas of expertise include the following:-

• Cases involving trusts and trustees (Peter was a co-author of the second edition of International Trust and Divorce litigation) and often works hand in hand with Georgina Crane from the firm’s private client team on analysing trust and other asset protection structures.
• Advising and acting on issues around loss of capacity, whether due to age, physical or mental health or other issues. Peter has been involved in several cases involving older clients who had litigation friends appointed to act on the client’s behalf.
• Cases involving controlling and coercive behaviour towards a former spouse or partner and strategizing to minimise the impact. Peter has advised both those responding to allegations and those making them.
• International relocations abroad with children – recent destinations include various US jurisdictions, Spain and Hong Kong.

In addition to his advisory and litigation work, Peter is also an accredited mediator, and is highly regarded for his reasoned manner and calm approach to cases, whether amicable or difficult in nature.

Peter has also been involved with Antonia in developing a guide to coparenting including free resources at the firm’s sister site www.thehappycoparent.com.

Peter has been described by the legal directories as: 

“exceptionally calm under fire, pragmatic and commercial in his approach and extremely empathetic making him exceptionally good at supporting his clients’.”

"very bright, intuitive and has great judgement; he can see the wood for the trees and is able to cut through all of the distractions to get the client on board and see the bigger picture."

"great - steady, calm and has a knack for predicting the other sides next move."

"very meticulous and methodical, but at the same time he is very empathetic and easy to deal with. He is very good at dealing with the most vulnerable clients. I am always happy to refer clients to him."

"one of the best there is. Accessible and down to earth, but with a huge brain and appetite to commit to his clients and their case"

"a pleasure to deal with. He's really good with clients, he's really accessible and really collaborative."

"an extraordinarily sensitive, patient and accessible person who clients feel very confident in"

"a skilled mediator", "a very skilled negotiator" and "an outstanding lawyer "

"very passionate about what his clients want and believes in their story"

He has been recognised as a leading family lawyer in London by Chambers, Legal 500, Citywealth and Spears Family Law Index. He was highly commended for Partner of the Year at the British Family Law Awards 2023.

During his time at Withers, Peter was involved in many landmark cases including Charman, the largest reported payout by an English court, and Imerman v Tchenguiz, which changed the law on financial disclosure on divorce.

Peter's clients have described him as "simply excellent", "extremely well informed, willing to put the time in to discuss matters at length" and "realistic about the options but showed a real flair". A former client of Peter's stated, "I owe Peter a huge life-debt: he literally came up with the formula which has enabled me to see my children in the intervening years". Another quoted "I quickly came to trust Peter’s strategic thinking and had complete confidence in his guidance. Whilst firmly at my side he always made me feel that the process was in my hands and could proceed at my pace where possible."

Peter is an active member of Resolution, a national member organisation for family lawyers. He was elected to the National Committee and is Secretary of the organisation.