Will the partner I meet at the first appointment be the one who runs my file?

Yes. The first appointment is taken by the partner or senior solicitor whose practice covers the work. Punam Denley and Susan Andrews lead the financial remedy work, Helen Habershon leads the children and abduction work, Christine Plews leads the mediation arm. Day-to-day file work is supported by a senior solicitor and a paralegal, but the named partner stays on the file and signs every position statement and every consent-order draft.

Can we mediate rather than go to court, and if so, who runs the mediation?

Yes. There are three FMC-accredited family mediators in-house: Christine Plews (Chambers UK 2026 ranked Family Mediator, Thames Valley), Juliet Gordon and Isla Currie. Christine takes financial mediations for high-net-worth cases, Juliet covers international elements, Isla is on the pet-custody team and is Child Inclusive Mediation accredited. The Resolution Code of Practice is followed firm-wide, so even where solicitors run the file the default is to look first for mediation.

How does the financial remedy work where one of us owns a trading company or farm land?

Single joint expert accountants and surveyors are instructed where the value is in dispute. The consent order or final order is drafted so that operating capital is ring-fenced from the personal settlement and the business survives the divorce. Court of Appeal-level financial remedy work is part of the firm's file mix, not referred out: Punam Denley appeared in Giusti v Ferragamo [2019] EWCA Civ 691 and Susan Andrews in Waggott v Waggott [2018] EWCA Civ 727 in the Court of Appeal.

My case has an international element. Can you act?

Yes. International family law is a long-running specialism. Helen Habershon takes 1980 Hague Convention child abduction cases on the Reunite CAU panel; Juliet Gordon takes financial cases with overseas trust, BVI and offshore-pension elements; and the firm has a Marbella office for cases anchored in Spain or with Spanish assets. Cases routinely involve French, Italian, Swiss and Channel Island elements.

Will I have to travel to London, or can the file be run from Henley?

The file can be run from Henley. The Market Place office is set up for client appointments and for video appointments by Zoom or Microsoft Teams. The Marlow, Beaconsfield and London offices are available where it is more convenient. Court hearings take place at the relevant Family Court (most commonly Oxford, Reading, the Central Family Court in Holborn or the Royal Courts of Justice for appeals), and the firm sends counsel and a solicitor to every hearing.

Blanchards Law, Henley-on-Thames

Four areas of family practice.

A single-discipline family law firm. No conveyancing, no employment, no commercial. Every file is opened, conducted and signed off by a solicitor on the Resolution register.

01 / Divorce and financial remedy

Divorce, the financial order, Court of Appeal work where it matters.

Divorce and dissolution of civil partnership and the financial order that follows. Pension sharing, business-owner divorces with single joint expert valuations of trading companies and farm land, overseas-asset cases. Punam Denley represented the respondent in Giusti v Ferragamo [2019] EWCA Civ 691 in the Court of Appeal; Susan Andrews appears in Waggott v Waggott [2018] EWCA Civ 727 and Dorney-Kingdon v Dorney-Kingdom [2000] 2 FLR 855. Both partners are Resolution members.

02 / Children Act and international children work

Child Arrangements, special guardianship, 1980 Hague Convention abduction.

Private and public children law: Child Arrangements Orders, Prohibited Steps, Specific Issue, care proceedings, special guardianship. The firm carries thirty years of international children work through Helen Habershon, who sits on the Reunite Child Abduction Unit panel and acted in Re P (Service of an Order in a Refuge) [2023] EWHC 471 (Fam). 1980 Hague Convention abduction and relocation cases are part of the regular file mix, not a referral out.

03 / Nuptial agreements and cohabitation

Pre-nuptials, post-nuptials, cohabitation agreements, TOLATA.

Pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements for ring-fencing inherited wealth, business interests and pension pots, particularly common where a second marriage follows a first with children to consider. Cohabitation agreements at the start of an unmarried relationship to record contributions and intentions in writing. Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act applications where an unmarried couple separates and the legal title sits with one party.

04 / Family mediation and collaborative law

Christine Plews ranked in Chambers as a family mediator.

Three FMC-accredited family mediators in-house: Christine Plews (Chambers UK 2026 ranked Family Mediator, Thames Valley), Juliet Gordon and Isla Currie. Financial mediation for high-value cases, child-inclusive mediation, hybrid mediation and shuttle mediation where direct sessions are not appropriate. Collaborative law where both parties have collaboratively-trained solicitors. Mediation sits alongside the solicitor practice, not bolted on.

The practice

Fifteen years of family work, run from the Market Place.

Punam Denley qualified as a solicitor in 1995 and specialised immediately into family law, holding partnerships at the Family Law Consortium in London and at the International Family Law Group before opening Blanchards Law in 2011. The firm trades from 19-21 Market Place, a Grade II listed building opposite Henry Hare's 1901 Town Hall, alongside offices in Marlow, Beaconsfield, London and Marbella. Authorised by the Solicitors Regulation Authority as a licensed body for all legal services (SRA 565657).

The practice has only ever done family law. Court of Appeal financial-remedy work, 1980 Hague Convention child abduction, pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements, and mediation under the Resolution Code of Practice. Two partners are ranked in Chambers UK 2026 for Family / Matrimonial Thames Valley. Christine Plews is Chambers-ranked as a Family Mediator. Susan Andrews appears in Legal 500 2026 as a Leading Partner.

We are a Thames Valley family-law boutique, not a high-street solicitor with a family-law shelf. The work the firm takes is the work other Thames Valley firms refer to London. The practice, on what it does

1995 Punam Denley qualifies as a solicitor and specialises immediately into family law.
2000s Punam holds a partnership at the Family Law Consortium in London (now Family Law in Partnership) and at the International Family Law Group.
2011 Blanchards Law opens as a family-law-only practice in Henley-on-Thames. Incorporated as Blanchards Law Ltd on 1 November 2011 (Companies House 07830331).
2021 In the firm's tenth-anniversary year, the office moves from Newtown House on the trading estate to 19-21 Market Place, the former Wine Rack premises, a Grade II listed building opposite Henry Hare's 1901 Town Hall.
2024 The firm is authorised by the Solicitors Regulation Authority as a licensed body for all legal services (SRA 565657). Susan Andrews joins from BP Collins as a Partner.
2026 Ten solicitors on the SRA register, four offices in the Thames Valley plus London, and an outpost in Marbella. Chambers UK 2026 Band 4 Family Thames Valley. Legal 500 Tier 3.

The solicitors who run the files.

The partner you meet at the opening appointment is the partner who runs the file. Henley appointments are conducted by the partner or senior solicitor whose practice covers the work.

Punam Denley

Partner & founder

COLP. SRA 15071. Qualified 1995. Giusti v Ferragamo [2019].

Helen Habershon

Partner

SRA 199007. 30 years family work. Reunite CAU panel.

Susan Andrews

Partner

SRA 120486. Legal 500 Leading Partner. Waggott v Waggott [2018].

Christine Plews

Consultant & FMC mediator

SRA 144321. Chambers Family Mediator, Thames Valley.

Juliet Gordon

Senior solicitor & mediator

SRA 449916. FMC accredited. International elements.

Pradeep Shina

Senior solicitor

SRA 167463. Financial remedy and children injunctions.

Ashley Minott

Senior solicitor, Private Client

SRA 583159. Full STEP member. Wills, trusts, probate.

Rankings and credentials

Two directories, three credentials, one specialism.

Chambers UK 2026 ranks the firm Band 4 in Family / Matrimonial for the Thames Valley and ranks Christine Plews as a Family Mediator. Legal 500 2026 places the firm in Tier 3 for Family Thames Valley and names Susan Andrews a Leading Partner. Every solicitor is a Resolution member and follows the Resolution Code of Practice on every file. The mediation arm is FMC-accredited.

Together they are the reason a family in Henley, Marlow or the wider Thames Valley does not need to instruct in London for a Court of Appeal-level financial remedy, a 1980 Hague Convention child case, or a Chambers-ranked family mediator. The work the firm takes is the work other Thames Valley firms refer up.

Legal 500 2026
Tier 3 Family

Resolution member
firm-wide

TFLAW
member

First contact

Tell us, in a paragraph, what the family situation is.

A first contact is usually a short call or a written enquiry. A solicitor comes back within one working day with the next step, whether that is a first appointment with a named partner, a mediation appointment with Christine Plews, Juliet Gordon or Isla Currie, or signposting to a service better suited to the matter. There is no charge for the first contact and no obligation.

19-21 Market Place, Henley-on-Thames, RG9 2AA. Three minutes' walk from Henley railway station; the office sits opposite Henry Hare's 1901 Town Hall on the western side of the Market Place. Open in Google Maps ↗

Frequently asked

Questions clients actually ask at the first contact.

Will the partner I meet at the first appointment be the one who runs my file?

Yes. The first appointment is taken by the partner or senior solicitor whose practice covers the work. Punam Denley and Susan Andrews lead the financial remedy work, Helen Habershon leads the children and abduction work, Christine Plews leads the mediation arm. Day-to-day file work is supported by a senior solicitor and a paralegal, but the named partner stays on the file and signs every position statement and every consent-order draft.
Can we mediate rather than go to court, and if so, who runs the mediation?

Yes. There are three FMC-accredited family mediators in-house: Christine Plews (Chambers UK 2026 ranked Family Mediator, Thames Valley), Juliet Gordon and Isla Currie. Christine takes financial mediations for high-net-worth cases, Juliet covers international elements, Isla is on the pet-custody team and is Child Inclusive Mediation accredited. The Resolution Code of Practice is followed firm-wide, so even where solicitors run the file the default is to look first for mediation.
How does the financial remedy work where one of us owns a trading company or farm land?

Single joint expert accountants and surveyors are instructed where the value is in dispute. The consent order or final order is drafted so that operating capital is ring-fenced from the personal settlement and the business survives the divorce. Court of Appeal-level financial remedy work is part of the firm's file mix, not referred out: Punam Denley appeared in Giusti v Ferragamo [2019] EWCA Civ 691 and Susan Andrews in Waggott v Waggott [2018] EWCA Civ 727 in the Court of Appeal.
My case has an international element. Can you act?

Yes. International family law is a long-running specialism. Helen Habershon takes 1980 Hague Convention child abduction cases on the Reunite CAU panel; Juliet Gordon takes financial cases with overseas trust, BVI and offshore-pension elements; and the firm has a Marbella office for cases anchored in Spain or with Spanish assets. Cases routinely involve French, Italian, Swiss and Channel Island elements.
Will I have to travel to London, or can the file be run from Henley?

The file can be run from Henley. The Market Place office is set up for client appointments and for video appointments by Zoom or Microsoft Teams. The Marlow, Beaconsfield and London offices are available where it is more convenient. Court hearings take place at the relevant Family Court (most commonly Oxford, Reading, the Central Family Court in Holborn or the Royal Courts of Justice for appeals), and the firm sends counsel and a solicitor to every hearing.