Rayden Family Law Solicitors | St Albans

I had a fixed fee meeting with Lehna Gardiner, who was very knowledgeable and explained all the issues I was concerned about. She took the time to email me ahead of our meeting to get details of my case so she could be fully prepared, and this made me feel confident she was doing as thorough a job as possible. At our meeting Lehna was friendly and professional and talked me through several options, giving me all the facts I needed to make a more informed decision. I would definitely recommend her services.

I have gotten good, solid advice from my solicitors and barristers at Raydens during the four years that it has taken for my divorce to be finalised. From 1) a first meeting with my lawyers in the summer of 2019, when I decided to divorce through to 2) the Decree Nisi, then 3) financial disclosure and an agreement to split the marital assets, to 4) the Decree Absolute - my lawyers at Rayden Family Law have been reliable and professional. I am very grateful to Bhini Phagura and Che Meakins in particular. It has been such a pleasure to have received their guidance and to have known them as kind, compassionate people. I have enjoyed paying the bills! That can sound a bit odd, but I really appreciate the support and advice they gave me throughout the divorce process. I can now move forward in a confident and relaxed way. I know this is down to good decisions that I made, guided by Bhini and Che. I can recommend them highly.

Che and Emily alongside their two wonderful PA's Sarah and Jayne handled my divorce which was very difficult. I cannot recommend Che and Emily enough. My divorce was complicated and contentious, and the case settled very well, they delivered an even better outcome, and I'm extremely grateful. They went above and beyond of what I expected. They were always available whenever I needed to speak to them at short notice for reassurance, they would contact me after working hours just to ensure I was aware of any urgent exchanges that needed to be done, and I appreciated it. They managed my expectations very well, they were exceptional in dealing with my case, and they explained each and every process, and the rationale, and this put me at ease. Above all they listened to me, and always took my points of board.Please do not pay attention to the negative reviews. Rayden is a first class law firm that is client focused. Their costs are value for money, they work with excellent barristers, whose main focus is the client.RAYDEN IS VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!! YOU WILL NEVER BE DISSAPOINTED.

I dealt with Claire Howard at Rayden's who was professional and efficient at all times, especially so dealing with matters of a personal nature. I also found the costs to be very reasonable compared to London Firms. I would highly recommend her.

I’m not sure why anyone would give less than 5 stars for Raydens. They are a very professional outfit. They helped me secure safety for myself and my son after years of domestic violence from my partner. As a male victim it was several times harder but they supported me through the process. Not only did they win the case for me, they showed empathy and patience. They also secured an amazing barrister for me. All in all, I highly recommend Raydens solicitors.

Raydens sorted my divorce and child arrangements in 2013. Not cheap, perhaps 50K in total, should imagine that's a lot more with inflation. That said they pretty much provided a London service but not on London rates, so in reflection it was good value. Julian Bremner took on my case, which was an existing case from two other practices, and it was very messy, and completely out of control. I was on the verge of a mental breakdown, just about to burn down the marital home after liquidating my investments to buy gold bars etc, my narcissistic ex-wife attempting to stop me spending time with and parenting my son and control and abuse me as she had done throughout my short but horrific marriage. I'm surprised Julian didn't show me the door, that's what I expected, but he robustly got to grips with the situation and dealt with the complex matters very professionally. Lots of folk here complaining about cost, but trust me, good service comes at a price and I think if I hadn't had poor service prior, from other solicitors, then I wouldn't have been in the state I was in, and it would have been cheaper and easier for Julian to deal with and the outcome may have been more favourable.

In March 2020, just before the pandemic, I had my first meeting with Che regarding high conflict CAO.I worked with Raydens for over 2 years in total.I have found Rayden's to be proactive, understanding and take thought out actions.I found the team to be professional and effective despite challenging responses and scenarios to consider.I could not have got through this traumatic experience without all of the team working on my case. When I struggled the most, I was guided through the process in an understanding, professional and to the point manner.I always found Rayden's to be upfront and honest from costs, to outcomes, expectations and processes.The coaching I received on how to respond in court was exemplary and are lessons that I have taken forward in my life.I would always recommend Rayden's to other parents. I feel that Rayden's is an environment that strikes me as supportive of other colleagues who share experiences of cases and outcomes to provide the best possible service for Clients facing the challenging process that is family court.I have not had one negative experience of working with Rayden's in over 2 years.I am deeply and forever grateful to Rayden's for the best possible outcome that I could have received in my Final Hearing. Hopefully I never have to return to court in the future but if I do it would be with Rayden's on my side.

I really cannot recommend this firm. I dealt with one of their people (Partner and Financial Arbitrator) on a family law case. From mid-April to July 2022, they charged me over £31,500. Not a high value case and no court appearances, though there was a read in fee (increased after leaving their offices) and arbitration directions hearing of a few hours. Every month, the invoice was way over what they had estimated (2-3 times higher). I instructed them to submit an offer to try and resolve things and the partner got so many details wrong in the draft letter (ownership of assets, our ages, my proposed distribution of assets etc.) I was left wondering if it was him who actually drafted it, even though I was clearly paying his rates. After the directions hearing I had to question him on his advice because he still had key dates wrong. His explanation was that he was dictating it without the necessary paperwork in front of him. So I have to pay +£300 an hour for a guy who gets this much wrong?! They wanted to spend a week working on the s25 statements, which I knew would be another £18,000+ before even getting to arbitration. I had to tell them to stop EVERYTHING just to get a hold on the charges and they still continued to try and do stuff and charge me for it. When I dismissed them in September 2022, a full lever arch file full of papers (correspondence etc.) which I brought with me at the time of instruction, had been disposed of without my consent. Complaint copied to the senior partner who carries the name of the company - no response. My honest advice would be don’t go there and if you are there and scratching your head about the rates, leave straight away. I am wondering if there are ex employees of this company who would have a few things to say. Update after posting: The response form Raydens is definitely telling….there is no doubt I complained very loudly about the charges, the mistakes and disposing of my physical file, with the most senior partner in copy. I am not sure if they only regard it as a complaint if the ombudsman gets involved.

Edit: The comment below still applies. I decided it would be best to move solicitors,. My experience now is that Raydens managed to make a mistake with their final bill where I was asked to pay twice what was actually owing - luckily I queried this - and having received payment, promised to hand over the file to my new solicitor last week, however I'm still waiting.Very disappointed in the level of service. Sometimes you need your solicitor to be available, and unfortunately this isn't always the case. You do, however, receive an email explaining he is very busy with other clients. This is extremely frustrating when you have to pay thousands of pounds in advance.

We used these solicitors for a family law case. They charge us 28k but achieved nothing. We are in the same situation as before. Nothing changed despite 2 court appearances, so its quite confusing what they actually achieved.One of the court hearing was done on line but they still charged us the full amount. Another hearing was rescheduled but we still had to pay 9k for the barrister. After the last hearing we had which was not the final hearing, again they achieved nothing for us, the solicitor actually said we are shocked with the outcome ourselves and that it was not good."So basically they cannot defend or achieve what you are asking for. They just take the money and charge a huge amount for nothing. Also one of the solicitors said to us " The best way for you to keep your cost down is by having less communication with us". What? If we cant talk to you when needed why are you there?That's not all. We have a final hearing in October and they want another 38K. All the work is done we just need to write a statement and 2 days What a joke!!!! Still no guarantee of the outcome.Obviously we are not going ahead with them. We have found a barrister