Catherine Thomas

Spear’s Review

‘Somebody in my case is always awake,’ jokes Bortoft Bell’s Catherine Thomas, whose cross-border cases often span multiple time zones. 

Thomas deals with all matters of family law, including international litigation, complex financial arrangements, children disputes and pre-nuptial, post-nuptial and cohabitation agreements.

She has been increasingly using ‘shuttle negotiations’, where lawyers meet separately to thrash out an agreement. ‘You can do it in one meeting if something’s time sensitive and clients want the good deal done quickly,’ she says.

Thomas moved to Bortoft Bell from Dawson Cornwell in 2021 to join partners Arron Bortoft and Charlie Bell, who both specialise in resolving complex, high-value cases for HNWs. She tells Spear’s that since joining the firm, she has represented ‘many captains of industry’ and ‘particularly enjoys cases with business at their heart’.